“I don’t know . . .” I peered back at Brenton, at the certainty of his expression.
He was ready to do this. He wanted to.
It was the reason we’d come here, but it felt too fast, too soon. Or was I simply a coward, prepared to cower rather than fight?
“I will be here the entire time, Finley,” Eiran said, his eyes asking me to trust him. “I will not let her harm you.”
“How?” I asked.
“I have certain . . . abilities I’m not allowed to use,” he said, measuring each word with slow precision. “But if I must, I will.”
But when the time came, would he allow us to hurt her? Zaicha was his daughter, too. Maybe more so.
“I love my daughter,” Eiran said, replying to my unspoken question. His voice didn’t soften but deepened. “No, I will not permit either of you to harm or kill her. I want her stopped, not destroyed. Then I can bring her into the astral realm on my terms, not hers.”
My chest eased at his words, because he wasn’t seeking mercy but control. A promise that whatever plans Zaicha brewed would be wrenched from her hands.
“So, what?” I asked, my tone too sharp with wariness. “You want us to test her now?”
He nodded. “A test, not a battle.”
My pulse skipped. “And if she wages war on us back in Vistos or Niev? What will you choose then?”
Eiran didn’t hesitate. “You and Brenton will stop that from happening.”
He said it with such certainty, as if this future was already paved before us.
I scoffed. “How could you possibly know that?”
“This is what you’re training for,” Eiran replied.
Brenton brushed his knuckles over mine before taking my hand. “It’s up to you, Lolli. Do you want to try this?”
I worried my bottom lip. “What do you think?”
“I think if we can learn how to do this, you keep us bound while I unravel the threads of her magic, it’ll give us an advantage we didn’t have before.”
He was right, and I was being a coward.
“Fine.” I nodded.
Brenton pulled me to him, his arms wrapping around me while his magic swam inside me, seeking mine out. They threaded together without my direction, instinctively knowing that was how it was always meant to be.
I stilled in his arms while he searched for Zaicha. The moment our magic touched Zaicha’s, heat slammed through my veins. Darkness poured through the connection, heavy and choking as it curled around my ribs as if her magic meant to swallow me whole.
Brenton jerked against me, a small flicker, but I felt it...that instinct to pull back.
“Do not retreat,” Eiran commanded, his order slicing through my mounting fear. “Push back, Brenton.”
Brenton grunted, and I felt the way his magic trembled inside me. Zaicha struck. The slash of her power ripped across my chest. Not my skin, but deeper, through the threads of who I was. Pain burst behind my ribs, and my knees buckled.
Brenton’s arms locked around me, holding me up while his magic shoved forward, refusing to give her an inch.
I snarled a breath through clenched teeth and wound our threads tighter, binding them thickly with smoke and death so that even her jagged magic couldn’t pry them apart. She clawed at us anyway, and the astral realm seemed to pulse with the force of it.
Brenton pushed her harder, relentless and methodical, probing until he found the smallest weakness in her threads. The moment he pulled, fire roared through my veins. Zaicha’s furylashed back at us, wrapping around me and squeezing until my lungs burned.
Then Eiran struck. His magic tore through us, intercepting hers before it could crush me. The shock of it sent a violent shudder through the connection. Zaicha screamed, more in rage than pain, and the force of it made my vision blur.
