Page 65 of Vicious Is My Throne

“But you can’t, can you?” I breathed out the words, watching her smile falter, and knew I was right. “Because if you did, you’d have to start all over, and we both know you don’t have enough time now.”

“Oh, I can?—”

I cut her off with a brittle laugh. “No, you can’t. Your brother is too strong, isn’t he? You need that extra boost from Varitus or everything will be lost.” I wanted to laugh at the look on her face, at the revelation that she was every bit as trapped as we were.

“You want it all, don’t you? You have to beat him, get every last drop of magic before he does. You’re both a couple of soul sucking monsters.”

Her hands balled into fists, magic lashing the air.

“You’d doom us all, to make sure you get your fair share. And you’re as frightened as the rest of us because you know unless he’s stopped, we’re all dead. Even you.”

I peered into the endless darkness beyond her. “You could kill me right now, but you’d never get what you wanted. For all your plotting, you still need me. You need me to get you the rest of the magic before your brother does. How that truth must chafe.”

“More than you’ll ever know,” she replied, malice dancing in her eyes as she advanced, fingers lengthening to sharp black claws. “You’ve seen enough, I think. Release me so we can come to an agreement. As you pointed out, I cannot kill you, so you and your friends are safe for the time being.”

If I released her, she might not kill me, but she was so full of rage she might go after Raz. Or Tavion. Anyone I loved would become a target, and I wouldn’t risk a single life on her assurances we were safe for the time being.

I couldn’t protect them all.

Dread twisted and grew like the black, spiky vines of my magic.

“Forgive me if I don’t believe your guarantee of safety,” I muttered, looking for some way out of this predicament.

But trapping her again would only hasten her brother’s destruction.

Releasing her would hasten ours.

“Let. Me. Out.” Every word vibrated with hate. “Now.”

“Hold your horses.” I turned my sight inward, to where the tendril of witch magic began, and gave the thread leading to my heart a hard tug, intending to free her despite the danger.

Every part of me meant to free her, but something else happened, something I didn’t count on. Something I didn’t foresee.

The Oracle’s eyes rolled back in her head and her memories poured through me like water, too fast to grasp more than a few splintered images. I tumbled down some endless well, arms flailing, falling, falling, falling, with no end in sight.

Then a scene froze in front of me with sudden, brutal stillness.

Shock rippled through me as the white-haired witch lifted the weapon into the air, the writing on the blade glowing along with the writing on the pendant. The markings were a mirror image, the quote running the full length of the blade, from diamond-sharp tip to meaty ricasso.

‘From the darkest shadows, shine the brightest flames.’

“She cannot see us, and we only have a few seconds. There is a high price for using the Aetherium.” With great effort, the witch turned her eyes to me, surprise flaring when our gazes caught, shocked recognition when the witch glimpsed my face.

“Now that she knows about the amulet, you cannot allow her to get both pieces or all will be lost.”

Her words echoed hollowly, like she spoke from miles away. “This weapon is only a symbol of our real power. True strength is not found in steel or magic but in here.”

Light burst against my eyes as she laid her hand over her chest and my heart—racing like the moon across the night sky—and I faltered when she froze, an unnatural stillness creeping over her.

Warm flesh became dark, grainy marble, her body, even her armor and hair hardened and turned to granite.

For one frozen moment she was a statue of old lofting her weapon high, then unassailable stone crumbled to dust, leaving the weapon glowing with a residue of starry magic balanced upon a heap of dark cinders.

26

RAZIEL

“This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever done,” Tavion hissed, crawling on his stomach across the muddy, rocky ground. “I don’t know why I agreed to your bullshite idea, Raziel.”

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