Nero’s eyes were darker than a starless sky. His palms lifted to propel Luna forward.
Suddenly he jolted sideways. A glimpse of red hair and then Reign started beating on the sorcier’s chest.
“How dare you?” she shrieked. “How dare you use me as a weapon?” She shoved him back a step. He blinked repeatedly at her, as if she spoke a foreign language.
Luna adjusted one hand so she gripped Kalen’s wrist. It allowed for a little more stability as he looked around for another foothold. A pulse of anger enveloped him, but he isolated it and continued to concentrate on staying alive.
“You used me. You told me you were helping me, and you used me.” Reign’s voice wavered between anger and hurt. She shoved him again, and he shuffled, unbalanced. “I trusted you, and you destroyed it. You destroyed me, everything I’ve built and tried to accomplish. You made it all worthless. Even worse, you turned it against innocent people.” Another shove. Nero tilted off-balance, as if his legs couldn’t support his own weight.
“Reign, stop!” Luna shouted. Her grip on Kalen tightened as she twisted her head to watch the duo.
“You.”
A shove.
“Destroyed.”
Another shove.
“Me.”
“Reign, no!” Cirrus’s voice rang over the edge of the cliff.
Nero collapsed like a marionette whose master had dropped the crossbar, allowing the arms and legs and body to fold in on itself. He listed to the side and, helpless to stop the momentum, tumbled over the edge of the cliff. He didn’t utter a sound as he fell through open space. Kalen closed his eyes, not wanting to watch what would happen when Nero’s body connected with the chasm floor below.
A stronger grip replaced Luna’s. Cirrus appeared in Kalen’s view and his good arm now locked around Kalen’s.
“Hold on.”
Kalen dug his feet in and scrambled up as Cirrus lifted him from above. Luna had led Reign farther up the road, still on the switchback but away from the boys, as if to prevent Reign’s emotions from overwhelming them and causing further harm.
Once his feet were on solid ground, Kalen bent over, chest heaving. “Thank you,” he managed.
“Thanks for not killing me when I”—Cirrus swallowed hard—“tried to hurt Luna.”
“Yeah, I think I’m going to be holding on to that flickerfly ring for a while longer,” Kalen said.
Cirrus traced a circle in the dirt with his boot. Kalen straightened, and they looked over to where Luna spoke to Reign. “What do we do now?”
Kalen squatted and gathered up the cracked amulets. Even ruined, they blinded him with their brilliance.
“Four down. Two to go,” he said. “We need to get home.”
They walked over to Luna and Reign.
“Everything okay?” Cirrus asked as the girls’ conversation stalled.
Reign gave a shaky laugh and backed up several yards. “Everything is far from okay. I just killed a man—”
“You lost control,” Kalen said. He took a step closer, but she held out her hand so he would maintain his distance. He wondered if it was a gesture of protection for herself or to keep him farther away from her emotions. “It wasn’t intentional, and we can work on that.”
“You saved Kalen’s life,” Luna said. “And mine. If you hadn’t arrived when you did, Nero would have surely pushed us both over the edge. He was like a man possessed when he absorbed the crystal’s negativity.”
“But”—her hands rose to her mouth, as if she could prevent a wail from escaping—“he’s dead. And I am a part of that.”
Cirrus ran his fingers through his hair. “He’s dead. I’m not dismissing that, but we need to keep moving. We have the ability to save others from these amulets, if only we can return in time.”
“Spoken like a true prince there.” Kalen nudged Cirrus’s shoulder with his own.
“Hey.” Cirrus winced and rubbed at his still-healing wound.
Reign shook her head. “I don’t know if I should go. I don’t know if—” But her words were interrupted by several voices shouting from the direction of the shops.
“What happened?”
“Is it an eclipse?”
“I can’t see!”
“Don’t move. Everyone stay back from the edge.”
The foursome glanced at one another and came to an unspoken agreement. They had to figure out what was going on. They ran toward the center of town but stopped short. Townspeople rubbed at their eyes or held their hands out in front of them so as not to run into something. Several lay on the ground where they had tripped in their haste to flee. And there, facing them, cloaked in black, stood the sorcier bounty hunter from the tournament. His black hair was tied in a low ponytail, and his pale skin seemed to glow.
Kalen threw out his arms to protect the girls, and it was only then that he realized that Luna had disappeared.
“Bloody crow,” Cirrus muttered under his breath. “Here comes the darkness.”
“Fancy running into you here,” the sorcier called to them across the crowd, his voice soothing.
Kalen felt a foreign presence pushing at his mind. A pressure nudging his senses. The hairs on his arms stood upright, and he mentally rebelled against it.
“Who is that?” Reign asked in Kalen’s ear.
“He followed us from Mureau. He’s a bounty hunter with an ability.”
“Leave the citizens alone,” Cirrus called out. “They wish you no harm.”
