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“Please,” Theo said. “Please help me.”

He was reaching out. She realized he was not looking at Dahl. He was staring just over the girl’s shoulder, at Ren. He could sense her presence. Ren raised her horseshoe wand again and attempted another spell. Nothing happened. Not even a fizzle of magic.

Dahl navigated around a larger snowdrift and stopped a few feet away from him. Ren waited for Theo to raise his own wand. Anything to defend himself. It took her a second to remember that Vega was on her shoulder, not his. Theo did not reach for his waist, either. Ren saw there was nothing there. He didn’t have his other vessel for some reason. He had no way to defend himself at all.

“Help,” Dahl repeated. “Look around, golden boy. There is no one here to help you. It’s just the two of us. Gods, you have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this. All of the damn chatter. All of your ceaseless conversation. Having to pretend to enjoy the company of a Brood. Finally, your time has come. Just had to wait for my brother to get through the pass first.”

Theo’s breathing came in uneven gasps. “Your brother?”

“Oh. Yes. That’s right. We have not been properly introduced.” She made a mockery of it, seizing his hand and moving it forcefully up and down. The motion dragged a painful hiss from him. “I am Ava Tin’Vori. A survivor of House Tin’Vori. You know, the one that your family tried to burn to the ground. You should have made sure we were all dead. Huge mistake.”

She kicked him in the stomach. Ren felt that pain flick across her bond. She could not believe what she was hearing. Nevelyn and Dahvid had claimed their sister was dead. Mat Tully had even reported that Nevelyn visited the graveside once a week. This revelation explained their initial reaction to the news that Theo had taken the post in Nostra. They’d already had someone on the inside.

“I’ve always wondered what death would feel like. Ever since that night. Down in the tunnels. We could smell the bodies burning, you know.” Ava knelt down beside him. Ren’s own breathing hitched slightly. She didn’t want Theo to die, but at the same time, she could hear her own pain in Ava’s words. “That’s not a smell you forget. And it wasn’t even the worst part. The end of the tunnel led to the canal. We had the best view of the harbor from there… and the three of us got to watch our parents’ ship as it burned. As they burned with it. I was seven years old.”

Ava traced an idle finger through the snow. Theo wasn’t looking at her. He was staring at the spot where Ren stood, his lips moving, struggling to form words.

“Seven. You see shit like that when you’re that young and you become fascinated with death. What’s on the other side? What comes next? How does it feel? Does your soul leave your body? Is there even such a thing as a soul? I had so many questions about it. My brother and sister would get annoyed by them, so I used to sneak out at night and talk with priests. Random strangers. I’d ask everyone I could. What did they think? What comes next?”

Ava took her feet again. She pointed her wand down at Theo.

“You’ll have to tell me when you get there.”

Theo and Ren both cried out at the same time. They both mentally reached for their bond. Theo gave a heaving, desperate pull. Ren gave a frantic, final shove. Vega was the unexpected answer. Ren watched as the stone bird flew from her shoulder and landed on his. An impossibility. Ava startled back at the bird’s sudden appearance. Her wand tip was already igniting with a spell. Vega’s flight created a path for Ren to travel.

Impossible, breathless, but real.

Ren Monroe moved through space and time. As if she had her own private waxways. This time, her feet truly set down in the snow. She felt the cold and the wind of that dark forest. It was all real. She raised her wand at Ava Tin’Vori and cast the first stun spell that came to mind.

But what roared out of her wand was something more. Powered by all that emotion and desperation. Powered by her bone-deep fear of actually losing Theo. Her spell lit the entire hillside up with blinding light. It struck the girl right in the chest. Like a backhand from a god. There was a great clap of thunder, and then Ava Tin’Vori was thrown through the air. With so much force that Ren lost sight of her vaulting through the trees. No one could survive a drop like that. Ren collapsed at Theo’s side.

“Are you okay? What hurts?”

“You’re here,” he gasped. “Actually here. How did you do that?”

“I traveled across our bond.”

He closed his eyes for a second. “That’s… not possible?”

“It’s bond magic. Historically—”

“Ren. Not now. No history right now.” He offered a small smile, and then his eyes widened. “Wait. You’re here. You can’t be here, Ren. You have to be there. At the estate. My father…”

“Your father.”

They had the same realization. She could not simply leave Landwin Brood to his own devices during the attack. Ren was supposed to be there. She was supposed to limit his options, forcing him into certain actions. She could not do any of that from this wintry pass.

“Push me back,” Ren said.

Theo nodded. “The opposite… okay. You pull. I’ll push. Get ready.”

It had to work. They could not take down House Brood and allow Landwin to survive. If he found refuge with one of the other houses, nothing would change. Ren stood.

“I’m ready.”

Theo was groaning with the pain. After a second, though, he nodded to her.

“All right. Vega. Go.”