Only one way to find out.
I charge at Caledon, swinging the scythe out as fast I can. But it’s not fast enough. He meets the curve of Ethira’s blade with his sword, sending the scythe glancing off it. The momentum carries my arm wide, and it takes all the speed I have to bring the scythe around again in time to meet the second swing of his sword.
The sound of metal grinding against metal reverberates through the forest, making the nearby trees shake. We stand there, blades locked for a moment, glaring past the sharp points at each other. Caledon’s face grows almost purple with effort as he bends my arm back, forcing the tip of his blade closer to my skin.
It drags across my forearm, and I suck air in through my teeth. The metal stings against my flesh, but it doesn’t cut it, leaving it unmarked, if sore.
He probably can’t kill me with this thing. Caledon grimaces as he clearly comes to the same conclusion, and I seize the moment to shove back against his blade, sending him stumbling against a tree.
“It’s going to take more than that, Caledon,” I say, but stop short when I see the gleam of his teeth.
He’s smiling.
I look down to see a black mark on my other arm, a smear of his curse slowly spreading across my skin. The moment I notice it, I feel the burn, like acid eating at my flesh.
I work on pure instinct, scrambling away from him and wrapping a hand around the infected patch. I’m immortal now, fueled by divine power. Hopefully, that means my celestial magic is enough to counteract the star’s curse, at least on myself.
I unleash a burst of my sunlight, searing the darkness from my skin and letting the heat melt it away. When I lift my hand, I see with triumph that the mark is gone, my skin clear and smooth once more.
A flash of movement dances at the corner of my vision. I twist as Caledon tries to snatch the scythe from my gasp, forcing me to swing out wildly. I miss him by half a foot, but his elbow jabs out, connecting with my chest and sending me flying across the clearing. I land on my back, the earth shuddering beneath me as the impact sends a roll of noise like thunder through the Miravow.
I pull myself to my feet, aware that Ethira’s bow came loose as I fell. I can’t worry about it now, however, because the spot on my tunic where Caledon connected with me is oozing more black tar. It forces me to pause and stop the spread of it with another blast of sunlight.
“That elbow move was clumsy.”The voice comes to me across the mooring as I dodge another charge from Caledon, his toxic hand outstretched to snatch at me.“That too.”Caledon roars in frustration, black spit oozing from between his teeth and dripping down his chin.
Leon must be “watching” the fight across the mooring, following it via my thoughts.
“So? What’s your point?”I prompt, trying to listen to him and keep distance between me and Caledon at the same time.
“So, look at him.”
I stare at Caledon’s face. His eyes are pulled wide and his teeth are bared, reminding me of a wild beast.
“He’s erratic, imprecise. I wouldn’t be surprised if that cursed stuff is getting to him after all. He’s not any weaker, but he’s so filled with hate and darkness it’s making him unfocused. Use that, and hold on, we’re not far.”
I don’t have time to warn Leon not to come. If he’s paying attention, he knows about the acid burn of the darkness Caledon can transmit by touch. It’s dangerous even to me, as an immortal. I don’t know if I’d be able to save anyone else who gets it on them.
Rather than face another charge from Caledon, I dart between the trees, turning Leon’s words over in my mind. It’s possiblethe curse on Caledon is clouding his brain and affecting his judgment, but either way, Leon’s right—he seems impulsive and careless right now.
I watch him lumber between the tree trunks, searching for me.
“So you’re nothing but a pathetic coward after all,” Caledon bites out.
“I want to ask you something,” I call, staying always a few trunks ahead of him, leaping from the cover of one tree to the next. “When I finally do kill you, what then?”
He doesn’t answer, but I hear a crunch that sounds like a fist connecting with wood.
I continue to shout at him as I sprint zigzag ahead. I need to get out of his sightline, and I need to keep making him angrier. “What happens in that moment when you realize I’m superior to you in every way?” I ask. “When you’re left to die in the dirt, like one of those worms you keep talking about?”
Caledon roars with rage, just two trees from my left. Heart thudding, I circle around, then emerge beside him, swinging the scythe.
He darts his hand out andcatchesit.
For a second, I’m scared the scythe has no effect on him. Then I see the blade sink into his flesh, splitting the skin open so it streams with black blood.
I watch, not knowing whether to be pleased or horrified, at the way the blade’s buried itself between his fingers. I try to pull it loose, dislodging it from his palm to swing again, but his other hand snakes up and seizes me around the throat.
The acid burn sears at my skin, but a hundred times worse is the pressure of his hand around my windpipe. Any other person would already be dead by now, their throat crushed. I meet Caledon’s eyes, those same hungry, black eyes I first saw all those months ago in the Lyceum. I knew then that the owner of those eyes was a greedy, insatiable monster, someone who could only take, rather than give.
