“If you’re going to kill me,” she snapped, “just do it already.”
“Oh, I will,” said Astrid, withdrawing her fingers from Lila’s throbbing shoulder. “But not yet. When I have finished with Kell, I shall come back for you, and I shall take my time divesting you of your life. And when I’m done, I’ll add you to my floor.” She held up her hand between them, showing Lila her fingertips, now stained with blood. It was such a vivid red against the queen’s pale skin. “But first…” Astrid brought a bloody finger to the place between Lila’s eyes, tracing a pattern there.
Lila fought as hard as she could to get free, but Astrid was an unmovable force on top of her, pinning her down as she drew a bloody mark on her own pale forehead.
Astrid began to speak, low and fast and in that other tongue. Lila struggled frantically now, and tried to scream, attempting to interrupt the spell, but the queen’s long fingers clamped over her mouth, and Astrid’s spell spilled out, taking shape in the air around them. A spike of ice shot through Lila, her skin prickling as the magic rippled over her. And above her, the queen’s face began to change.
Her chin sharpened, and her cheeks warmed from porcelain to a healthier hue. Her lips reddened, and her eyes darkened from blue to brown—two different shades—and her hair, once as white as snow and wound about her head, now fell down onto her face, chestnut brown and chopped in a sharp line along her jaw. Even her clothes rippled and shifted and took on an all-too-familiar form. The queen smiled a knifelike grin, and Lila gazed up in horror not at Astrid Dane, but at the mirror image of herself.
When Astrid spoke, Lila’s own voice poured out. “I better go,” she said. “I’m sure Kell could use a hand.”
Lila swung a last, desperate punch, but Astrid caught her wrist as if it were nothing more than a nuisance, and pinned it against the floor. She bent her head over Lila’s, bringing her lips to her ear. “Don’t worry,” she whispered. “I’ll give him your regards.”
And then Astrid slammed Lila’s head back against the ruined floor, and Lila’s world went dark.
*
Kell stood in the stone courtyard, surrounded by broken statues, a dead king, and a jagged piece of black stone. He was bleeding, and broken, but he was still alive. He let the ruined royal sword slip through this fingers and clatter to the ground and drew a shuddering breath, the cold air burning his lungs and fogging in front of his bloody lips. Something was moving through him, warm and cool, lulling and dangerous. He wanted to stop fighting, wanted to give in, but he couldn’t. It wasn’t over yet.
Half of the stone pulsed against his palm. The other half glinted on the ground where the serpent had dropped it. It called to him, and Kell’s body moved of its own accord toward the missing piece. The stone guided his fingers down to the splintered ground and closed them around the fragment of rock waiting there. The moment the two pieces met, Kell felt words form on his lips.
“As Hasari,” he said, the command spilling out on its own in a voice that was and wasn’t his. In his hand, the two halves of the stone began to heal. The pieces fused back together, the cracks untracing themselves until the surface was a smooth, unblemished black, and in its wake an immense power—clear, beautiful, and sweet—poured through Kell’s body, bringing with it a sense of right. A sense of whole. It filled him with calm. With quiet. The simple steady rhythm of magic pulled him down like sleep. All Kell wanted to do was to let go, to disappear into the power and darkness and peace.
Give in, said a voice in his head. His eyes drifted shut, and he swayed on his feet.
And then he heard Lila’s voice calling his name.
The stillness rippled as Kell forced his eyes open, and he saw her descending the stairs. She seemed far away. Everything seemed far away.
“Kell,” she said again as she reached him. Her eyes took in the scene—the ruined courtyard; Athos’s corpse; his own, battered form—and the talisman, now whole.
“It’s over,” she said. “It’s time to let it go.”
He looked down at the talisman in his hand, at the way the black threads had thickened and become like rope, wrapping around his body.
“Please,” said Lila. “I know you can do this. I know you can hear me.” She held out her hand, eyes wide with worry. Kell frowned, power still coursing through him, distorting his vision, his thoughts.
“Please,” she said again.
“Lila,” he said softly, desperately. He reached out and steadied himself on her shoulder.
“I’m here,” she whispered. “Just give me the stone.”
He considered the talisman. And then his fingers closed over it, and smoke whispered out. He didn’t have to speak. The magic was in his head now, and it knew what he wanted. Between one instant and the next, the smoke became a knife. He stared down at the metal’s glinting edge.
“Lila,” he said again.
“Yes, Kell?”
His fingers tightened on it. “Catch.”