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“Enough!” Aneirin’s hand shot out, gripping Calcifer’s neck with an almost lazy precision. “You’re a nuisance,” he muttered, and with a violent heave, he flung Calcifer across the temple.

His body flew, hitting one of the massive columns with a resoundingcrack. The same crack Taly felt in her heart as he dropped to the floor, limp as a rag.

Get up,she silently begged.Please, please get up.

But he didn’t. He didn’t eventry.

Taly screamed, raw and choked with fury. Gripping the hairpin, she charged, the makeshift blade flashing as she brought it down in a wild arc.

Aneirin hissed as blood bloomed on his cheek. “That” — before she could swing again, his hand lashed out, iron-tight around her wrist, dragging her forward— “was a very bad…” His voice trailed off on an inhale.

He froze.

His gaze raked over her. His nostrils flared slightly as he leaned closer.

Then she saw it—the flicker of confusion that melted into realization.

“What have you done to yourself?” he whispered, his voice a mix of anger and disbelief. “By the gods… what have you done?!”

Aneirin’s grip tightened. With a snarl, he hurled her.

She hit the nearest pew with a brutal crack, wood splintering around her as she crumpled to the floor. Pain bloomed sharp and bright along her ribs.

He stalked toward her, shadows flickering in his wake.

“So, you really thought you could take it away?” he spat. “Strip yourself of all usefulness?”

She tried to push herself up.

“Well, think again, dearie.” He reached down, grabbed the front of her tunic, and hauled her upright like she weighed nothing. “You’re mine. Magic or no magic, you don’t get to decide what’s useful. I do.”

He shook her once,hard. Then his grip shifted, tightening like a vice. His fingers bit into her arm, the other hand draggingacross her body, as though the answer lay somewhere beneath her skin. “Whoever bound your magic would’ve had to anchor the enchantment.”

Taly twisted and sank her teeth into his arm. He hissed, more fury than pain. Grabbing her around the throat, he slammed her into the stone floor.

The impact rattled her bones. Her head cracked, and white shot across her vision, clearing just in time to his face leaning in close.

“Your Marquess is a fool if he thinks a little desecration spell will save you.” A smile curled at his lips. “Who’s to say I won’t just kill you instead?”

“Because a good hunter knows when to check a trap,” came a new voice, cool and level. “And because then you really would be without a time mage rather than just temporarily inconvenienced of one.”

Taly almost cried out in relief. Because there, standing at the entrance to the temple, was Ivain.

For a moment, he seemed almost unreal, framed by the hazy light filtering through the smoke and shadow. His presence was commanding, his posture unshaken, and though his expression was stern, the faintest glimmer of warmth softened the hard lines of his face when their eyes met.

Everything clicked into place at once. Ivain’s punishment—she’d felt sorry for herself all week, calling him harsh, cruel, overbearing.

But now? Now, it made sense.

He hadn’t left her unprotected. It was the opposite. In taking away her magic, he’d stripped away the very thing Aneirin desired, leaving him no reason to continue the chase.

“Take your hands off my daughter,” Ivain snarled, low and deadly.

Kalahad’s mouth stretched, all teeth and no warmth. “You really think binding her magic will be enough to stop me?”

Ivain’s hand rested lightly on the hilt of his blade. “Oh, I never thought it would stop you,” he said. “I just wanted to make this a fair fight. Jump around all you want, tear through the city, but she’s no longer of any use to you—not unless you’re prepared to get through me.”

And therein lay the genius of his plan. Desecration spells didn’t break like ordinary enchantments. To restore her power, the one who cast it had to undo it—or they had to die. Even then, the spell didn’t unravel all at once. The process was painstaking, the magic clawing its way free in stages, leaving the victim in a slow, fractured recovery.