She lost her footing, but someone caught her.
“Alphena, hold on.” Seperun's face doubled, then blurred.
Behind him, the sky above the balcony darkened. Lightning flashed, so close the room shook with thunder. The sky that had been clear blue the moment before turned black.
Silver's fading mind struggled to understand.
Roxen appeared above her. He took her hand, but she did not feel it.
Silver coughed. A dizzying cold spread through her body. Her eyes fought to stay open.
Another figure, silhouetted by lightning, appeared behind Roxen where moments before there had been no one.
“Bayne?” Silver whispered. Darkness closed around her vision, stealing the breath from her lips.
Chapter Forty-One
Rayna struggled to stand, but magic pinned her ankles to the ballroom’s floor.
Terayan retrieved his blade from where it had fallen beside her. “Stay down you miserable—”
Channon rammed into the Councilor. The Fenearen’s hands were still chained, but that did not stop him knocking the surprised Terayan to the ground.
The Councilor’s blond head hit the marble, sending his golden circlet spinning across the floor.
Rayna’s legs released. She leaped to standing as Terayan groaned and rolled onto his back.
Rayna kicked him in the head and grabbed the sword at his side. She thrust the blade toward his throat, but he dodged.
With a hateful snarl, Terayan scrambled to his feet and disappeared into the crowd. Rayna whirled around, seeking enemies and allies.
The ballroom was a frenzy of nobles desperate to escape and guards sparring with wolf-formed Kado and Katrine.
To her relief and confusion, the Laevuls were nowhere in sight.
Mina had found her way to the dais, using the high ground to send arrow after arrow into the fray. One had landed in Garrison’s shoulder, allowing Kellan and Channon to escape his guard.
Garrison roared as he clutched the shaft protruding from his robes. “Get them!” He screamed to his men as he made for the nearest exit.
“Rayna!” Mina called to her. “Catch!” She tossed something silver to Rayna.
She caught the keys one-handed and rammed the first into the lock on Channon’s manacles. It did not fit. She tried another.
“Ray!” Channon jutted his chin to an oncoming swathe of soldiers.
Kellan ran beside them, reaching out with his chained hands. “Here, Red!”
She placed the keys in his restricted hands and he continued to attempt to free Channon. Rayna crossed in front of her friends—the men she had almost been forced to choose between—to protect them from the attackers.
Rayna lifted Terayan’s sword. It was far heavier than any blade with which she'd trained. She would not last long.
The first man attacked with a thrust.
Rayna awkwardly parried the blow, losing her balance in the process. She toppled onto her back, lifting the sword to block.
The Kyrean laughed.
Rayna must have painted a ridiculous image—fighting him with a gargantuan broadsword she could not wield in the best of circumstances, let alone while trapped in her rapidly shredding silk finery.
The other guards rushed past them, focused on Channon and Kellan.
“Look out!” Rayna called as she rolled to avoid what would have been a decapitating blow.
A vicious snarl rang through the ballroom as Channon—now a golden wolf—bowled over his would-be attackers and landed on the guard about to kill Rayna.
The Kyrean’s jugular splattered blood, and he fell dead beneath Channon’s jaws.
There was no time to wonder what had happened to Channon's Monil.
Rayna regained her feet. She cast Terayan’s sword aside in favor of the guard’s short-sword.
Kellan had also helped himself to a pair of dead man’s blades, giving them each a testing spin .
Now armed, with Channon and Kellan freed, Rayna returned her attention to where Terayan had run.
But the mage was gone, leaving only a trail of blood.
Why would he run? Surely he had magic enough to destroy them all?
Sickly dread wormed through Rayna’s core, though there were more immediate threats with which to contend.
Rayna, Channon, and Kellan formed a triangle with their backs, fighting off the never-ending onslaught of soldiers.
Mina must have run low on arrows. She leaped into the fray, dual daggers in hand.
Kado and Katrine fought their way to Rayna and the others until the six invaders stood together.
