“Call off your army, Dimitri,” Robyn said, now standing between my twin and me.
He was protecting her.
When had that stopped beingmytask?
Hatred bubbled up within me, stirring my zirilium, though I couldn’t tell who I hated more—Robyn or myself.
That hatred added another layer of hardness around my heart, sealing away the guilt I was beginning to feel.
I hadn’t been made to feel such things.
I had been made torule.
Toconquer.
And that was all I had left.
Sinking back into the numbness of my everyday life, I met Robyn’s eyes and smirked.
“Idon’tthink I will. Iappear to bewinning, after all.” I motioned toward the battlefield thatremained of the encampment below andaround us.
The male prisonersI’dsent after Aviva had softened the battlefield a fraction.They’dfought, yes, but once thealychitecuffs started coming off, theirziriliumhad also begun toerupt, the same way Mother’s had.They’dbeen a decent distraction while the actual army swept in and took over. Now, even without the stormI’dbeen planningbecause ofAviva still holding it back—shaking so badly I thought her body might split in two—we wouldlikely winhere today. The North often had the upper hand as we could attack from above, and it could become extremely difficult to watch all around youandabove you as a soldier. Not to mention that two of their strongest wielders just so happened to be at the top of a tower withme, instead of fighting with their people.
Before Robyn could respond, though, my head snapped sideways, my eyes searchingoutsomething Icouldn’tsee just yet.
Something I could onlyfeelapproaching from the shadows.
“What are you looking at?” Robyn’s gaze followedmine.
“We have company,” I responded.
But if I was about to be outnumbered, I was at least going to get a few goodhits infirst.
I was, after all, the embodiment of the embers of the fire I held within.
Summoning flames to coat my hands, I balled them into fists and began advancing on the Southern King. To his credit, hestoodhis ground, refusing to leave my twin unprotected. He conjured his own flames, and with the way he was planting his feet, I knew he had tapped into the stone of the tower, too.
My first punch had been blocked by his own hand—as planned.But as my second swing was about tomake contact withRobyn’s jaw, a movement to my right caused my attention to sway.
Then, the shadow I felt approaching before was on me, moving faster thanI’dimagined somebody’s shadow form could move.
I stumbled back a step, then two, as the dark form circled around my body like a snake. They moved so quickly that even when I tried to knock them away from me,they’dalready moved to another spot.
After disorienting me, I saw a brief glint of a blade before the cuts began. I winced and flinched, covering my face with my hands as I was bombarded. It was as though they were mostly shadow, but a small part of them, like their hand, was physical every few seconds—just long enough to run a dagger across my skin.
“Rayven, stop!” Robyn called out, but the shadow figure didn’t slow down.
Blood ran from everywound,my clothes ruined and tattered, but whoever they were, they carried on. Finally, after trying so many times to knock their form off me, a manic laugh escaped my lips before I slid into the darkness, too.
My wounds ceased hurting and bleedingimmediately, though theydidn’tstop. Now, they were circling me, coming closer and closer,forcing me to shrink in on myself to avoid them.
Ididn’tknow much about the capabilities of fighting while in shadow form, but at least theycouldn’tcut me anymore.
“Rayven!” Robyn said, his voicesostrong and demanding that even Ihesitatedbriefly. The other shadow did, too, and stared at me asthoughmaking a decision.
“Rayven, please, take Viva away from here. She refuses to stop untilthey’rehere, and itisn’tsafe for her up here,” Robyn explained, nearly begging.
How pathetic, I thought.
