“I can carry him down the stairs,” Nathaniel says. “Crispin can heal his burns. We need to get them both out of here.”
Nathaniel maneuvers Evander so that my brother rests across his shoulders before Nathaniel rises upright again. I make sure Evander’s head remains steady and that his burned skin doesn’t press against Nathaniel’s shoulders before I step back.
My brother is not a small person. I suddenly flash back to this morning when Hagan carried Nathaniel to Treble’s back. Latent panic grips me and I clutch my thigh so hard, I’m in danger of ripping the training suit I’m wearing.
I swallow a sudden sob, trying to push away my emotions, unprepared for how strong they are. Using my power seems to increase the intensity of my feelings, making me feel raw, far less in control. Two days ago, when I took Nathaniel to Crispin and asked him to heal Nathaniel, Crispin told me that old magic is filled with all of the nuances of the human heart: both light and dark, happiness and sadness, anger and love. All of these things rage through me right now, heightened with every passing minute of life I have left.
I hurry down the next three steps ahead of Nathaniel so he doesn’t see the flood of tears I’m holding back.
“I’ll protect you both,” I say, forcing my voice not to wobble as Nathaniel follows me, his steps careful now that he’s carrying Evander.
Nearing the bottom of the staircase, the room opens up around us. It’s like stepping into the White Walls all over again and I shiver at the cold memories. The walls and floor here are lined with pristine white marble, except that golden chains are securely bolted at intervals along the walls.
Crispin is shackled to the opposite side of the room, fully alert but gagged. His shirt is ripped and his ash-gray hair is singed on the ends, indicating that he was attacked with firelight. His gray eyes widen as soon as he sees us. He freezes in the act of tugging on his restraints. His gaze quickly takes in Nathaniel carrying Evander and then stops on me.
I haven’t seen what I look like now, but I know I don’t look like myself anymore, not like the daughter he knew. He watches me with a startled intensity, his strong eyebrows drawing down into a perplexed frown.
I read the question in his mind, the question that broke me apart: What is she?
It’s impossible to speak with him. Nadina prowls back and forth in front of him, dressed in full battle armor. She is the Captain of the Queen’s Day Guard, the one who threatened Crispin in his home and attacked Nathaniel above the glitter field at the end of our first day.
She’s wearing another one of those damn golden roses.
She grips Nathaniel’s halberd in her right hand as she paces, but she isn’t tall enough to hold the halberd easily, pointing its blade down so that the shaft extends upward parallel with her arm.
Her eyes widen when she sees me, her jaw dropping a little before she collects herself.
Her upper lip curls in disgust, as if she considers me to be disfigured now. “The Queen said you’d changed.”
“Then she wasn’t lying,” I say. “For once.”
Nadina has never been easily intimidated. Tiny flames dance along the surface of her sleeves and lick around the tips of her fingers where she grips Nathaniel’s weapon. “She also said you’d come for Crispin and, if you did, I am to kill him.”
I pause before I take another step. Nathaniel stops behind me, slightly to my left, but while I freeze in place, he proceeds to the side of the room. He carefully slides Evander to the floor, propping him into a sitting position against the wall. Nathaniel appears completely unaffected by Nadina’s threat, taking his time making sure Evander will remain upright, my brother’s head supported against the wall.
Nathaniel’s measured movements make Nadina twitch, which only makes me relax. She won’t like that he’s ignoring her.
A drop of sweat rolls down the side of her face, betraying her nerves. The shrill tone of her voice conveys her fading confidence as she takes a step toward me. “I can burn you and your family to ash, Aura. I’ll give you one chance to walk away, but if you don’t, I’ll start with killing your beloved father.”
She points the halberd at Crispin, who watches Nadina with caution. It would have taken more than a few women to restrain him and bring him here, especially if the Springtime fae tried to protect Crispin. A faint bruise across Nadina’s cheek indicates she was wounded during the capture.
I exhale and inhale a calming breath. I wait for Nathaniel to return to my side. His focus is now fixated on his weapon, the gleaming blade swinging at Nadina’s side—where it doesn’t belong. His gaze follows the line of her firelight down her sleeve, across the back of her hand, but the halberd’s shaft doesn’t catch on fire despite being wooden.
It looks like the light repels fae magic, just like we saw in the glitter bulb memories.
It’s time to test whether the halberd repels old magic too.
Nathaniel glances at me, his muscles tensing a second before my right arm shoots up.
My power wells inside me, an endless tide that I’m holding back. I don’t have to call it. There’s no split second of waiting. It’s part of my body, covering me as closely as my skin. It follows the path I want it to travel, the perfect angle with the perfect amount of force.
Starlight streaks toward Nadina.
Her firelight sparks a second later than my power, dragging from the golden rose, filling her free hand, coursing toward me in retaliation.
My power hits exactly where I want it to: the curved, silver blade. The impact is so sudden and fierce that it knocks the weapon from Nadina’s hand. The blade spins midair and lodges in the wall behind her, far enough from Crispin that it’s in no danger of hurting him and close enough that Nathaniel will be able to reach it without crossing paths with Nadina. At the same time, my starlight bounces off the blade, cutting across the air in front of Nadina’s chest.
She screams but doesn’t try to retrieve the weapon, focusing her attention on me.
My power floods the space in front of me as her firelight hits me, the stream of her flames boring into the surface of the shield around me. Needing to keep her attention on me, I stride toward her, lifting my arms to pour starlight through the stream of her power, slicing through it.
She raises her other hand, firelight streaking from both her palms, pouring across my starlight like lava, but I only increase my pace.
A moment later, I reach her at a run.
My right fist snaps out, cracking across her cheek, starlight flickering through her cheekbone on impact. At the same time, I grab her left wrist, wrenching it upward. Starlight and firelight splash around us like droplets of water, our magic sizzling in the air.
She tries to kick me, but I spin, jolting her arm backward, forcing her to lurch forward so I don’t break her limb. I leap back when she retaliates.
I could finish her, but I release her instead.
I now stand between her and Crispin, one arm outstretched, ready to let my power loose, warding her off.
Across the way, Nathaniel braces against the wall and wrenches his weapon out of it. The moment he touches the handle, a flicker of light travels up his arm and through his chest, burning gold across his heart.
The magic he took from me sparks against the light magic in the blade, a dangerous combination that takes my breath away. If I’d had the sliver of my heart when I first met him, I would have seen it then. But what would I have done, if I’d known everything I know now?