“Where’s Terayan?” Rayna yelled over the din of battle. She pulled her sword out of a Kyrean’s chest, surprised to see there was not another waiting behind him.
Had Terayan or someone else ordered them off? Why?
“Terayan went through the western entrance!” Mina called.
Kado shifted human. Without a word, he gripped Rayna’s Monil.
It grew hot, then freezing cold, before cracking in half. “
What?” Rayna grasped her freed neck. “How?”
“No time!” Kado replied. “We have to go after Terayan. He has to die, or all of this will be for nothing!”
“No, we should try and escape while we still can!” Kellan argued.
“Kado’s right!” The last of the warriors around them fell beneath Channon’s claws, but from the sound of pounding metal in the hall outside the ballroom, reinforcements were coming in greater numbers. He pointed to the western exit. “Killing him is our only chance to end this.”
Rayna doubled over, catching her breath.
Part of her agreed with Kellan. They should run.
In the confusion, they had a chance of escape.
If Kado escaped, Terayan’s ritual would surely be ruined.
But in her heart, burned a dark, seething fire—the need for revenge, and to stop Terayan’s treachery once and for all.
“This ends tonight.” Rayna dropped the sword and extended her claws and teeth.
Her dress made full transformation impossible. It had to go.
She would end this like the wolf she was.
All concerns of modesty seemed small as Rayna tore apart what remained of her gown.
Channon flushed red. He removed his jerkin and draped it around her, covering her down to her upper thighs.
With that, they raced across the body-strewn ballroom.
Terayan’s scent was easy to discern from the blood trail and sweat he left behind.
Rayna and Kado took the lead through a kitchen and servants’ hallway, eventually leading them to the laundry.
“He’s in the tunnels.” Rayna realized. Why was Terayan trying to escape?
Perhaps something had already gone wrong with his ritual. Why else would he be on the run now?
Rayna and her friends piled into the damp, dimly lit tunnel.
Behind them, shouts and boot steps echoed. The soldiers were closing in on them once more.
“Keep going!” Kado whispered urgently. “He’s close.”
Rayna agreed. Terayan’s scent grew stronger with each stride forward, but he was not alone.
The Laevuls’ sickly sweet wormwood aroma was there as well.
“Wait.” She stopped, her instincts battling with her blood-lust “Something isn’t right.”
“Rayna, what is it?” Channon asked, grabbing her trembling hand.
“Don’t you see?” She gulped.
The soldiers were on one end of the tunnel, Terayan and Laevuls waited ahead.
“We’re trapped.”
How could she have been so foolish? She was a hunter. She should have recognized a trap.
“No!” Kado pushed past her. “We’re so close. We can’t stop now.”
Katrine clasped her hand to her mouth. “Kado, wait!”
When Kado ignored Katrine’s warning, they all rushed after him.
“Kado!” Rayna shouted for him, but it was too late. When she rounded the n
ext branching corner, Kado stood wolf-formed, his white, hackle-lined back to them.
Three figures stood before the growling white wolf, framed by an open, circular doorway. Terayan clasped his hands from the center position while the Laevuls looked on with identical smirks.
“Thank you both for coming.” The Councilor nodded to Kado and Rayna.
“You’re a fool.” Katrine lifted her chin. “You’re outnumbered.”
Katrine’s blind optimism carved a sunken pit in Rayna’s stomach.
“Let them go,” Rayna demanded. “Kado and I are the ones you want, so let the others go.”
Kado glanced back at her, understanding in his brown eyes.
They would save the others—if they could—then they'd make sure that no matter what happened to them, Terayan did not complete his ritual.
They would let Terayan think he'd won, and when his guard was down, they would strike.
“No!” Channon and Katrine protested in unison.
“You aren’t in a position to bargain, foolish girl,” spat Ezra Laevul. “Come, Tallis. Enough games. The time is ripe.”
Terayan gave a slow nod, never taking his eyes off Rayna. There was something in his expression—a blankness Rayna could only call peace.
