A sound of both rage and agony fractured from Kalen’s mouth.
“He was not in the best of health, and the added compulsion broke him. Fortunately, his role in this matter had already been completed.”
A sudden spurt of laughter broke the silence. To my shock, it came from Khalad, his body shaking where he lay. “I wondered why you’d ignored me all these years, Father, only to start inquiring about me in these last few months. You needed me to forge this heartsglass. Does that still make me the royal disappointment?”
“Nonsense, Khalad,” Telemaine snapped.
“Nonsense?” With a grunt, Khalad flipped onto his stomach. “You said I was a worthless heir, incapable of giving you grandchildren because of my ‘unnatural proclivities.’ You banned me from functions and put Kance in the spotlight long before my heart turned silver. And when it did, you turned me over to the Heartforger and said I was no longer your son. Is that what you call ‘nonsense’ nowadays, Father?” His lip curled. “I thought you’d changed the last couple of months, and, fool as I was, it gave me hope. But I watched Kance support Likh’s appeal to become an asha, and you didn’t. How could you when you’d rejected your own son for those same unnatural proclivities?”
Khalad was resisting the spell, struggling to his feet. “You couldn’t even pretend. Couldn’t announce to the people why you refused to champion Likh’s bid when you couldn’t look at me without disgust. So instead, you took the opportunity to make it all about Kance and his engagement. That was why my brother was in such a state afterward—he’d realized your aim. I could see it all over your heartsglass: how dare this catamite upstart demand this from my obedient, normal son—”
Telemaine hit Khalad across the face, and he went down. “I would beat your proclivities out of you if I could,” the king said, seething.
Khalad choked on blood but laughed. “But you can’t, can you? You could bend Kance to your whims, but you could never do the same to me.”
“In the interests of scientific curiosity,” Althy said calmly, “what exactly are you intending to do here?”
“Make shadowglass, of course.” Aenah smiled. “Our forger here has done the impossible, replicating what we need.” She smiled at King Telemaine. “We will be immortal, he and I, and Odalia shall prosper under our rule.”
Fox’s gaze met mine. Kalen was close beside me, and I wriggled as best as I could until my feet brushed against his shin.
“Wait,” I spoke up. “Leave them alone and I’ll give my heartsglass freely.”
“Tea!” Zoya shouted behind me.
“How nauseatingly noble. Come here, Tea.”
Unwillingly, my body rose. Aenah laid a hand on my heartsglass.
“Such a waste, Tea. If events had gone differently, you could have been standing beside me.”
“I would rather stand with daeva.”
“Falling on misplaced courage now? You no longer control the azi, Tea. Daeva have no true master.”
The ground around us heaved, caught in the throes of a sudden earthquake. It knocked both Aenah and King Telemaine off their feet, and Aenah’s control wavered.
Fox and Khalad leaped forward, the latter plunging his hand straight into King Vanor’s chest. The roof above tore open. The azi gazed down at us, purring, and its strength sang through me.
“Impossible!” Aenah shrieked. “You do not control it! Why is it defending—”
I linked my will to Zoya’s, funneling as much of the magic as I could through her. The asha grunted, and I felt the wards unravel as she dissolved Aenah’s barrier.
Kalen’s sword slid out of his scabbard, runes flashing through the air. Fire streamed toward the Faceless, but she evaded it. Telemaine drew his own heavy sword, countering Kalen’s blow.
“Is this what it has come down to, Kalen?” the king said, taunting him. “Do you now raise your hand against me, as your father did?”
“You betrayed us!” Kalen shouted.
Telemaine swung again, and Kalen’s blade shattered. The Deathseeker retreated, and I saw faint cuts on his face and arms where the sword’s fragments had sliced him. “Common steel versus royal metal. This is no contest, boy.”
“Don’t underestimate me, Uncle.” Kalen sidestepped the next attack and lashed out with a leg sweep. The king stumbled, and Kalen rose to strike him on the arm, sending his sword sliding several feet away. Then he struck again at the center of the king’s chest, sending the burly man flat on his back. Zoya snatched up the sword, tossing it to Kalen.
“Surrender, Aenah,” Polaire said grimly, her and Althy’s runes weaving around them. “Immediately.”
“No.”
The ground shuddered again, breaking apart underneath me and lifting me off my feet. The aeshma forced itself up from the soil, screeching, only a few feet from where Mykaela, Khalad, and Vanor stood.
“Move, Khalad!” Zoya yelled.
“A few more seconds,” the forger insisted, his hand still through Vanor’s chest. The aeshma yowled, and its spikes lengthened.
Khalad ripped his hand free, and the bright light of Mykaela’s heartsglass illuminated the room. After years hidden away, its light seemed brighter than any asha’s heartsglass I had ever seen.
But the ground shuddered again, and Khalad lost his footing. The silver heartsglass landed with a thud by Vanor’s feet.
Mykaela staggered, and the aeshma attacked.
I tried to fight my way into the aeshma’s mind but couldn’t; Aenah’s hold on it was absolute. Kalen leaped forward, and I saw Polaire and Althy closing the distance to Mykaela, Shield runes forming around their friend.
King Vanor moved.
There was a sickening crunch.
Mykaela stared wordlessly at her former lover, impaled by one of the aeshma’s spikes. The royal noble’s arm reached for her, and the silver heartsglass glittered in his hands. He smiled slowly—a strange look on the otherwise expressionless face, like he was in the process of relearning how.
“Vanor,” Mykaela said softly.
He placed the heartsglass in her hands and, with a sigh, crumbled into ashes and dust, leaving only the aeshma and the spike behind. Furious at being deprived of a victim, the daeva lunged forward again.
Runes burst forth and surrounded the aeshma. The beast abandoned all attempts at assault and retreated, shrieking, as currents danced through its flesh. Mykaela stood in the center of that glowing storm, her heartsglass a beautiful display of unrepentant magic and light, scorching the walls of the tomb around her with her fury. For a few moments, the aeshma lay under her thrall, enough for it to retreat. But soon, her strength left her, and Mykaela sank down, breathing hard.
“Welcome back,” Zoya said, grabbing Mykaela. “Now let’s get out of here before we literally have no more ground to stand on!”
We made it out of the tombs just in time—before the aeshma breached the catacombs’ roof to take a swipe at the azi. The latter sent flames through the broken ceiling.
The aeshma hollered in response, a ball of spikes tumbling toward the daeva. I grabbed at the azi’s mind, registering its shock and pain as the two creatures collided. I tasted metal in my mouth as the aeshma’s spikes dug in. The azi breathed fire directly at the other beast; it detached from our hide and rolled away, its barbs black and charred.
“Assassins!” I heard King Telemaine scream at the soldiers. “Kill them!” I could hear the sounds of battle in the distance and realized that Alsron and Shadi were also attacking the city.
Althy extracted the moisture from the air, channeled Water and thick Mud into the soil surrounding the aeshma. The aeshma grunted when its spiked talons sank into the newly created quagmire. It struggled to raise itself but only managed to submerge itself deeper.
“The face is its most vulnerable,” she called out. “Concentrate your attacks there!”