Ione slapped his hand away.“How dare you sacrifice yourself, when you’ve yet to answer for your ward failing.”
She was trying to goad him into arguing, fighting back, but Kai barely mustered a smile.
“Aye, that does need answering for,” he said agreeably.“And don’t misunderstand me: I’ll be leaving this room in one piece.I still have to figure out who was bold enough to tamper with my property.”
Kai caught River as he fell back to them.He gripped River’s sleeve, careful not to touch his wounds, before his hand moved to clasp his shoulder, and then to rest on his cheek.“Riv,” Kai murmured.“Go.Let getting you and Ione out of here be one good thing I do.”
River was silent for a horrible moment, before, “Kai, I – ”
“Well, don’t get all sensitive about it.”He shoved River towards Ione and smiled, wincing through the pain of his marred face.“I enjoyed playing that waltz with you,” he said.“We’ll play again soon.”
Kai summoned another ice blade and stalked away from them, back into the flames, the bloodshed.He launched forward, blades high, until he was swallowed by smoke; Ione dived after him, cursing when River yanked her back.
“Don’t,” he hissed, holding her still.He shot Lina a look sharp enough to cut, his eyes bloodshot.“Are you going to stand there and let her get killed, or are you going to help me get her outside?”
Ione bucked, kicking up a spray of rust-coloured water.“You have to let me try.”She thrust out an arm, reaching.“Lina.”
Lina grabbed her hand, but it was River who held her attention.“I came back for Ione,” she said, drawing Ione’s hand against her heart.White-hot embers bloomed close by, making Ione gasp and River fold her into his arms, but Lina twisted her wrist and extinguished the flames without a second thought.
“And as Menon as my witness,” Lina finished, her voice low, “I will protect her.”
Rumbling, screaming.Another portion of the ceiling collapsed, stones falling onto Moths and Snakes alike.The filthy water surged, but Lina held firm, strengthened by the awe in River’s eyes.Bit by bit, he loosened his hold over Ione, freeing her.
Ione straightened and cast River a withering look, the fear that Lina knew was strangling her tamped down, masked by her regal mien.A bloody queen, a goddess of death.“This is what I’m meant to do,” she said, summoning an ice blade of her own.“And I will do it.”
The water rippled, heavy, splashing footsteps approaching.River drew his sword and Ione pivoted, her head high, but Lina’s world tilted, her stomach roiling with nausea.With pure, immaculate dread.
“Lina,” Castor called, his voice lilting with amusement.“You decided to join us after all.”
He twirled his favourite dagger in one hand, one Lina knew well.The space where her left pinkie and ring fingers once were tingled, a phantom itch; she clenched her hands tight, willed herself to look unafraid.Unterrified.Unsick.
He pointed at Ione and River with the blade.“And you are?”he asked, cordially enough.Castor tossed the dagger into the air, caught it, looking none the worse for wear aside from some hastily-healed cuts, his blonde hair dirty and his eyes, Lina’s eyes, firelit and foxlike.
River charged, his body low as he threw himself in between Ione and Castor.His rapier flew like lightning, a long, diagonal arc.
Castor laughed and leapt backwards, out of River’s range – but River bolted after him, his steps sure and swift despite the water and rubble underfoot.He angled his blade, slicing downward, aiming for the space between Castor’s neck and shoulder, the fragile collarbone and bundles of nerves.
Castor twisted out of the way of the deadly blow, gritting out a curse when River’s blade glanced off his bicep.River pivoted, his sword carving through water, smoke, the spray of blood, back up towards Castor’s unguarded abdomen – but Castor regained balance in time for twin flames to roil around his fists.Too close for River to dodge.
Ione darted, threw her weight into a violent swell that doused Castor’s flames and forced him back.A burst of light, of steam, Castor evaporating the water and rearing back like a lion.The grin on his face widened when Lina charged, every frazzled ounce of her focus on his magical signature, a twin to hers.
She seized his fists, poured her own pyromancy into his.The blinding fire sputtered, fizzled out, making Lina shiver with the sudden cold.
Castor stilled, a wild grin still plastered on his face.“You know there’s no coming back from this, right?”
“That doesn’t matter.”Lina let out a breath, embers crackling.“You won’t survive the night.”
He shoved her off of him; Lina staggered back a step, landing into Ione’s arms.
“You must be Castor,” Ione said coolly, although her grip on Lina’s hand was tight, edged with fear.River, too, tensed, subtly angling his sword and widening his stance.
Castor regarded Ione with the mild curiosity of a child about to squash an insect.“And you must be my sister’s latest distraction.”
“Stand down,” Ione commanded River, who did not budge.“This is my fight.”Her shoulders raised, fell, a long, purifying breath.“Castor Almenara,” she intoned.“Before you can kill Menon, I presume you must summon Her.”
Castor tucked his chin, his gaze predatory, his smile mad.“You presume correctly.”
Ione lifted her ice blade, a cloud of vapour trailing after it.“Then summon Her.”
