Page 102 of Iridian

“Taland, I’m going to join the fight. Keep going—it’s almost over, okay?”

His hand wrapped around my arm, and I thought he was going to tell me to stay put again, that he had it. And I knew he did, I knew that, but…

“You don’t have to do all of it on your own. It’s almost over,” I whispered, and he was still looking ahead at the fight, keeping control of the soldiers. But Taland wasn’t planning to stop me again.

“Take the bracelet,” he said through gritted teeth, and he pulled my arm up again, but only to bring my hand over his wrist. Over the bracelet.

I didn’t argue—he knew exactly what he was doing. I just took the bracelet and put it on.

It had never occurred to me that anything in the world could replace my father’s ring as my anchor, but this did. This bracelet had become mine—maybe because it washisas well, so completely.

I kissed Taland’s cheek. “I’ll be right back.” And that was a promise I intended to keep.

I didn’t reach for guns or knives. I just jumped off the edge of the bus, finally feeling a little bit of relief. My heartbeat had gone steady and my head clear. And when I ran forward, three of the soldiers who had been standing guard around the bus were already clearing the way through the crowd for me. All I had to do was run.

Of course, they stayed right behind me as I did, and we weren’t far from where the Council was fighting—andlosing—but it still took me a good few minutes to get there because of the crowd.

Radock’s face was in front of me.

“What are?—”

“Move!” I shouted a couple of feet before I got to him and began to chant my spell at the same second.

Radock heard. Looking like he’d swallowed something wrong, he moved, and the two remaining soldiers from that line they’d created to separate the crowd from the fight stepped to the sides, too, to let me through.

One.

One last soldier stood in front of the remaining Council members, and they all attacked him at the same time. I knew he wouldn’t make it—he was wounded, and even if they didn’t feel pain, they could still be worn down by cuts and blood loss just the same. So, he tried to raise his hands and release his magic, but he couldn’t do it before Helen’s sword went through his chest and the left side of his torso as if it were butter.

The soldier fell—that’s okay.My spell was already at its end and my hand raised, the skin of my palm heated in such a familiar, yet strange way.

The look on the faces of George, Helen and Nicholas when they saw me standing there was priceless—you could tell they hadn’t seen me coming. I was tempted to smile as the last word of my spell left my lips.

Helen raised her sword at me as she screamed,“Attack!”

Too late.

Colorful magic burst out of my hand so fast, so powerful, it threw my arm back and nearly tore it off my shoulder. An energy blast almost the same size and intensity as the one I’d used to break the screen of the Regah chamber hit the Council members hard. Their wards had weakened from all that fighting, andtheywere tired, too. Wounded. Bleeding.

There was no way they could stop the impact.

The ground shook and groaned—not just from my magic or the angry clouds pouring rain on us, but from the shouts and screams of the people behind me, as well as the IDD soldiers who were trying to attack, I thought.

Their spells fell on the surface of the ward Taland’s soldiers had wrapped around the people, andtheytried to push through, too. They couldn’t, not yet—but it was over. All the remaining Council members were on the ground.

Iridian words came out of my lips like daggers. I didn’t need to think or look at my surroundings or wonder if I had enough juice in me for one more fourth-degree spell while they were down to seal their fates for good—I did. Three soldiers walked with me, and as I chanted, Helen raised her head, her nose bleeding—and her hand.

Her Whitefire magic shot for me lightning fast, and I’ll admit I didn’t see it coming. For a second there, I thought I wasn’t going to be able to move away in time—and I was right.

Except the soldier who’d been beside me did, and his back was suddenly right in front of my face. His body absorbed Helen’s magic and he didn’t make a single sound.

Then he fell to his knees and the flesh on his bones began to melt away into nothing—and Helen screamed once more. No words this time—just a scream because she knew.

I looked back—at Taland standing alone on top of that bus, hands fisted at his sides, shoulder rigid.

I love you,I thought, then turned to Helen who was trying to reach her sword where it had fallen, while Nicholas’s eyes were closed—though he breathed—and George was staring at the sky but couldn’t move.

The Council.Thiswas what was left of the Council.