Shouts and clattering metal echoed from the tunnel behind them. The palace guards were not far now.
As Rayna started to calculate the best plan of attack, Terayan stepped back.
Amblin and Ezra thrust their arms toward Rayna and Kado.
“Greilmae!”
Rayna flew into Kado’s back as if propelled by a gale.
They spun together, head over heels, through the doorway.
The moment they crossed the threshold, the heavy metal door slammed behind them, muffling their friends’ alarm.
Kado shifted human as they landed.
Rayna’s head spun from the violent movement.
The round chamber rolled around in her blurry vision. They were in some kind of vault.
Runes were carved into the walls and flagged stone floor. The stifling scent of burning herbs made her cough as she struggled to gain her balance. But her strength did not return as her body recovered from the fall.
Instead, her power leached through her skin. Sweat beaded her skin, and a horrible headache—more painful than any she'd experienced when Terayan had attacked her dreams—split her skull.
Terayan’s face tripled as he knelt in front of her. “Oh Rayna, you never should have come.”
Pressure roiled in Kado’s temples. He felt suddenly ill, like the air within the vault was poisoned.
Rayna leaned against the vault door, her face twisting in pain and shining with sweat. Whatever was affecting him, she must have been feeling it, too.
Terayan and the Laevuls stood composed before them.
“What—” Kado struggled to speak. He felt as if he might retch. “What is this?”
“The two of you might be able to withstand or control many kinds of magic, but you cannot help but feel the power of the Ascension.” Terayan moved to the center of the round room. “As creatures of the light, it drains your energy, while bolstering ours.”
“We have to stop him.” Rayna lurched forward. “Whatever this ritual is, we can’t let it happen.” She groaned, falling to the stone floor in a ball.
Kado crouched beside her. It took all his strength to not fall beside her. Behind them, Kado could make out their allies’ muffled voices as they struggled to find a way inside the vault.
The Laevuls moved to an altar behind Terayan. They chanted a strange language, setting dishes of herbs aflame.
Ezra brought a pitcher of sweet smelling oil to Terayan, pouring it over his hair and hands, speaking in hushed tones all the while.
She bowed and returned to the altar. “It is time for the seer’s blood.”
Terayan’s eyes blinked open, now rings of black and gold. “Rayna.”
The Laevuls converged on Kado and Rayna. A golden dagger glinted in Ezra's hand and a bowl in Amblin's.
Ezra examined the dagger. “We were going to use the dried blood you were kind enough to leave us in Krymammer, but fresh from the vein will make this so much sweeter.
“No!” Kado shouted hoarsely. “Leave her alone.”
Rayna rolled away from them, her canine teeth flashing. She struggled to her feet.
“Greilmae,” Ezra hissed.
Rayna flew back against the wall, frozen except for her frantic green eyes.
Kado moved toward her, but Amblin waved his hand, blowing Kado back.
Before he could regain his feet, the Laevuls had cut Rayna’s arm, squeezing the blood into the bowl. They released her.
She folded to the ground as the Laevuls brought the blood to Terayan.
Kado scrambled to her side. Together, they turned toward the center of the room.
The Laevuls drew a strange, jagged symbol on Terayan’s forehead in Rayna’s blood.
Amblin tore at Terayan’s fine red doublet, revealing his bare chest. He drew another rune over the Councilor’s heart.
“Now, Kado.” Rayna tried to take her feet, but stumbled. “We have to stop this now. Kill him!”
But the dark power in the room intensified when Terayan was marked.
Kado could barely stand.
He couldn't help but feel this was what Terayan wanted—the two of them trapped in this vault, forced to watch this ritual—this Ascension—but unable to stop it.
Kado felt powerless—as powerless as when Enzo Aronak had taken away his mother.
Outside the vault, the muffled sounds had changed to the clangs of battle. The guards must have found Katrine and the others. He was powerless to help her, too.
No. A voice spoke in his head. With a burst of hatred, he thought it was Isaac’s at first.
But then he realized the voice was too young. No. I refuse to let any more people I love die.
