“I did promise you all a slow and agonizing death,” I said evenly. “The last incarnation of you will be next. And don’t forget to tell that bastard I once called brother I’m coming after him as well.”
Winter chuckled, though it ended up being more of a gurgle. Blood erupted from his mouth and spilled down his sharp, pale cheeks. He was as broken on the inside as he was on the outside.
“We both know that neither you nor your brother have that sort of courage.” His words were a guttural, pain-filled whisper, and I couldn’t help but rejoice in that fact. “It’s why he gave you to us, and why you will make every effort to save him when in truth he should be dead by now.”
I guessed in one respect he was right. Up until very recently, I hadn’t been willing to give up on my brother. But he’d certainly given up on me. Hell, he’d handed me over to Darkside without any hesitation or qualm, despite knowing exactly what waited for me. In fact, he’d no doubt sanctioned the torture, because he needed to extract everything I knew about his sword and Elysian. His dream—his goal—was far more important to him than the health and well-being of a sister. A twin.
The moment he’d darted me on the bridge, he’d killed whatever remnants of hope had remained within me, and in the process, tightened my resolve to stop him.
And I would stop him, no matter what it took. No matter what I had to do.
I smiled, and hoped it looked as cold and as unforgiving as it felt. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough which of us is right.”
He half laughed, but it disintegrated into another hacking cough. I stepped back to avoid the spray of blood.
“You won’t catch him,” he said, voice little more than a harsh rasp now. “He knows your grandmother’s tricks far too well, and he has the means and the power to counter them.”
“Very true.” I raised Nex. Lightning flickered around her blade, fierce and white in the gathering darkness. “But here’s the thing—he doesn’t know mine.”
“You have nothing beyond the ability to use the echoes of power that have gathered in those knives over multiple centuries. Your only real worth is the fact you come from a long line of witch kings.”
“Really?” I arched an eyebrow. “Then you might advise my brother that even though all my tests for magic came back null, that doesn’t mean I have no power. It simply means the testers—and the test—were incapable of discovering it.”
“You lie—”
“Do I? Then who do you think raised the earth that encases you? Who do you think raised the wave that drowned your counterpart on King Island? And who in hell do you think destroyed both your tunnel and that damn cavern holding those string creatures last night?”
He stared at me, obviously torn between believing and not.
“My brother has seriously underestimated what I’m capable of,” I continued, “and his actions on the bridge shattered all restraints of kinship. I’m coming for him.”
“And he’ll be waiting.”
“Good.”
And with that, I unleashed Nex’s fire and burned the fucker to a crisp. It was a far quicker death than either Nex or I desired, but creating the wave and calling down the air had seriously drained my strength, and not even the warm wash of Vita’s energy could completely restore it.
Once his body was little more than a dark stain on the ground, the earth that had caged him collapsed, and her pulse softened to a whisper.
I sucked in a deep breath and then resolutely made my way back to the house, pausing briefly in the cover of the pencil pines to check the situation on the roof. There was no sign of sharpshooters and, at first glance, no indication there’d been any sort of fight.
I frowned, wondering if the shooters had fled and hoping like hell everyone was okay. They should be, given we hadn’t been caught by surprise, but Lady Luck had been somewhat fickle with her favors of late.
The closer I got, the more evident it became that first appearances were deceiving. Several ornate windowpanes in the orangery at the far end of the house had been smashed, and there was smoke drifting up from the driveway side of the house. I leapt over the small border wall surrounding the patio garden and ran across to the doors. They opened before I reached them, and Mia appeared.
Her clothes were torn, her hair in disarray, and there were several thick scratches on her face, but her smile was wide and her eyes shone.
“It seems someone very much enjoyed getting in on the action,” I commented, amused.
“It’s always good to find a legit reason to use my training.” She pushed the door open wider and then stepped back. “Mo sent me here to tell you everything is okay and not to panic.”
I snorted. “Which generally means there is something to panic about.”
“Not this time. This way.” She turned and led me through the breakfast room. “The mansion’s staff are all safe, no one on our team is hurt, and nine bad guys are bundled up waiting for the preternatural boys to come and collect them. Oh, and your Blackbird is here, and looking rather hot, might I add.”
Anticipation stirred through me, and it was all I could do not to race through the house. While I wanted nothing more than to be wrapped in the warm solid strength of his arms, we had a whole world of problems to deal with first.
Starting with the fact I’d basically just declared war on my brother and needed to get to him before he got to me.
“So, what’s on fire out the front?”
“The van a couple of our attackers tried to escape in. Barney got a little enthusiastic with a stopping spell, apparently.”
I smiled. “Care to explain why you have twigs and leaves in your hair, then? Did someone throw a tree at you?”
“Close. I tripped over the protruding leg of a table when I stepped back from a blow and fell into a tree.”
I laughed. “I’m guessing you won’t be telling your sensei about that.”
Her smile flashed. “Actually, I will be because I still managed to take the bastard out despite him having the advantage.”
“Well done, you.”
“Thank you.”
Henry appeared as we entered the entrance hall and looked utterly unfazed by everything that had happened. “Dinner has been placed in the warmer, ladies. Would either of you like a drink while you’re dealing with the unpleasantness outside?”
I smiled at his polite terminology. “Thanks, but not right now. Mia?”
“I’m good.”
Henry nodded and opened the front door for us. The night, I noted with a shiver, was far colder now that the surge of adrenaline had eased and Vita’s pulsing no longer warmed my side. I rubbed my arms and wished I’d thought to grab my sweater on the way through the breakfast room.
Mo, Luc, Ginny, and Barney were all standing in the driveway. Behind them were the still-smoking remains of a black van. In front of them, in a somewhat ragged circle, were our nine attackers. Eight were sitting and in various states of bloody disarray. The ninth was lying flat and alternated between groaning loudly and cursing because no one was getting him medical help. None of his limbs appeared broken, so maybe he’d damaged his back. A containment spell looped around them all, though it was Barney’s rather than Mo’s magic.