Finally in control of his weapon again, Nathaniel steps toward Crispin, shouting, “Lean forward!”
Crispin immediately obeys, stretching his chains taut behind himself and closing his eyes. It is an act of pure trust. Nathaniel could cleave Crispin’s head from his shoulders. Hundreds of years of war between the fae and the Fell should tell Crispin not to trust Nathaniel at all.
Nathaniel swings the halberd, slicing cleanly through the chain constraining Crispin’s right arm and then the one holding his right foot. The shackles around Crispin’s wrist and ankle remain in place, but he is half-free from the wall.
As Nathaniel swings his weapon again, this time aiming for the remaining two chains, Nadina demands my attention, flinging firelight at Nathaniel to stop him.
My hand darts out and my starlight cuts right through her flames, deflecting the fire onto the floor at Nadina’s feet.
She flinches and lurches backward, her chest heaving. “I should have been the one to challenge you at the Winter Ascending,” she snarls. “I would have killed you.”
I tilt my head as I consider her. She was certainly the one I’d predicted I would be fighting. I was surprised when Imatra chose Calida, but then I found out that Imatra had leverage over Calida that would ensure Calida did everything she could to kill me. Nadina, on the other hand, has never loved anyone enough for the Queen to have any leverage over her.
Winning a fight is not only about strength and skill. It’s about knowing your opponent, their weaknesses, strategizing how to use those weaknesses against them. Nadina is proud and overly confident. She’s accustomed to bullying those who are vulnerable and controlling those who are as strong as her. If I attack her pride, she will remain focused on me and not on what’s happening around us.
Behind me, Nathaniel has freed Crispin, who races to his son’s side, checking Evander’s wounds. He needs time to heal Evander, which I plan to give him.
“Why don’t we find out?” I say to Nadina. “Just you and me. Whomever subdues the other first.”
She can’t kill me. I can see her working through the consequences in her mind, but I don’t want her to think too hard about it.
Before she can respond, I step forward and backhand her across her cheek, right where she already has a bruise.
It’s a deliberately provocative move.
She sucks in an angry breath, retaliating with force, her fist aiming squarely for my stomach. I allow her to land the punch, grab my arm, and swing me so that my right arm is curled around her chest. Her left elbow cracks across my face before she wrenches herself around again, still gripping my arm and forcing me into a crouch. We’re now facing each other again.
A cruel smile spreads across her face. “You’re not so strong.”
Pulling me upright, her free fist cracks across my face before she releases me. She is not lithe and agile like Calida. Meeting Nadina’s fist is like greeting a bag of rocks.
Warm liquid trickles down my cheek—blood—but Nadina takes a quick step back as she focuses on it, a suddenly startled look on her face. I don’t have time to check the liquid to see what has surprised her so much.
She quickly hides her expression, charging toward me again.
Across the way, Crispin pulls Evander into a hug. Evander’s head drops to his father’s shoulder. He’s still unconscious, but the quick view of his skin tells me he’s healed.
Nathaniel crouches and pulls one of Evander’s arms across his shoulder and Crispin turns so that both men rise up with Evander between them, carrying him by supporting one of his arms across their shoulders.
I’ve bought them the time they needed.
My right foot snaps out in a solid kick that knocks the wind out of Nadina’s chest, her own momentum adding to the force of the blow. I follow through with two fierce punches before I leap, knocking her off her feet and onto the hard marble floor. She screams, not expecting the full force of my fists since I went easy on her before.
My knee lands on her chest, pinning her down while my power sizzles through my hands, my palm hovering above her face and casting starlight across her startled eyes.
“It’s over, Nadina,” I say. “Only the fight between Nathaniel and me will determine the fate of the fae now.”
She snarls up at me. “You were never worthy of Imatra’s attention.”
“Her games, you mean,” I say. “She plays games with everyone, Nadina. You just don’t know it until the rope she placed around your throat squeezes so tightly that you can’t breathe anymore.”
Firelight flickers in Nadina’s eyes, sizzling down her chest and arms, but my starlight presses back against it. Two days ago, I told Serena that it isn’t my job to kill my people, but now I’m not sure who my people are. The fae… the Fell… the Lucidia…
This close to the golden rose pinned to her chest, I can see that most of its petals have turned black. She has used up nearly all of the malice in the flower. She might only have one solid attack of firelight left.
“We’re walking out of here,” I say to her. “If you value your life, you’ll let us leave.”
She cranes her head upward, her speech venomous. “I will kill your family. I will kill everyone who loves you. I will kill—”
My power glows across her face and her eyes turn instantly blank. Asleep. Her head drops to the floor, but I catch her before her skull splits on the hard surface. I have to believe that there is hope for her, the same way there was hope for Serena, who tried to kill Nathaniel because she believed she was doing the right thing.
But with Nadina… I shake my head, uncertain, as I rise to my feet, leaving her where she lies.
Nathaniel and Crispin wait at the bottom of the stairs for me. Nathaniel holds his halberd safely, blade down, on his other side. Crispin is the closest to me and I can just make out Evander’s serene face where he rests between them. He’s sleeping peacefully now.
Crispin reaches out his hand for me, his previous disquiet hidden. When I first arrived, he looked at me as if he didn’t know me, but now he gives me a smile that softens his harsh features.
He murmurs, “Here stands before me a woman who is as bright and courageous as she was always meant to be. You are you now, Aura.”
Sudden tears burn at the back of my eyes. Crispin was never one for speeches. He’s been a steady but stoic presence in my life.
I take his hand, needing to tell him how grateful I am that he raised me, that he took me in when nobody else would.
A flash of dark light breaks across my vision.
I spin back to Nadina in time to see her rise up and throw the liquid dagger she just plucked from her hip at Crispin’s heart.
Chapter 20
Desperate to stop the blade, my hands shoot out, blasting starlight across the space between Crispin and the dagger, but I’m already too late.
“No!” My scream echoes around us as the blade thuds into his shoulder.
The impact knocks Crispin back into Evander while Nathaniel tries to grab them both to stop them all from falling. I run toward them, grasping Crispin while Nathaniel catches Evander before he hits the floor.
“Crispin!” I shout.
My father’s eyes are open, his face filled with pain, but his gray eyes are also hard and fearless. Angrier than I’ve ever seen him.