Page 93 of A Fractured Song

Jade groaned. “Pleasedon’t be so short-sighted, Marieke. We could be unstoppable together. There’s so much I can teach you. About the past, about questioning song, about heartsong.” Her eyes narrowed as they passed to Zev. “Do you know about heartsong, Zevadiah? Are you feigning ignorance, or do you truly not know?”

“Leave Zev out of this,” Marieke cried, anger surging in to at last drive away her numb disbelief. “How can you stand there and admit so coldly to being a murderer?”

“It’s exactly that stain I’m trying to wash away!” Jade snapped. She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, seeming to collect herself. “There’s no sense arguing, Marieke. You have a choice to make. Will you help me take on the sins of the singers of the past and make it right?”

Marieke shook her head emphatically. “Not the way you’re going about it. I’ll never have any part of it.”

Jade sighed. “That’s a great pity. I took a risk, and it didn’t pay off. Sometimes that’s the way of things.” She looked regretful as she cast an assessing glance over Marieke. “Well, it seems Gorgon had the right idea after all. I’m afraid you’ll have to be eliminated.”

“Don’t you touch her.” Zev was in between the two singers before Marieke could blink, his sword raised, clearly oblivious to the magic pouring up into Jade.

Marieke’s instinct was to scream a warning to him, but she curbed it, sending the same energy into a rapid shielding song.

The defense was only just up in time, Jade’s enchantment crashing against it so hard that Marieke’s voice trembled from the impact.

“This is the choice, Marieke!” Jade shouted. “Help me, or be removed from my path.”

Marieke raised her own voice by way of answer, adding power to Zev’s arm as he lunged forward. The impossible speed of his sword obviously took Jade by surprise, but she threw herself sideways in time, releasing a song of her own.

Zev let out a grunt of pain, and Marieke realized in horror that his sword was heating under his hand. But he didn’t drop the weapon, still advancing on Jade.

She sidestepped him again, her focus on Marieke.

“Don’t make me hurt you, Zevadiah,” the older singer said. “It’s her I have a problem with.”

Zev ignored her words, his fingers reachingfor his belt where Marieke knew him to have a smaller blade concealed. But it wouldn’t be enough. Jade’s songcraft would overpower Zev’s physical strength without difficulty.

Wishing once again that she’d studied combat song, Marieke desperately pulled in magic. She couldn’t match Jade for brute strength. She needed to work to her areas of training. Somehow she doubted Jade had studied agricultural song.

Marieke sent magic darting through the air, detaching a large branch over Jade’s head. With a splintering crack, it fell, but Jade spun away, her song intercepting the branch and causing it to break into a hundred smaller, less dangerous pieces.

A shout from the direction of the archway told them all that their fight had at last been noticed by the elves. Jade seemed to realize she was running out of time, and in a last attempt, she turned back to Marieke and threw her dagger with deadly force.

Everything happened so fast Marieke could barely keep track. Her own song of defense wasn’t quick enough to intervene as the blade soared toward her, spurred on by Jade’s song. A flash of movement and a roar were the only indicators that Zev had thrown himself in front of her.

Blind terror gripped Marieke as she tried to cover him with her song, aware she wouldn’t be quick enough.

But someone else was. With a note that was more scream than melody, Jade stopped her own weapon, the tip of the blade coming to a halt a hairsbreadth from Zev’s throat. Marieke sprang forward, but before she could reach them, Jade was there, her hand on the weapon as Zev and Marieke both froze.

“You’re more use to me alive, Aeltan,” Jade breathed. “But this isn’t over.” Her eyes flicked to Marieke, then back to Zev, malice in their depths. “The next time I see her, I will kill her, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

Marieke yelled a warning as an incomprehensible volume of magic gathered to Jade—more than Marieke could ever have safely wielded. But the song Jade formed it into was quick and precise, and had no visible effect whatsoever. Before Marieke could blink, Jade had withdrawn her dagger from Zev’s throat and plunged between the pillar trees.

Marieke ran to Zev, grabbing his arms and staring blindly into his face. “Zev! Are you all right? What did she do to you?”

She was barely aware of the elves surging across the clearing toward them, her focus all on Zev. She could still sense Jade’s enchantment clinging to him, and had no idea what it was doing.

“I’m fine.” Zev’s voice was low and tense. “But Marieke, you’re not safe. She meant what she said. She’s determined to kill you.”

“Never mind that,” said Marieke. “Don’t try to be strong and hide it, Zev. She must be hurting you somehow.”

He looked genuinely confused. “No, I’m really all right.”

“What happened here?” The sharp, high-pitched voice belonged to the Imperator’s granddaughter, who’d appeared at Marieke’s elbow.

“Jade,” Marieke said, dazed. “The human who was meeting with Rissin. She attacked us.”

The young elf clucked her tongue. “Search the area,” she told the other elves. But she sighed as she turned back to Marieke and Zev. “I don’t think they’ll find her,” she said. “She’s far more capable than any human has a right to be.”

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