I
realized too late. I had been dosed with Chryxalis before. The headache. The numb, tingling sensation at
my fingertips. I’d barely touched that wine. The dose had been powerful, perhaps even coated on the outside of the glass. Not that the details mattered now.
I snapped my fingers and yanked forth only the tiniest of sparks.
No.
I spun around just in time to see Eslyn flicker away — slowly, too slowly — before I could stop her. Ariadnea grabbed for her a split second too late, making the same horrifying realization that I did. She could have been caught between dimensions, if her magic failed her before she and the boy she carried could emerge.
I saw Ahzeen strike Tisaanah, heard her hit the floor, and my vision went red.
“Weapon!” I whirled to the guard boy we had met earlier, my hand outstretched. “Now!”
He wouldn’t understand my words, but he clearly understood my tone. I only glimpsed him dive for the corner of the room before my attention was yanked away by the telltale whoosh of a raised blade.
I evaded just in time.
But half a dozen guards were upon us like flies to carrion. Where I dodged one, I nearly ran into another. And the effects of the Chryxalis seeped far beyond the surface, stripping my wits and my reflexes from me just as it stripped my flames.
I caught a wrist swinging towards Sammerin’s head, twisted until I felt a crack, prying the sword from the guard’s limp fingers. In that moment, I had never loved my brother more for every miserable night he spent running me through drills on far too little sleep all those years ago, no magic allowed.
But even that could only get me so far.
Bodies closed in on me, more and more. I slashed, I jabbed, I evaded, until blood spattered across my face. But it wasn’t enough. There were always more.
Through them, I caught a glimpse of Tisaanah pushing herself up from the ground. Ahzeen standing over her.
A weak, pitiful cry rang out as the slave boy who had helped us fell to his knees, his throat slashed before he could reach our weapons.
A blunt impact struck the back of my head, but I surged forward, fighting arms and weapons and hands that tried to drag me back.
The forms closed in, blocking Tisaanah from view as she was struck again.
Beside me, I heard Sammerin let out a muffled grunt — the one sound that yanked me from my focus. I spun around to see him double over, clutching his side as one of Ahzeen’s soldiers held a bloody blade. Fuck, that left knee, I should have been watching —
In that moment of distraction, another pair of hands grabbed me, and another blow struck my head. I tasted blood.
The last thing I saw, through blurring vision, was Tisaanah being dragged from the room.
And the last thing I thought was that I was going to kill every last one of them.
