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This man had come here. He had hurt Skye. Made him bleed. Taken him from her.

As her eyes shifted back to Vaughn, every cell and fiber and molecule of her being—her very aether—seemed to hum in a pulsing discordant rhythm, demanding a single goal.

Revenge.

Again, that voice of reason spoke up, thin and tinny, growing ever distant.Careful, it said. This enemy was still a shadow mage. If she wanted her revenge, she would have to be smart. She would have to plan.

She would have to wait—if only briefly.

“I’m going to kill you.” Taly was surprised she was able to get the words out. Tears streamed from her eyes, dripping from her chin to the floor—a stark contrast to the mask of lethal calm that veiled her features.

Vaughn looked her up and down, taking in the fighting leathers, the pistols at her waist, the dagger at her thigh. He gave a snort of dismissal.

“I’m going to kill you,” she repeated, and that rage inside her turned vicious, focusing her senses. A plan began to form. “And if you believe in the Shards or any god at all, then I suggest you begin to pray.Prayto your gods for mercy—for I will show you none.”

He took another step, but she had already seen the flash of aether, anticipated the sharp blur of movement. Half a thought had a wall of frozen time rippling out in front of her.

He skidded to a stop, nearly slipping in the blood pooled on the floor. His eyes went wide as he flattened his palm against the spell. It was sloppy and crude, shimmering there for all the world to see. He could break through it in an instant.

But that wasn’t the point. She didn’t want to stop him. Not yet. She had only wanted him to hesitate.

Part of being a time mage is knowing when to fight, when to run, and when neither one is necessary.

The Queen’s words. She finally understood them now. Because even though she couldn’t take this man on directly—he was far too strong—that didn’t mean she couldn’tcrushhim. Drag this out until he was begging for death.

She was a spider, and he was her prey.

She simply needed time to build her web.

The wall of time shattered, but Taly had already used those scant few seconds to turn, look ahead to her own flickering afterimage, andpull.

To Vaughn, it would’ve looked as though she disappeared.

Vaughn tore around another corner, letting loose a roar loud enough to make the chandeliers rattle.

She’d just been there. He had seen the glint of that bright, golden hair just ahead, but…

Vaughn forced himself to breathe.

There.

Her scent was just around the next corner. He didn’t know how she’d managed to evade him time and time again, always slipping away just beforehe could reach her—but he would find her eventually. He had no other choice at this point.

He’d made a mistake at the relay—one he’d paid for dearly. And if he failed to deliver the girl to his master again, he’d end up like the Lady Fenmar. Ascended. Trapped inside his own body while someone else moved his arms and legs and used his voice. He’d likely be assigned to one of the contingents controlling the shades, and… Vaughn shuddered. He’d do anything to avoid that stinking, rot-filled pit.

Vaughn growled and set off in a sprint, siphoning his aether and forcing his legs to move faster. His mages were gone, and that damned Queen was going to be a problem. She was likely protecting the girl—her last living subject. And while he didn’t know how she was alive or why she was here, he didn’t care. All he knew was that if the Lady Raine was resorting to these means—skulking in the shadows rather than just facing him like any Genesis Lord would—that meant she had been weakened. As long as he worked quickly and carefully, he could still grab the girl without having to confront the High Lady of Time.

He was reaching the southeastern edge of the palace now, and he slowed his step when he came to a long hall of mirrors. They were every shape and size, lining the walls in gilded frames polished to their own mirror-like shine. Some were foxed, others nothing more than smooth planes of silver. They dotted the aisles in haphazard stacks that spiraled up to the ceiling, and there were even statues made of dense piles of shattered glass, the largest of which was a massive dragon perched upon a glittering mound in the center of the room.

Its scales were made of shards as big as his hand, and it had a long tail that wound through another nesting of those strange spiraling columns. Its teeth were jagged and sharp, only slightly less intimidating than the glowing, red eyes that seemed to focus in on him as he moved farther into the room.

“Taly,” Vaughn called, following the winding path between the pillars. Fractured patterns of light flickered all around him. Her scent permeated the room. “Come now, child. Let’s talk, you and I.”

“What do you think about Draegonian art, Vaughn?”

The voice came from up ahead, but when Vaughn turned the corner, all he saw was the girl’s reflection slinking off the edge of an old oval mirror.

“I’ve never liked it personally,” he said, keeping his footsteps light as he emerged from one row and edged around the dragon. Its head followed him, a strange, tinkling groan echoing through the room. Steam began trailing from its nostrils.