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“Look at me,” I wept, holding his blood-stained face. “Please, Father. I am looking at you now.”

An arrow struck the earth beside his shoulder.

I didn’t care. I collapsed over him, burying my face in his neck to shield his chest with my own. And I waited for the next iron tip to find my back.

Thalia was across the road, completely exposed in the mud.

Her father was dead. The stillness of his death was already settling around her, and her life magic flailed against it, still trying to fix what couldn’t be fixed. Her agony tore through our bond. Her ragged begging pierced the roar of the flames, almost bringing me to my knees.

But while she was lost in her grief, I was not. And I could see him through my snakes, the centaur who’d claimed to love my wife. The man who must have been behind the assassin’s ploy.

Centaurs were among the people who hated Asphodelia most. No doubt, Nessos would have known exactly how to find another man with a grudge against me. He’d have known exactly what poison to slip into the assassin’s veins to fool us.

Nessos reached over his shoulder and smoothly drew another arrow. He aimed it directly at Thalia’s back. There was no time for her to dodge, and no way I could reach her before the iron pierced her spine.

I tore the silk from my eyes.

A massive wave of death energy erupted from me. It swept across the road, flattening the smoke against the ground and darkening the air. Nessos flinched, his fingers slipping on the bowstring. The arrow plunged harmlessly into the earth beside Thalia’s shoulder.

The centaur chief scrambled backward, his hooves sliding in the mud. A pair of his loyal swordsmen stepped into the path, raising their weapons to cover his retreat.

I locked my eyes on the nearest warrior, and my power caught him mid-stride. His flesh hardened into grey rock, the color bleeding out of his skin in an instant. The iron sword fell from stone fingers. He tipped sideways, hitting the road with a crack. His body broke apart in the dirt.

A woman crouching behind him remained unharmed. Her mouth hung open in terror, her hair whipping across her face, flecks of silver-blue death energy arcing through the strands. But she was breathing. My magic had woven perfectly around her.

I’d been prepared to kill everyone in this village to save my wife. But I didn’t have to. I could direct it.

I turned my focus toward the second swordsman advancing on the steps. He convulsed, his weapon clattering away as his forelegs turned to stone. His shoulder struck the ground beside Thalia, throwing a spray of mud over them both.

Thalia lifted her head from her father’s chest. Her hands were dark with his blood. Her ash-stained lips trembled. For the very first time, I looked upon my wife’s face.

I’d seen her through my death energy before, felt her magic, touched her while guided by my snakes. But this was different. I could see the cold sun catch in the curls of her golden hair. I could see the soot streaking her fair cheeks, and the tears in her green eyes. I looked at her, and just like that, I knew.

The mate bond had healed my eyes. Her life magic had undone the damage not even the Moirae had been able to mend.

She was pure perfection, my mate, my beloved. And there were still men trying to murder her.

I advanced down the road and let my gaze loose again. Two archers turned to stone beside the council hall. A centaur charging from the alley reared as my gaze locked onto him, his body hardening before he crashed backward into the wall. The death energy answered my will, striking only the butchers who had brought fire to my mate’s home. I spared the human boy cowering behind a barrel and the dryad weeping in the doorway, weaving the silver-blue shadows harmlessly past them.

I reached Thalia and dropped to my knees beside her. “I’m right here,” I told her, pressing my hand against her cheek. “No one else is going to reach you.”

Her gaze drifted upward, meeting my uncovered eyes. She gasped, her breath shuddering as she stared at my face.

“Your blindfold is gone. You are looking right at me, Eryx.”

She didn’t flinch. She didn’t doubt me, even for a second. She only looked at me, and I was in awe of her strength, of her kindness.

I brushed the ash away with my thumb, feeling her tears against my skin. “The bond healed the damage, Thalia. I can finally control my power again. And I’m not going to let them hurt you.”

She made a broken sound and looked down at her father again. She didn’t have to say it. I’d saved her, but it was too late for Kleitos.

“Eryx, he was just looking at me.” Her voice cracked. “He heard me call his name. He reached for me.”

I wanted to give her a draught to fetch, a bandage to hold, a lie that would let me pretend we could save him. Instead, I took her hands and threaded our fingers together. “I know, Thalia. He heard you. But you can’t bring him back.”

She shuddered. Through the bond, I felt the crushing weight of that reality settle over her. I stayed right beside her as she curled over his body and wept.

A furious shout echoed from the other end of the path. It was Nessos. He stared down at the stone statues of his warriors. I rose slowly from the dirt as he fumbled for a final arrow.