“Ah yes, it’s unfortunate that they are in the way. Perhaps you can make it easy on them and come with me now? I’d be happy to release them. You see, your ransom is my ticket home.” The sorcier stepped forward, closing the gap to bring them within range of his power.
Kalen felt Reign begin to tense at his side.
Cirrus turned to Kalen. “Let’s split up and meet by the stable.” He took off at a sprint toward two storefronts directly to their right. Kalen reached for Reign’s hand, but the scene suddenly turned black.
“I guess you’d rather make it difficult,” the bounty hunter said. “For you, anyway.”
The sudden blindness was all-encompassing, throwing Kalen off-balance. His gloved fingers grazed Reign’s, and then there was nothing.
“Kalen!” The panic was clear in her voice. He felt movement and then his hand touched her arm. He quickly curled his fingers around her bicep to keep her close.
“Stay calm,” he spoke softly to her. “Keep your emotions under control.” He didn’t think he could handle another wave of her ability. He shuffled her toward the direction Cirrus had headed.
So much for splitting up.
But Kalen wanted to get away from the sorcier as quickly as possible.
Reign stumbled, and his grip tightened on her. They kept moving, and Kalen threw out his other hand in the hopes of finding the edge of a building. Finally, it scraped against a rough brick surface. Kalen scooted along the wall, away from the sorcier, his hand grappling for some sort of handle or door to push through.
“You can’t hide.” The sorcier’s voice came from all angles, disconcerting in the blindness. Kalen sensed the movement of something sweeping past him from behind. He tensed, wondering if it was the bounty hunter, Luna, or something else altogether.
His hand finally found a lip, a door frame, and his fingers scrambled for the handle. He pushed down, but the door was locked. A curse escaped his mouth.
Reign’s breaths came in frantic gasps. “You can control this.” He squeezed her hand as he continued to scoot them away from the sorcier in search of another door.
Somewhere in the direction of the cliff, the noise of breaking glass erupted. “Bloody crow,” Cirrus yelped. Kalen tugged Reign toward him.
“Don’t worry.” The sorcier’s voice was right next to them, and they both jumped, startled. “I’m sure he’s not that injured.”
Reign squeezed her fingers into a fist tight around Kalen’s hand. She held her breath, and then her magick unleashed. Kalen yelled to Cirrus to run as the flood of panic burst from Reign. A vise tightened around his chest, and his lungs desperately sought air.
The sorcier groaned, and suddenly Kalen could see again. The scene flickered from color to darkness as the sorcier tried to retain his grip on his magick. As Kalen’s vision returned, he made out the bounty hunter now several feet away up against another building. He was bent over at the waist, his head buried in his hands.
“Over here!” Kalen saw a sweep of silver, and Luna waved them toward her. She was on the other side of the sorcier, closer to the stables, standing in the middle of the street. Darkness filled his vision again, but he had a grip on Reign and ran.
“Stop.” The sorcier’s voice sounded strangled and unfocused. Kalen could see again.
“Contain that man.” Cirrus had joined them and yelled at the townspeople, who now blinked their eyes and looked around in confusion. “Take him to be questioned.”
“No!” the bounty hunter yelled. “Grab them! They are wanted criminals from Mureau.”
The citizens of Servaille hesitated as the trio reached Luna and continued to run toward the stable. Jules stepped away from a crowd that had gathered outside the Snowbound Inn.
“What is going on?” she asked Cirrus.
“That man is a criminal sent from Mureau. As the prince of that kingdom,” he ignored her intake of breath, “I give you permission to arrest and hold him until we send for him for trial. But be careful. He’s a sorcier with the ability to blind everyone in a short radius.”
Jules quickly dispatched two men in the direction of the bounty hunter before she turned to Reign. “Do you need me to get Nero?”
“No.” Reign shook her head side to side, the motion frantic. “No.”
Kalen urged Cirrus forward to get him out of the way if Reign lost control again. “Have them ready the horses.”
Cirrus ran ahead while Jules continued to try to comfort Reign. “He can help; he’s always been able to help.”
Reign squared her shoulders. “No. He hasn’t. He used me. He sold the amulets.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“He did. And he … he’s…”
“He fell over the edge,” Luna said, pointing off to the switchback on the road. “It was an accident.”
“We need to go.” Kalen spoke softly in Reign’s ear.
“I’m sorry,” Reign said to Jules.
“Wait. You have to explain.” Jules tried to step in front of them. “You can’t just leave.”
“Unfortunately, we must,” Kalen said. “Now. Please do as Cirrus suggested and hold that man captive. We will send reinforcements and coin for any damages.”
He tugged Reign’s hand, urging her to follow so they could leave the city.
“I’m sorry,” Reign said again over her shoulder to Jules. “The town will be better off without me. Thank you for everything.”
By the time the trio reached the stable, Cirrus stood in the street with the horses. Luna and Cirrus each mounted their steed as the stable boy thrust the reins of Kalen’s horse into his hands, as well as a pile of thin blankets. Single file, they made their way through the arch and out of the city walls.