Kado understood. It was his own voice.
He inhaled as much air as he could. The Laevuls had stepped back, but left the dagger in Terayan’s hand.
“There he is.” Terayan smiled. “There’s my arena champion. My white wolf.”
“You know about my wolf? What it meant?” Kado had long suspected this was so, but here was the proof.
“A white wolf—an avatar of Lumae’s power—a reflection of the bound divine. Of course I know what you are: my perfect sacrifice and the missing ingredient in my Ascension.”
The runes on his skin smoked. These runes were different than the ones Kado understood. All he could sense from them was evil.
Kado crawled toward Terayan. He would keep him talking, and when he let his guard down, Kado would end him. “Then why the arena? Why risk my life if it had value to you?”
Terayan laughed. “You were never in any real danger. Didn't you notice the times your opponents tripped, or lunged the wrong way, giving you an opening?”
The floor dropped from beneath Kado’s already churning stomach. “You mean…I killed those men, but I—” He swallowed, thinking of the last opponent he'd faced. “Lonian killed himself to save me, but you wouldn’t have let me die?”
“I needed you blood-soaked, but alive.” As Terayan laughed again, Kado prepared to strike, but Rayna beat him to it.
She launched herself at Terayan.
Terayan and Rayna hit the ground as one.
Kado smelled fresh blood.
But the Laevuls were quick to act, spitting their word magic and forcing Rayna back against the wall.
Terayan jumped to his feet, wincing as blood darkened his shoulder. “You test my patience, Rayna. At some point your behavior will outweigh your utility.” If the pain bothered him, he did not show it, turning his attention back to Kado instead.
“Come here, son.” He extended his left hand, raising the dagger in his right. “Let it all be over.”
“I’m not your son.” Kado came to his feet, shaking, but he managed to extend his claws.
“No.�
� Terayan grinned. “You’re the bastard son of a slave whore and a traitor.” He laughed. “The Gods must have a sense of irony, if they allowed a piece of the divine to attach itself to such a pitiful thing.”
“Don’t speak about my mother that way!” Kado shouted.
Quicker than Kado thought possible, Terayan wrapped his free arm around Kado, pulling him against his chest.
Kado struggled, but Terayan held him with inhuman strength.
“Your mother—the pure heart you couldn’t save,” he whispered into Kado’s ear. “What would she think of you now? A murderer playing at a hero. Die now, Kado Aronak, die knowing how magnificently you failed her.” Terayan raised the blade to strike Kado’s neck.
Time slowed as the last moment of Kado’s life stretched before him.
Rayna shouted, part howl, part scream.
The Laevuls’ chanting rose in volume.
The blade hurtled toward Kado's skin. But as it did, Terayan’s hold on Kado let up a tiny fraction.
It was enough.
Kado twisted out of Terayan’s hold.
The momentum of his attack threw Terayan off balance. He stumbled, just keeping his feet.
Kado leaped onto Terayan, forcing him to the ground.
They hit the carved stone floor as Kado shifted into his white wolf form. He surged toward Terayan’s neck, expecting his motion to be arrested.
And yet, somehow, he connected.
The coppery, salty taste of blood flooded his mouth, hot and thick. It pumped between his teeth as Terayan’s jugular emptied.
Kado’s gaze flicked to his victim’s eyes.
Terayan's eyes flooded molten gold before they faded to a dead stare.
Kado released his hold and toppled. The blood coating his chest and muzzle steamed with the heat of the life he'd taken.
Kado stumbled back, reverting into his two-legged shape.
Terayan was dead.
In an instant, Kado had destroyed his greatest enemy.
He knew he did not have long. The Laevuls would avenge their fallen leader.
But for this one moment, at least, Kado knew peace.
He closed his eyes. He would see his mother soon.
But another face with kind brown eyes filled his mind’s eye.
Katrine.
Not seeing her again was his only regret. He wished he could apologize for the way he treated her—to tell her he understood now what a fool he had been.
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