Chapter 13 Ezra
Every twig that snapped beneath my boots threatened to expose us.
Stanhope had unleashed what felt like an army of Verisepth's balance enforcers.
I did not remember the priests ever commanding so many enforcers.
They prowled the length of the wall like wolves, hunting prey they knew had to be nearby.
Only ten girls had appeared for the marking.
That meant twice as many had refused Stanhope's decree.
He would never allow that kind of defiance to go unanswered.
My girls had gathered before the enforcers had come, thank the gods.
Now, we were crouched behind the brush, shrouded in my shadows and the wall of bushes that the eldest girl had grown.
At first, I had thought she might be like Liv, gifted with the power of life itself.
But as the vines thickened around us, I realized her gift was narrower.
Plants answered her call, and plants alone.
I had never met another Diviner who could command life the way Liv could.
My heart ached as I thought of Liv. One of the smaller girls whimpered as an enforcer’s light shone toward our cover, and it tore me from my thoughts.
She would be in my arms soon, but for now I needed to focus.
As though summoned by the thought of her alone, my power prickled beneath my skin.
I knew the exact moment she reached the other side of the wall.
Every hair on my body stood on end, and my shadows writhed restlessly within our shroud.
A smile tugged at my lips, absurdly out of place in a moment like this.
I gave in to it anyway. It had been far too long since I had felt her.
“When I nod, we move as one,” I whispered.
I met each girl's eyes, making certain they understood.
My gaze lingered on the smallest. Her eyes were glassy with fear.
“Eliza…” I softened my voice. “I know you're frightened, but I need to know you'll move when we do. If even one foot slips beyond our path, they'll find us.”
I paused, but she did not answer. “You are one of the bravest girls I've ever met. We made it through the worst.”
I tapped the bandage wrapped around her arm before mirroring the gesture over my own heart.
“Now I only need you to be brave a little while longer. Can you do that?”
Resolve pushed through the fear in her eyes.
She gave the slightest nod before squaring her jaw and puffing out her chest defiantly.
There she was. I waited for the familiar brush of Liv's power against my own, the signal that they were ready.
With so many enforcers prowling the woods, we would have only a heartbeat to get the girls through the wall before the fracture had to be sealed.
Each passing heartbeat was agony, like waiting for an executioner's axe to fall while knowing there was nowhere to run. Then I felt it. Warmth and light pushed through the blackened power beneath my skin and bloomed like a sunrise within my chest. Liv.
I inhaled sharply and nodded to the girls as I reached for Liv through the soul bond, weaving my power gently into hers. I lingered there perhaps a heartbeat too long. Sent perhaps a little too much of myself with it. Then the stones of the wall began to crumble, and we moved.
I pushed the shadows forward, willing them to thicken around us.
The ground rumbled beneath our feet as Helena hurled jagged spires of stone from the earth, driving them toward the enforcers racing after us.
They swarmed the area and magic erupted from every direction.
Fire scorched the trees. Ice splintered against the rocks.
Bolts of light carved glowing wounds through my shadows, forcing me to gather them again before the girls were exposed.
Before I could retaliate, Liv had already gripped onto their life force.
She wouldn't kill them. She despised using her gift that way.
But she would leave them convinced death had already wrapped its cold fingers around their hearts.
When we reached the wound Helena had carved into the wall, Liv pulled the girls through one by one.
I remained behind, counting each head as they disappeared into Torezia.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven.
Eight… Nine... My blood ran cold. Nine. I looked behind me.
There should have been one more. I craned my neck around the broken wall, scanning through the girls.
Nothing. My gaze found Kathrine, the eldest.
The question never left my lips. It didn’t have to.
“Eliza?” The fear in her voice matched my own. Shit.
“Helena!” Her gaze snapped to me from where she stood atop the wall. Her hands did not stop moving; she was still hurtling rocks at the enforcers, covering us where my shadows were not. “We are missing one!” She immediately began searching through the trees, her gaze sweeping frantically.
“There!” She pointed in the direction that we had come from.
There. Beneath the brush, a flash of pink caught my eye.
“Go! I will cover you!” Hell shouted as she raised her hands and the earth cracked open.
Stone walls erupted from the earth between the enforcers and us.
Liv had let go of her grip on the enforcers’ hearts; she was focused on helping the girls now.
I pulled every ounce of power I had left, and my shadows choked out the light around the enforcers. The darkness would not obey me forever.
I sprinted toward the brush and pulled it away frantically.
I finally pulled the last branch away, and there sat Eliza, curled in on herself.
Her hands were cupped over her ears, and she was shaking.
I reached down to scoop her into my arms.
The moment my fingers brushed her shoulder, pain exploded through my hand, and searing heat shot up my arm.
Only then did I see it. A thin veil of rippling light clung to her skin.
“Eliza...” I leaned in, keeping my voice soft despite the surrounding chaos.
The last thing she needed was another person shouting.
“We have to go.” She didn't move. My shadows faltered.
Bolts of light punched through them one after another, leaving ragged holes in the darkness.
What remained of the shadows hung like curtains shredded by a cat.
Behind us, the stone walls Helena had raised shuddered beneath the assault.
Cracks splintered across their surface before great chunks broke free and shattered against the ground like glass.
“Eliza...” Still nothing. Her hands remained clamped over her ears.
Her eyes squeezed tightly shut, as though if she couldn't see the world, it might disappear.
We could not stay; they would destroy us.
But I could not leave her either. I took in one steadying breath.
Then I hauled her into my arms. The fire that covered her licked at my shirt.
The fabric scorched and frayed beneath the heat of it.
Then the fire turned its sights on my skin.
I tightened my hold on her, and I ran. Ignoring the putrid smell of burning flesh as our defenses crumbled around us, I forced my legs onward toward the wall.
I did not look up at Helena on the wall as she called out for us to move faster.
I did not look at the enforcers who had broken through the shadows and were now mere steps from us.
My singular focus was on the place beyond the wall.
The small sliver of peace that shone through the cracks.
As we neared the opening, I shut my eyes tight.
They burned from the smoke, and I did not want to look, did not want to see our end if I failed.
I barreled through the crack, stumbling the last few steps.
I crashed to my knees, dirt and jagged stone tearing through my trousers and biting into my skin.
Behind me, Helena screamed. She screamed with the effort of forcing the wall shut, holding back the last of the enforcers as stone groaned beneath the strain.
Then with one final rumble and a deafening crack, the world was silent.