No one answered.
“Which one of you did this?” I couldn’t breathe; hot blood boiled in my veins and all I could see was red. “Was it all of you? Was it?”
“He deserves far worse—”
I struggled and lunged, breaking free of my brother and Ella’s grip. I caught the smug rebel with my fist, and the two of us went down with my hands locked around his neck.
“Ryiah!” Alex and Ella tried to pull me away.
But I wouldn’t budge. I couldn’t. Every part of me was in flames.
The mage’s dirty fingernails cut into my wrists, drawing blood, but I just squeezed harder. All I could think about was hurting this man like he hurt Darren.
And then his magic hit.
I slammed against the wall with a thud. Every part of my body roared with hot, blistering pain. There was a snap in my chest and I was choking, spewing blood.
My hand shot out in front of my face.
I would make him pay. I would make him experience every cut and blow.
…But nothing came.
Something was wrong. I tried again.
I couldn’t feel it.
It was usually there, bubbling just underneath the surface, waiting… But this time, it wasn’t.
This time, my magic was gone.
My brother’s face appeared in my line of vision, his mouth opening and closing rapidly as his fingers brushed my head.
There was a flash of green, and then everything stopped. I was dizzy and numb; I couldn’t feel my own arms. A warm rush of relief slipped down through my skin, and then my eyelids fluttered shut.
The rest of my body followed.
*
The next time I awoke, I was back in the chamber from before. Alex slouched on a trunk at the side of my bed, his head nodding off as he slept, fingers still locked tight around my wrist.
There was a splitting ache in my head and my whole body trembled so violently I wanted to fall straight back to sleep. But I was too busy remembering everything from before. My heart started to beat heavily against my chest.
“Darren!” I choked out his name and lurched forward, only to fall back in pain.
Alex jerked awake. Almost immediately, green sparks danced along my wrist.
“Ryiah—” my brother’s voice was stern, “—you can’t do that again.”
He wasn’t talking about now.
My hands trembled under the pulse of his magic. “Darren wasn’t just their prisoner, Alex. They were beating him. He looked—”
“I know.” A lump rose and fell against my twin’s throat. “But if you do it again, Priscilla won’t let you back.” He swallowed. “You attacked a guard, Ry.”
“I lost control.”
“Ella spent hours convincing Priscilla you deserved a second chance. If you hadn’t pulled back on that casting—”
I gulped, suddenly remembering that moment before he cast me to sleep. “I didn’t pull back, Alex.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
“My magic… it wouldn’t come.”
“But you’ve had over two weeks of rest.” My twin’s eyes were wide. “You might not have your stamina from before, but you should be able to cast something.”
I lifted my palm from the blankets and concentrated, throwing every sense into the projection I was trying to cast. A minuscule flame. Something a novice could accomplish with ease.
Nothing happened.
Alex said nothing. His eyes locked to my palm as I squinted and tried again. A bead of sweat dripped down my forehead, but nothing else came.
After a couple minutes, I dropped my hand. My head hurt, but there was no blinding ache the way it usually felt after trying a casting when my stamina was too low.
No ache. No magic.
Whatever I’d once had, it was gone.
“Do you think it’s because of your last stand?”
“Maybe.” I didn’t know. A knot twisted in my gut. “Did it happen to Darren?”
“With the condition they’ve kept him in, no one would know.” Alex’s voice lowered to a whisper. “If he can’t, Ry, do you know what this means?”
My fingers twisted in my lap.
Alex scooted closer. “When the two of you each cast your last stand, you canceled out death, so the casting took something else.”
“Our magic.” I knew it was true as soon as I said it aloud. It was the only reason we were alive. It was the reason I felt nothing when I tried to cast, not even an ache.
“There is no record in the books, so there would be no way to know for certain.” His brows furrowed. “You might just take longer to recover your stamina.”
“It’s been two weeks. There’s nothing there. If there was, I would feel it.”
For a moment, there was only silence. Neither of us knew what to say, but I was too busy remembering that dungeon to mourn the loss of my magic.
“What do we do?”
“The rebels won’t hurt Darren again. Priscilla gave Ella her word I could treat the worst of his wounds so long as he keeps the rest to please Horrace.”
“It’s not enough.”
“You can see him.” Alex’s eyes were somber. “You can see Darren and be with him now. And every day we will plead his case to Priscilla. It’s all we can do.”
It isn’t enough.
20