My heart pummels my ribs.
My lungs feel tight. It washim. His storm that murdered Mama.
Mama—
No. No. I force myself to bear down on the panic threatening to suffocate me. Mama’s murderer stands before me.
Enough talking.
I summon water from the damp earth, converging it into a thin ribbon. My shoulder screams, every movement jostling the ice shard that’s slowly melting into a pink stream down my chest.
But I ignore it, forcing the water into my father’s nostrils. He coughs, easily wielding it out, but that was only a distraction.
I have an ice spear ready to impale him.
It hurtles through the air, straight toward his chest.
It stops, midair. Mere inches stand between me and my revenge.
The ice spear comes careening back.
I bend my knees. My arms rise in the air—one last push. I can do this. I’ll wield the spear in half, then send both shards hurtling back. He won’t expect it. Mama will finally know peace. And so will I.
Deep breath.
Closer.
Almost.
Just a few more—
A cold breeze reaches me first, like icy fingers sliding over my skin.
At the last second, the spear
veers
right.
I hear the sound before I understand it. A sickening thunk—a wet, horrible sound that doesn’t belong in this world.
And then I seehim.
Zev.
The spear is lodged in his chest. Buried deep. Bright, arterial blood bubbles around the edges, slicking the translucent shard with crimson. His body jerks once, then sags.
My screams rip through the air, raw and feral, louder than the wind and the battle and the thunder.
Terror seizes me, clamping its serrated claws around my throat. My heart crashes against my ribs, my lungs shudder uselessly, my vision blurs. Fury boils my blood, rings in my ears, writhes in my belly.
But then—
Something breaks inside me.
Shatters.
Rage floods in to fill the cracks.
