Chapter Forty-Nine
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Mira
I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I didn’t sense anything amiss. Not until I was even deeper within the twisting labyrinth of the Lower Districts.
The glint of metal was my only warning before a masked figure stepped out of the shadows.
I expected a sword, but was met with two daggers. I ducked down, lightning fast, and kicked my opponent in the ribs. She recovered quickly and aimed a slash at my stomach, her serrated blade cutting through my fighting leathers without nicking the skin. A relief, since most Masks coated their blades in poison.
I struck with my dagger, and while my attacker was distracted, I wrenched the mask from her face. Danica’s honey-blonde hair and delicate features stared back at me, but before I could press my advantage, she was gone – reappearing a few metres away and smoothly loading her crossbow.
Only it wasn’t directed at me.
There was no time for shock. No time to wonder how or why Sabine was here, not as I heard that familiar twang —
I threw myself at Sabine, knocking her to the ground and shielding her body with my own. Glass shattered as the bolt pierced a window behind us, raining down on my lowered head. A handful of shards sliced into my face, but I barely felt the sting.
Grabbing hold of Sabine, I pulled her into a nearby alleyway. For a moment, we stayed very still, listening for the sound of approaching footsteps. When none came, I turned my attention to the most pressing threat: Sabine herself.
‘What are you doing here?’ I demanded, keeping my voice low. ‘How did you find me?’
Sabine’s moss-green eyes darted down to my hand, clenched tightly around the dagger I carried. I released my grip, but the damage was done. Now, both of us had reason to be suspicious of the other.
‘I followed you from the palace,’ Sabine replied, her voice surprisingly steady. ‘I wanted to warn you – Zandri’s Masks have been tailing you.’
‘I guess that explains Danica, then.’
Sabine’s lips formed into a thin line. ‘I’m not sure Danica is acting on Zandri’s—’
It was only instinct that saved me as I rolled, barely evading the bolt that would have sliced through my abdomen. Adrenaline flooded my body as I rose to my feet, facing Danica, who had somehow materialised directly in front of us.
I grabbed Sabine’s arm. ‘Run. Now .’
We sprinted through the Lower Districts, hoping to lose Danica in the twisting alleyways – but she always kept pace with us, aided by Zandri’s magic and her possession of a long-range weapon.
And then I made a fatal mistake.
Thanks to my Mask training, I was familiar with this kind of magic – and had done my best to choose wider streets and alleyways with multiple entrances and exists. But this alleyway only had one entrance and one exit.
When Danica materialised ahead of us, her crossbow already drawn, I knew it was over.
‘Come on,’ Sabine said, her fingers digging into my forearm. ‘We have to—’ The moment she turned, Danica reappeared behind us – covering the exit. Penning us in.
No matter which way we ran, we weren’t leaving this alleyway. Not while Danica was alive.
I cast a careful eye over my surroundings. All the doors and windows were boarded up, and the walls were too high to climb. No cover – except for a few piles of wooden debris.
What do you do when there are no good options? Zandri had once asked me.
You change the paradigm, I had replied.
‘Why are you doing this?’ I shouted, trying to keep Danica distracted. ‘We’re in the same Order. We’re on the same side.’
‘Not from what I saw tonight,’ Danica replied, training her crossbow on me. ‘But this isn’t about my duty as a Mask. It’s about what you did to Odessa.’
‘I never meant—’
‘It was obvious what you were after,’ Danica continued, her voice icy and merciless, ‘from the moment you competed in the first Trial. And now they’ve just given it to you.’
I frowned, not understanding. ‘It?’
‘The crown,’ Danica clarified. ‘That’s what you always wanted, isn’t it?’
Danica didn’t give me the chance to respond. The next bolt missed my body by a handful of inches as Sabine pulled me down behind a pile of timber.
I leant back against the filthy wall as I considered my options. I might have a chance against Danica, but someone like Sabine, who had never trained in combat . . .
‘When I tell you to,’ I said, low and urgent, ‘I want you to run. I’m the one Danica wants dead—’
‘I don’t think Danica is acting on Zandri’s orders,’ Sabine interrupted, finishing what she had started to say earlier. ‘Danica might want you dead, but I’m a witness now. She’ll have to silence us both.’
She was right, of course, and that knowledge made me stiffen. But all I said was: ‘It’s going to be fine, Sabine. I promise.’ I peered around the timber, a dagger clenched in my white-knuckled hands.
‘If you’re planning to kill Danica with that ,’ Sabine said dryly from behind me, ‘then I’ve seriously overestimated your intelligence.’
‘I have something else in mind.’ I straightened before Sabine could ask what that was.
And then I was stepping into full view, like that was a perfectly sensible thing for me to do.
My gaze shifted to Danica, whose crossbow was already raised. We’d practised with this very weapon during training, and I had seen her accuracy for myself. With the additional magic Zandri had granted her, Danica was undeniably lethal.
But I didn’t need to rely on magic from Zandri. Thanks to my mother, I had magic of my own.
The desire to run was still there, but I moved forwards instead, towards the danger. I let out a frustrated sigh as Sabine followed, twisting to cast her a withering glance – a glance that told her exactly how foolish I thought her decision was.
‘Stay behind me,’ I instructed, and reached for my mother’s locket.
I had never tried to consciously summon the magic before. Both times had been accidents – desperate miracles. But Zandri had told me what was needed. Magic thrived on emotion.
And I had plenty of emotion to choose from. Fear, hope—
Rage . Bottomless, all-consuming rage.
Danica’s next bolt disintegrated in a blast of black fire. The same black fire that danced in my hand.
Her lips parted in wordless shock. And her eyes – I had never seen them so wide. So afraid.
I liked the sight of her fear. Somehow, it didn’t matter to me that Danica wasn’t Emperor Kalias or Zandri; she was a threat, and I was tired of threats. Tired of bowing down and biding my time and taking orders.
I brought my hand up to my lips. And I blew .
The flames burst out in front of me – a vicious, crackling wall that licked at the wooden buildings and blasted me with heat. Boards fell in a groan of sparks. Glass followed a few seconds later, and despite the sudden drizzle falling from the sky, my fire spread, jumping from building to building—
Danica stumbled back, like she might run. Too late.
Her howls of pain were more animal than human. A horrible smell rent the air.
The smell of burning flesh.
I remembered my mother’s words at the circus. Breathe, Mira. Focus.
I tugged on the magic, trying to call it back, but it was beyond my control – and so were my own emotions. The flames tunnelled higher, licking and biting and consuming. Exhilaration filled my veins, panic following close at its heels.
There was nothing I could do to stop the horror unfolding before me. My legs were leaden, my arms dead weights. I couldn’t move, couldn’t shout, couldn’t run. All I could do was watch.
And listen.
Then silence descended. No screaming, nothing except the crackling of the flames, searching for anything to consume. But all that was left in front of me was a path of death and destruction.
The cost of my survival.
When the fire waned, I realised that I was hunched over, breathing heavily. Danica had been a threat. She would have killed me and Sabine. I’d done what I needed to. I had—
Sabine’s voice was oddly hesitant. ‘. . . Mira?’
I looked up. In her wide eyes, I could see my own reflection. Illuminated by the full moon overhead, with flames still dancing in my eyes, I looked unfamiliar and powerful.
Monstrous. I look monstrous—
At least until the flames guttered out in my eyes and I stumbled, collapsing unconscious to the ground.