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A snatch of magic sounded farther down the hallway. Nevelyn ignored Theo. She slid on through the shadows. The hallway opened up to a landing. There was a wide stairwell that fed down into a large reception area. There, a battle unfolded. Nevelyn stumbled to the railing and saw Ren Monroe. Their confidant was pinned behind an obnoxious statue. One of the Broods of old glared out, though half of his face had been blasted off. Landwin Brood was halfway down the steps. He showed no concern for his ancestor’s legacy as he unleashed another devastating spell. It sent the stone head rolling away. Ren Monroe ducked out, answering with her own magic. A bolt of arcane light that Brood swatted away with no more than a wrist-flick. It was clear. The girl was losing.
“Stop!”
Nevelyn started down the stairs. Landwin’s head whipped around. Ren was staring at her, clearly trying to figure out which version of Tessa Brood was about to join the fray.
“Tessa?” Landwin’s attention swung back to Ren. “Good. Help me finish this traitor. And then we can attend to your brother.”
He turned his back to her. An unthinkable mistake, except for the fact that he saw his daughter coming down the stairs to help him. She reached for the knife along her belt and took the steps two at a time. At the very last moment, some instinct forced him to turn around.
Nevelyn’s lunge became a tackle. It was the most bone-crushing physical hit she’d ever felt in her life. There was the initial blow, their breathless flight, and then a second devastating crunch as they collided with the hardwood floor at the base of the steps.
The two of them slid together and Nevelyn landed on top. Landwin’s wand—or at least she thought it was a wand—skidded into the shadows on their right. Her knife was closer. She snatched it off the ground, struggling to keep her balance, and then drove it down into his throat.
It caught impossibly in midair. An inch away from actual flesh. Magic hissed between them. She saw a translucent shield, surrounding his entire body. But as she kept driving the knife down, the spell trembled with movement. It was breaking. Underneath all that pressure. The knife had to work. This man needed to die. She drove it down again.
But Nevelyn flinched back when Landwin Brood’s face transformed beneath her. His features melted and shifted. She still held a knife, though the heft of it was heavier. The face beneath her was Garth’s. Lovely Garth with his broad smile and his toss of brown hair and a great red slash across his neck.
“Garth!”
She was back in her own body. Her temples pulsed with pain. Her entire body reeled, threatening to collapse sideways, but she fought off the feeling. Garth needed her. One of the cords must have ripped. She looked up. No, it had been severed. The knife. Garth had come to help her, against her wishes. He had come forward and cut her down. Thinking it was Nevelyn.
And Tessa Brood had made him pay for it.
Nevelyn ripped the fabric of her dress. She balled it up and pressed it to Garth’s neck, but so much blood was already on the ground. It spread out from him, forming dark tributaries.
“Garth,” she begged. “Wait. Please, Garth.”
His lips were moving. He reached up to her, his hand trembling violently.
“Stay with me! Hey! Stay with me, Garth.”
The blood had already soaked through the fabric. It was staining her hands. Garth tried to say something, but the noise guttered back down his throat. A sickly rattle. Nevelyn watched as the light left his eyes.
She screamed. A noise that began deep down in her chest. It was so loud that it didn’t even sound human. She thought they would hear it echoing over the city, louder than anything that had ever split the air. But then she remembered the walls were enchanted. Layer upon layer upon layer.
As she cradled Garth in her arms, she knew no one could hear her.
42 REN MONROE
Ren was shouting for Nevelyn to move out of the way.
One of Landwin’s protective shields was on the verge of shattering—and she had just the right spell to finish it off. Before she could shout again, the girl slumped sideways. She rolled clear of her father and came to rest on her back. With great heaving breaths, she stared up at the ceiling.
The magic reverted. That’s really Tessa Brood now. Time to finish this.
She unleashed her spell—a three-headed projectile that screamed from her wand with a high whistle. It struck Landwin Brood as he pushed up to a knee. His flickering shield spell shattered. That was the third one she’d burned through. Theo had told her that the shields were built into special trinkets he always wore on his person. She could see that the face of his watch had shattered. One of his golden rings had dulled to black. The items were destroyed when the shield finally broke. According to Theo, his father wore at least four layers of protection at all times.
One more to go.
Ren had not been outdueled so far. It was just hard to beat a person four times in a row. She’d taken several wounds herself. Her entire left side would be a pattern of bruises tomorrow, but only if she actually survived today. Landwin’s last shield activated. A subtle flicker in the air. He was trying to get back to his feet. He lurched slightly, eyes searching the ground. Ren wasted no time. She hit him with one spell. And then another. Always a rotation. Bolts of fire. Pressurized blasts of air. Arrows of honed steel. Few people had an arsenal that was quite as expansive as hers. Theo had explained that the more the shields had to protect against, the faster they’d drain.
“Ren!”
At the top of the steps. Theo limped into view. Vega was on his shoulder. She watched as he began his own casting. Her next spell struck Landwin first, lighting up the shield. Theo’s hit a few seconds later. There was a subtle whine in the air. Already, the last shield was starting to falter.
“The dragon’s tooth!” Theo called as he struggled down the steps. “Don’t let him get the tooth.”
Three things happened at once: Tessa Brood finally stood. The girl wobbled on unsteady legs, looking drunk. She stumbled unintentionally into Ren’s sight line. Behind her, Landwin dove for something in the shadows. And a second later Theo’s next spell soared overhead, missing its mark by mere inches.
