Page 148 of Twist of Fate

Keir caught him before he reached the arch. The masked warrior hit the roof and rolled beyond the reach of Keir’s blade.

For an instant, he lay still.

Then his jaw moved.

“No!” Luke shouted.

The man collapsed into ash before Keir could reach him.

The gate began folding in on itself.

Connal grabbed his wrist with a strangled sound. Light blazed beneath his sigil, bright enough to shine through his sleeve. Keir, Asterius, and Zer reacted at the same moment, each mark answering the violent pull of the Queen-linked magic.

The object mounted at the base of the arch tore free.

The gate collapsed with a sound like stone splitting beneath immense pressure. Green-black light contracted into a single point and disappeared, leaving only the broken anchor lying on the wet roof.

The glow beneath Connal’s sleeve vanished.

Luke reached him first. “What happened?”

Connal pulled the fabric away from his wrist. The sigil remained, but the light inside it was gone. He pressed his fingers against the mark.

His expression changed. “I feel nothing.”

Asterius, Keir, and Zer checked their own wrists.

“Nothing,” Keir confirmed.

The marks remained, but whatever connection had awakened them was gone. Luke looked toward the broken object at the base of the collapsed gate. Green-black light still pulsed inside it, faint but steady.

“We’re taking that with us.”

Connal nodded. Keir used the edge of his blade to lift the fragment without touching it and wrapped it in a piece of heavy fabric torn from the ruined equipment.

Tyson checked his human device. “The evacuation held. The remaining employees are outside and someone named Patrick has taken the lead with the human authorities.”

Luke’s shoulders eased. Patrick was alive. The people who had worked in the building were alive. The receiver was dead, along with every record Hale had stored below.

More sirens rose from the streets surrounding the building.

“We need to leave,” Luke said.

Connal opened a portal and they all crossed through. They emerged in the Unseelie armory, carrying blood, ash, and enough rooftop water to spread across the stone floor beneath their boots.

Gomez was waiting, and he had some sort of glowing flowers woven into his hair. Several pixies hovered around him, all of them talking at once until Gomez saw Luke. He crossed the room at a run and wrapped both arms around him.

Pain shot through Luke’s ribs. “Ow.”

Gomez released him immediately, then caught his face between both hands. “You’re alive.”

“That was the plan.”

“It was a terrible plan.”

“Still worked.”

Gomez stared at him for another second before pulling him into a gentler embrace. His breath shook against Luke’s shoulder. Luke closed his eyes and held on.