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“Not until you promise to help me.”

I made to step toward Leo, so help me, I would pummel his face in if he didn’t take us back home right now, but Adrian stepped between us, his voice turning to one of diplomacy. “Take us back home, and we can talk about whatever this is,” he said, motioning to the world beyond where we stood.

“I said no.” Darkness blended with the purple of Leo’s eyes as he rolled out his neck. His aggravation was growing. “The Nine killed my parents. This is my answer to making sure no one else dies by their hand.”

Adrian corrected him, as gently as he was capable of. “Rogues killed your parents, Leo. And we’ve had our men out day and night searching for them. We’ve already captured hundreds. They await trial in the castle’s dungeons. They will be punished.”

“They don’t deserve punishment, Adrian! They deserve death!” Leo clawed at his face, the darkness leaking from him. The normal matte-black of his night magic now tinged with deep purple. “The Nine, and what they serve, no longer works for One. My parents would still be alive if they’d had their powers. Don’t you two understand? We shouldn’t have to return our magic. It was given to us, for us to protect our people and ourselves. Where was my parents’ protection? They were murdered because they had none!”

I could tell Adrian was trying his hardest to stay calm; he didn’t want to upset Leo any more than I did, but Leo’s anger was nearing recklessness.

“Leo, listen to me,” Adrian pleaded, “The Nine were created to protect us⁠—”

Leo erupted, night lashing out at us, throwing Adrian and me apart, both of us hitting the ground yards away from each other.

“Fuck. Them!” Leo bellowed, lashing his night out again, a shroud of blackness covering Adrian, holding him imprisoned where he had landed on the hard earth.

I whimpered, trying to get to my feet, but Leo was on me, yanking me up to look at him. “You’re going to help me, Bryn. I’m raising an army, and I need your power to help sustain them.”

I shoved against him, but he dug his fingers into me. There would be bruises later. “Leo, please. Let me go!”

Adrian tried to get to his feet, his purple fire raging into the night that had a hold on him. “Don’t fucking touch her!”

Leo turned to Adrian, dragging me forward so I faced my husband. “She’s mine to do whatever I wish with.”

This wasn’t Leo. The magic from this Earth was poisoning him.

Daylight radiated from me, muted by the limited sunlight in this world, as I pushed off Leo, his hissing the only indication that he’d been hurt by my magic.

I ran forward, hands out toward Adrian, but Leo tackled me from behind, slamming me face-first into the ground, flipping me so I was on my back, his hands wrapping around my throat.

I let go of the light deep inside me, trying to burn through his hold, but Leo was ready for it, his night suffocating my own powers, extinguishing my light.

“Leo!” I screamed. “You’re hurting me!”

“Say you’ll help me, Bryn, and I’ll let you go.”

“No!”

He roared above me, spittle flying from his mouth like a rabid dog. “So be it, then.”

Coldness from the ground pierced my back, shooting up through my chest.

“Bryn!” Adrian screamed, but it sounded far away. “What have you done?” he screamed again, at Leo this time.

Leo rolled off me, his face stunned. “I don’t know what happened,” Leo whispered, pushing himself away from me, crawling on his hands and knees.

Adrian’s face came into view as I lay on the ground.

He still sounded far away, but he was right there. I didn’t understand.

Then the pain hit me.

I reached for my chest and felt the sharp rock there.

I’d been stabbed.

Leo had stabbed me.