I swallowed, my fractured heart hammering against my ribs.
Tadmir was suddenly at my side, kneeling with his palm on my back. “Now, Shade. You have to take him now.” The words were a breath against my ear, lost to everyone else as they all started charging from the room, running toward Aflora’s intense destruction.
“He’ll be fine,” Tadmir said in a louder tone, a smirk in his voice. “But I can’t say I’m not enjoying his pain.”
“Oh, fuck off,” my father snapped.
“Come on, Aswad. It’s putting some much-needed hair on his chest,” Tadmir taunted.
I knew what he was doing—goading my father into another distraction, to give me time to act.
Once I did this, everyone would know my true allegiance.
The game would be up.
A final decision. Because there would be no coming back after this. Playing with time would no longer apply, not with Kolstov’s pending resurrection.
I’ve got you, I repeated, tugging on his dwindling spirit, his life literally slipping through my fingers with each passing second. We can do this, Kols. We. Can. Do. This.
I pushed myself to my feet, my limbs shaking with the effort. But adrenaline pushed me forward.
Tray snarled at me as I approached, his fury a whiplash to my senses. Then he broke again on an agonized cry that had Ella shattering beside him.
“I’m going to fix it,” I told them in a hushed whisper, my voice barely carrying.
I wasn’t even sure if they heard me, and I didn’t have time to say it again.
Kolstov’s essence was almost gone.
Now, I thought, using a blast of power to push Tray away from his brother. Then I bent and picked up Kolstov.
“Shadow?” My father’s confusion was palpable in his tone.
I ignored him, instead shifting my focus to Aflora as she engaged our bond. Shadowing, I heard her instincts whisper. I pushed the gift to her and told her where to go without words.
Then I followed her with Kolstov.
And landed shakily on my feet beside Zakkai.
His silver-blue irises flashed as he looked up at me.
“I need you all to listen and do exactly what I say,” I said. “Or we’ll lose Kolstov forever.”
Then I collapsed beside him, my tether to Kolstov snapping like a band inside my soul.
His essence floating… floating… gone.
I CAUGHT Shade’s spell in my mind, yanking it back to life and realizing with sharp clarity what he’d done.
Kolstov.
He’d cast a Death Blood necromancy spell meant to hold on to life for as long as possible after death, typically used when wanting to question a spirit in the afterlife.
A clever fucking trick.
One that might just work.
“Aflora,” I said, needing her to bolster the spell, my energy waning fast. Help me, I demanded into her mind, shoving the enchantment at her and forcing her dark magic to life.