But what did she have to use against him? Nothing, not a single weapon, not a lungful of air. All she had was a roiling knot of magic in her stomach that she could never reach. Tierri hit the floor again, his already bruised face slamming hard against the marble, and that was enough. If all she had was this gut feeling, then she would use it. She turned herself inward, tried to open herself up to it. The tightening had always been a feeling she dreaded but what would happen if she welcomed it, let it in? There were no women wielders, but she didn't want to control the elements. She wanted to control Danyll. She wanted to control herself.
He lifted her higher and higher, his mirthless laugh the loudest thing in her head until it was drowned out by the sound of air rushing by her ears. Air and water and fire and earth. Chills raced down her arms as she imagined herself gathering the ball of glowing heat inside of her. Madlin and Merek and Tamsin and Imeyna. She sucked in a thin bit of air and it made a horrible wheezing noise as it fought her, and then she exploded.
Or that was what it felt like. Everything rushed out of her at once, like she had become a bottle of firewater and someone had dashed her against the wall. Rayne crashed to the ground, landing painfully on her arm, her head smacking against the stone just short of the chasm that Danyll had opened in his tantrum. It took her a second to get her bearings, and when she did, she saw Danyll sprawled on the floor, Tierri not a foot from him. Both men were wild-eyed, looking at their hands and then at the disaster around them. Weapons that had been glowing with spellwork had been extinguished and Rayne's breathing came with no trouble.
Something had happened to the magic. It was gone.
Danyll and Tierri seemed to both realize it at the same time. Tierri lunged for Danyll as the man—smaller now without the power of his slaves beneath his belt—scrambled backward. But he wasn't fast enough. Rayne couldn't look away. Her head rang as she pushed herself to her feet. She blinked and shook her head to try to clear it. The world had narrowed to just the three of them, everyone else fading away.
Both men were on the floor, a tangle of limbs. Tierri snatched the knife—her knife, she realized—from Danyll's belt, his fingers certain around the hilt. Rayne saw the moment Danyll knew it was over. He balled his fists, begging Enos to give him back his power. But Enos did not oblige, and Tierri sliced the knife across the prince's throat.
Danyll gagged and spewed blood, opening his mouth to talk, only to find that his vocal chords had been severed. Rayne watched his eyes and for the briefest of moments felt sorry for him. He was the hero of the story he told himself, wasn't he? And he had just lost. He fell forward in a pool of his own blood. Tierri knelt over him, panting, and as Danyll took his last breath, the golden armband, the one that had bound Tierri's magic for years, kept him captive and made him a mere shadow of what he could be, cracked.
It split jaggedly down the center as if it were nothing more than a piece of stone, and fell away to the floor with a clatter. Tierri watched it fall and then raised his hand in front of him, looking at it as if it belonged to a stranger. Then he snapped his fingers and fire flared to life around his hand, licking his fingers and trailing up his arm. He made a fist, and the fire died.
The world came back in a rush. Tierri's eyes darted around the chaotic ballroom. The Knights were working their way through the resisting guards. Bodies littered the floor, noblemen and rebels, guards and servants. No one had been spared.
“Go,” he said to her, pushing himself to his feet and pressing the bloody dagger into her hand. “The spells will be down. She'll be exposed. You have to be the first one there.”
Edlyn. She didn't know if Tierri wanted her to protect her sister or to kill her, but either way, he was right. She hadn't seen Wido, but she knew he had to be there. If he beat Rayne to Edlyn, he would use her to steal the crown. The crown that Rayne had finally decided did not belong to him. She didn't need to ask Tierri what to do. She would figure it out when she got there.
“Wait,” Tierri said before she ran off, his hand around her arm pulling her back. His lips found hers with an intensity that made her ache, and it was over too soon. “I don't know what you did but—”
“We'll figure it out later. When this is over,” Rayne promised.
Tierri nodded and she wondered if he had the same vision she did—the two of them ruling Hail together. Malstrom and Crowheart. Hail's past and its future. A country restored and united.
“Go,” he said. “I'll watch your back.”
And he did. She fled from the ballroom and he bellowed a challenge to the Knights that would follow her, fierce in his newfound freedom.
? ? ?
The silence in the corridors was eerie compared to the commotion of the ballroom and the courtyard beyond. Rayne's feet slapping the stones was the only sound as she flew up the stairs and pushed open what had once been a Crowheart door with no resistance. With Danyll gone, his enchantments had dissolved.
“Danyll?” Edlyn's voice came down the hall, and Rayne skidded to a stop in time to see her sister emerge from her room, resplendent in a red gown. No wonder she wore pastels all the time. In this bright jewel tone, she was blindingly beautiful, as radiant and as dangerous to look at as the sun. As soon as Rayne caught sight of her, she felt her resolve crack. “Rayne, what are you doing here?”
She was scared, but Rayne couldn't blame her. The last time they'd seen each other, Rayne had attacked her and been revealed as the Iblia assassin. Everything Edlyn had thought she'd known about Rayne was a lie.
“I wanted things to be different,” Rayne said. She kept her distance, staying a good four or five yards away, but Edlyn still backed away until she collided with the doorframe. “When Father killed Madlin, my heart broke. Not just for her, but for everyone whose lives he had ruined.”
Edlyn drew herself up, squaring her shoulders, much as she had done when faced with Seloue's harsh words. “He did what he had to do to keep us safe. To conquer countries and pave the way for a Crowheart empire.”
“An empire built on the bones of its people?” Rayne took a few hurried steps forward but stopped just short of touching her sister, who had turned her face away, cringing like a dog expecting a kick. “Is it really an empire if he has to enslave half of the people to keep them under his rule? If he has to kill twelve-year-old girls as an example for others daring to step out of line?”