53. Clash of Stone and Steel #3
But now that the doubt was there, she couldn’t ignore it. It dug its claws into her brain, into her heart, and wouldn’t let go. Her chest tightened at the possibility that, not only was the man who’d murdered her sister still alive, but she’d killed the wrong person for it.
The man she’d killed was guilty of at least two other crimes she knew of, but was it possible he wasn’t guilty of the one crime that mattered? He’d told her as much at the time, had begged her for his life, but she’d been deaf to his pleas.
Gods, the things she’d done to him. She’d never again killed anyone as cruelly and violently as she had that day.
Aidan looked up as the sky grew dark and the temperature dropped, but Talyn barely noticed the change as she tried to wrap her head around what the lord had just said.
He’d spent several nights with her sister, but he hadn’t known her name. There was only one reason she could think of that explained why.
“You killed my sister,” Talyn said. It was as much a question as a statement, and her voice shook with both fury and shame.
Aidan didn’t answer, but the cruel look in his eye told her everything she needed to know.
Gods above. It wasn’t possible. He was a gods damned Lord of the Triumvirate.
Talyn launched herself at Aidan as her daggers flashed through the air.
He pulled the trigger on his crossbow, but she ported a fraction of a second before the bolt would’ve hit her.
She appeared behind him and thrust her dagger down toward his neck with a fierce shriek she was sure she’d never be able to make again.
A pulse of power shuddered over the field, causing her to stumble sideways, and somehow Aidan turned in time to deflect her blow. He grabbed the blade, and the dagger turned instantly to sand that fell to the ground in a pile.
Fuck. She’d forgotten his transfiguration powers.
She was surprised enough by the sand that she didn’t see Aidan’s fist coming until it had just about struck her.
Her reflexive attempt to dodge probably saved her from being knocked unconscious, but Aidan’s punch still connected partially with her temple and knocked her to the ground.
Stars burst before her eyes, and her vision faded first to bright white, then to black before she blinked her surroundings into focus again.
It had grown almost as dark as night around them, and Talyn felt an inexplicable dread that had nothing to do with Julia as she shivered.
It seemed to have dropped at least ten degrees since they first got here, and there was a strange noise building in her ears that she tried to dispel by popping them. It didn’t help.
“Get back through the portal!” a frightened voice shouted from somewhere to her left. Magdalene.
The mist started to clear, and bodies littered the ground in pools of dark blue and crimson as Talyn picked herself up. Three hulking forms – the gargoyles – were scattered around the clearing, still fighting with the last of the creatures.
A tall figure in black clothes – Lord Bressen – was also picking himself up off the ground as Sandrian ran from him toward a portal. The one on the other side of the chasm was closed, and Magdalene had created a new one on this side to aid their retreat.
Aidan stood in front of her, and her eyes met his. He seemed to debate a moment, then he turned and ran for the portal as well.
Alarm jolted through Talyn as Magdalene and Sandrian reached the portal and stepped through. Aidan ran toward it, only yards from escaping, and fire burned in Talyn’s blood. She had to stop him. She had to kill him.
No, not yet. Aidan hadn’t actually admitted to killing Julia. She was almost certain he had, but she’d been wrong once before. She needed to be absolutely certain she had the right man this time. She needed incontrovertible proof. She needed…to be able to read his mind.
Nausea churned in Talyn’s stomach at what she had to do, and she only had seconds to do it.
She spared one more second to consider her decision before she ported to where she’d been standing earlier with Samhail.
The caronium cuff he’d discarded still lay on the ground, and she grabbed it.
Her power blinked out when she touched it, but she shoved it in her pocket, and the power returned when she no longer had direct contact with the metal.
Talyn ported in two quick jumps to Lord Bressen and pulled the cuff from her pocket before snapping it on his wrist.
“What the-,” he started to say, but she sunk her fist into his stomach.
He grunted, but he didn’t go down as she’d hoped. Still, she’d surprised him enough that she was able to pull the sword from his hand.
She looked toward the portal. Aidan was just stepping through. It was now or never, and she was already damned.
“I’m so sorry, Lord Bressen,” she said before she grabbed his arm and ported with him.
One jump had her within feet of the portal, and one more took her and Bressen through it just as it closed behind them, cutting off Cyra’s scream and Samhail’s roar of fury.