Page 126 of Shardless

Taly forced her legs to move. They resisted at first, but she didn’t give up, and eventually shemanaged to claw her way up the wall until she was standing.

There was a loud bang and a crash behind her—the sentries were trying to come through the door, but it was locked from the inside. The doorknob rattled feebly, holding firm, but it was only a matter of time before they succeeded in knocking it down.

Move!

Some of the heaviness from the man’s strange spell started to lift, and Taly lurched forward. She needed to get back to the window and down the ladder and back to the woods where Byron was still tethered.

“You bitch!” A hand clamped down on her ankle, pulling her off her feet. The man groped at her legs, his hands and arms nothing but smoldering magma clinging to bone. The skin on his face had all but melted away, and tendrils of smoke rolled out from between mangled sinew and bone. His curses were punctuated with pained moans and gurgles.

Taly gripped Snowdrop, but before she could thrust it deep into his chest, he grabbed at the dagger. The blade bit into the skin of his palm, releasing a flood of crimson that welled up between the cracked and charred pieces of mangled flesh, but he didn’t seem to care as he ripped the dagger from her hand and threw it off into a corner.

“How dare you,” he snarled. The skin on his face was already starting to reform, the peach veneer slowly creeping across the burned flesh. As he spoke, wisps of smoke wafted out from between his scorched lips, and Taly gagged as the smell of overcooked meat filled her nose. “If you knew whoI was, who it is that I serve, you would be on your kneesbeggingfor my favor.”

“Good luck with that,” Taly choked out, still struggling feebly against his iron grip. She couldn’t reach Zephyr or her second pistol, but she still had one trick left. Her breaths coming in ragged gasps, she started tearing at the wall in her mind, ripping out the stones and clawing at the power buried deep inside her.

Gold dust filled the room, and the man’s bloodshot eyes surveyed the scene with irritation. Taly felt a force push back against her, and with a growl, she brought her knee up and kicked him right between the legs. The man barked in pain, wrenching back and slapping her across the face, but the force dissipated. Not completely, but just enough.

With a furious, primal howl, Taly summoned every ounce of will, every scrap of pain, and threw it against that wall. She pushed, she thrashed, she flung herself at the mental barrier until she finally felt something inside her break. Her body began to burn as sharp, whip-like cracks of pain snapped at her skin, and the weight on top of her was blown away as the world exploded in a blinding eruption of light.

The power was flowing out of her, bursting through the dam, carrying the stones of that mental barrier far away. She kept pushing, even when she felt the magic start to wane. Even when she felt a tug at something that felt… important.

Throwing away caution, throwing away sanity, she dove into that hidden well of power and immediately hit another wall—although this one felt different, almost like it was coming from outside of her. The world tilted, and it felt like shewas slipping. Her raging heartbeat stumbled and then… quiet.

Darkness and then…

Taly found herself back at…the townhouse?

She looked around in confusion. The Castaros had always kept a townhouse inside the walls of Ryme—a formal set of rooms and hallways that had always felt too new, too polished and unused to ever really be a home.

She recognized the room instantly, even if she didn’t know how she had gotten here. Ivory columns graced the center of the circular space, and the walls were adorned with what she assumed were great masterpieces. Sarina had once told her that the room “celebrated the theme of the soul bond,” and since she had never really had an eye for art (not in the way that Skye could look at light and shadow and color and see such beautiful stories hidden within), she had no choice except to believe her.

Taly’s eyes scanned the room, finally alighting on a small, wood block calendar resting on the corner of a dark wooden desk.

But…She shook her head, blinking in confusion.That’s the wrong month.It was still Meridian. The moons hadn’t moved into the Janus cycle. Not yet.

“Skylen!”

Taly started. She had never heard Ivain’s voice sound sostern. Looking around, she finally noticed the older fey noble standing on the far side of the room. Skye stood opposite Ivain, his arms crossed defiantly, and Sarina, Aiden, even Kato all milled about the room, ignoring the scattering of green velvet furniture.

“Enough of this!” Ivain barked. “We all wanther back, but you have to accept the truth. She’s gone.”

“She’s not!” Skye insisted. His clothes looked unusually rumpled and stained, and his hair was too short. Everyone else was dressed in black.

“I’ve seen her,” Skye insisted, his hands raking through his hair. “I see her every night. She’s not gone!”

“Skye.” Sarina’s voice was full of pity. “I know how hard it is to accept the loss of a—”

“She’s not gone!” Skye bit out. His eyes were wide as he looked to his brother, who was the only one to meet his gaze.

A moment later, Kato hung his head in resignation.

“She’s not gone,” Skye repeated, this time more feebly.

“Surely you know what this looks like,” Ivain said, his tone a little gentler. “We’re worried about you.”

“What’s wrong?” Even to her own ears, Taly’s voice sounded garbled, almost like she was underwater.

Five heads whipped around at the sound of her voice, and Taly felt her cheeks warm when five disbelieving sets of eyes found hers. Barely a second had ticked by before Skye was rushing forward, grabbing for her as he fell to his knees. His hands passed right through her body. The vision was already starting to blur as the sound of rushing wind filled her ears.

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