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Shoving Kipp into Hawthorne, she had no time to leap from its path, not even a second to shield her eyes from the blazing light and force of it. She only threw her hands up instinctually, as though that could somehow save her.

All she saw was white, blindingly bright.

The impact didn’t hurt.

Its current shuddered through the mountain at her feet,through her—

And her whole body sangin recognition.

Thea staggered beneath the weight of it. Sheknewthis feeling, knew thispower… She fell to her knees.

Suddenly, thunder clapped in the strike’s wake, echoing deep in Thea’s bones, and she gasped for air.

The tempest raged around them, the wind lashing like a whip, the rain as sharp as shards of glass. Thea’s whole being surged as another streak of brilliant white light cut a pathway through the sky, a jagged, forked network of power that suspended the chaos surging over the seas.

And then, the entire storm retreated, leaving the glowing orb of the moon and the stars illuminating the now quiet, rocky mountain.

In a heap, Thea panted, her ears ringing as she saw where the lightning had struck, finding a black scorch mark visible even on the wet stone at her knees. She shuddered and lifted her gaze to find silver eyes upon her.

With Cal still hanging limply over his shoulder and Kipp clutched to his side, Hawthorne took a step towards her, peering into her face as though he were seeing her for the first time.

‘You should be dead,’ he murmured.

Thea’s heart was hammering so hard she thought it might break through her chest and she tried to ignore the strange, flickering sensation in her veins. ‘I… I know,’ she said, out to the glass-like surface of the sea.

But Hawthorne hadn’t taken his eyes off her. ‘What are — Who…Whoare you?’

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

‘Ithink you might be needing these?’ From a narrow path in the rock, Torj Elderbrock appeared atop his stallion with Thea and Hawthorne’s horses in tow.

Leaving Hawthorne to his staring, Thea darted forward.

‘Thank the gods,’ she said.

‘I’d prefer it if you thanked me,’ Torj retorted, jumping down from his saddle to help Hawthorne with Kipp, pressing a hand to her friend’s icy skin. ‘We need to get them to shelter, and fast,’ he said, glancing at the Warsword, who still peered out from the cliff’s edge. ‘What’s with him?’

‘No idea.’ Thea shrugged, mounting her horse.

‘Wilder!’ Torj commanded, wrapping Kipp in his cloak and hauling him up into the saddle in front of him. ‘We have to get them tended to. They won’t last much longer out here.’

Those words sent a chill rattling through Thea’s bones.

Hawthorne moved, mounting his own stallion, holding Cal to his front with one arm and gripping the reins with the other.

To Thea’s horror, thick black clouds were rolling in from the seas once more and thunder rumbled somewhere in the distance.

‘To my cabin, Torj,’ Hawthorne ordered. ‘We won’t make it back to the fortress before the next storm breaks.’

‘Got it.’

Thea gripped her reins hard as the horses lurched into action, navigating the narrow, winding path of the mountains. She locked her gaze on the backs of the Warswords in front of her, the lives of her friends hanging in the balance.

They have to be alright; she chanted to herself.They have to be alright.

The storm broke anew, the clouds once more swallowing the moon, sending rain pelting down at them, the wind howling through the fissures in the mountains and the thunder cracking in the distance.

As they rounded another bend in the trail, Thea glanced out to the thrashing seas and the unimaginable power that gathered there. The very same power that had struck her, that had coursed through her. Were it not for the buzzing in her bones, she wouldn’t have believed it. But there was no time for questions now. She tore her gaze away from the rolling waves and focused once more on the path ahead.