“Less hesitation this time,” Mother says, her tone mocking. “Is it because I almost had your husband eaten by a horse?”
I narrow my eyes. It’s time to bluff like there’s no tomorrow—because there might not be. If I can make my lightning work, I can still save the rest of our people. No Metal Mage or anyone else could stop me. I’ll use Mother’s own lesson against her. Conceive. Believe. Want it. Make it happen.
I reach into my well of power, searching for that elusive spark. “Surrender, and I’ll let you live.”
She chuckles, and her laughter makes the metal breastplate she’s wearing over her dress move. Like her, the armor is ostentatious and hard. “You never were this funny as a child. It’s almost a shame to end you. You’ve become so entertaining of late.”
“You didn’t find it entertaining when Ares and Persephone showed up and chased you off with your tail between your legs.”
She arches dark eyebrows. The withering expression on her face turns my stomach, mostly because I know I can look exactly the same way. “But it was vastly entertaining to throw you into a volcanic pit.”
I feel more than see Kato’s sharp look and know his cobalt eyes are boring into the side of my face. Flynn makes a growling sound deep in his throat. I probably should have told them about that myself.
“It must have been a lot less funny for you when I flew back out,” I say.
Her mouth pinches, and her body language screams disapproval. Mother never could stand it when I refused to enter into her mental games or managed to subvert her razor-edged questions.
“Which is why I’ve decided to concentrate less on the show and more on the result.” Magic gathers around her. “Any last words?”
Throwing my own words back at me is a joke to her, I suppose. I start to move forward. There are people between us, and she’ll go through them to get to me. Griffin, Flynn, and Kato follow my lead, flanking me.
I can’t help looking at the fallen. The twins are there. They were leading us toward the gate, blowing fire to clear a pathway. Bellanca, Carver, and Lukos nearly knew the same fate.
The three of them draw toward us, condensing Beta Team into a line with our soldiers behind us. When there’s nothing but empty space and crushed bodies between Mother and me, I look her up and down with disgust.
I have no Dragon’s Breath left. I let out burning words instead. “I spit on you and everything you stand for.”
No one moves. Nothing does. The collective stillness is the result of fear. Mother’s soldiers fear her wrath. Our soldiers fear for us.
“I stand for me,” Mother answers, something defiant in her tone.
Is that really what she wants? What anyone would want? That’s the most unfulfilling and lonely life I can think of. “It’s too bad you can’t see beyond yourself. You’re a dark hole, and the world is full of color.”
Mother’s expression seems to turn even more brittle as she stares at us. She looks at me, at Griffin. At Beta Team on either side of us.
Her chin lifts. She barks a command, and more Metal Mages pull hard on our weapons, making them shudder in our hands.
“Secure your weapons!” Griffin orders.
We’ve trained for this. Our people slam their swords and knives back into their sheaths. The blades still rattle. Gods damn it! We’re surrounded by them—Metal Mages everywhere.
Weapons are no longer an option. We’re down to fists and what little magic we brought with us. I could steal a Metal Mage’s power, but it wouldn’t do us any good. I could grab a weapon, but one of them would just take it right back.
I search the air for something else, something more useful, but Bellanca’s fire is the only other combat magic I sense. I ignore the few healers I feel, and from Frostfire, I already know that Mother’s telekinetic magic isn’t something I can use.
Turning inward, I probe myself hard, and the best I can say is that I feel my lightning lurking somewhere. It doesn’t leap to the fore. In fact, it doesn’t leap at all.
Mother smirks knowingly. “Still need that potion?”
Somehow, I smirk back. “I’m very effective with my bare hands.”
“Ah, I taught you something, then? I did try, you know. If you hadn’t been so poorly influenced by your sister, I’d have made something of you.”
Poorly influenced? Fury boils inside me. My hair starts to rise. I recognize this feeling, this storm inside, and grab on to it. A current coils down my arm and snaps between my fingers. Ha!
I throw out my hand and let a bolt fly off my fingertips.
Mother ducks. “Touched a nerve, did I?”
Despite her flippancy, she sounds rattled. I’m sure she is. And when she’s rattled, she—
Ah! Power punches my brain, and I gasp. I grab my head, just like everyone else except for Griffin. His eyes widen, and he reaches for me.
“Cat?”
I groan. It’s excruciating. I almost rip the pearls from my belt and slap them over my forehead, but I can’t do that. They’re for Little Bean, protecting her from this. I grit my teeth, fighting back.
Mother batters me—batters everyone. Is this what she’s capable of when her magic isn’t already depleted? Or when she’s not wielding it from a distance? The power is staggering. Her compulsion is a chisel pounding away at my brain, shaving off layers, each hit separating me from my will, separating me from who I want to be. I hear her over and over again in my head. She’s telling me to kill. Kill everyone around me. Kill now. Kill until there’s no one left.
Soldiers—hers, ours—turn on one another like animals. They have no hope of fighting off her horrific command.
Next to me, Flynn raises his ax, his face contorting with bloodlust and rage. The blade glints above me, and I stumble back, still clutching my hammering head.
Griffin slams into Flynn, knocking him down to protect me. The two men, fast friends since childhood and alike in size and skill, grapple with each other on the ground. Flynn rears up, still trying to attack me. Griffin’s fist collides with Flynn’s jaw. Flynn shakes off the blow and then changes target, sinking a brutal punch into Griffin’s stomach. They beat on one another again and again and then drag each other down and roll. Griffin on top. Flynn on top. The world spinning out of control.
I shake my head, trying to dislodge the terrible pain and the even more terrible command to kill. My mind throbs, and the desperate struggle against the onslaught of violent urges makes vomit surge in my throat. I’m the only one still fighting her. Griffin is immune, and he and Flynn battle in the stones and dust. Carver and Bellanca battle each other. Flames. Blades. He strikes hard. She just barely dodges, screaming savagely, completely on fire. I don’t see Lukos anymore. Where’s Kato?