Page 342

And it was too much. Too much for her mind to hold.

Tipping her head back, Taly screamed as the power ripped through her, light bursting from her open mouth, from her eyes, spearing from her chest.

“We’ll give you just a taste for now,” the voice said, echoing from all corners. “Best not to swim too deep too quickly.”

Golden light shone from beneath her. A thread snapped and caught her around the throat. Two more caught her wrists.

The floor softened, swallowing her as threads tangled around her, pulling her deeper into the light.

Taly was in up to her knees now, her waist.

“For my fourth gift,” the voice whispered. “I give you a second chance.”

Taly’s shoulders disappeared beneath the surface.

“Do not waste it.”

That phantom hand kept pulling—pulling her down, pulling her under. Taly twisted, stretching to gasp in one last breath—

And as she went under, it yanked.

Hard.

Like it was ripping her loose.

Taly fell, plunging through air and time, light and darkness, until—

Cold slammed into her.

Taly opened her eyes to flashing lights, and suffocating smoke, and the blood-curdling shrieks of harpies as people fled.

Andpain.

Sandwiched between Ana and Ren, Taly looked down at the wooden shard in her belly. She looked at the people swarming past them, moving towards the Swap. Towards the doors that began closing.

Behind her, a thud sounded as a harpy dropped in the middle of the street. Kato scooped her up and began running.

Taly knew what happened next. The doors would close. Ren would die.

Unless she stopped it.

Her mouth quirked. And with that, round two began.

They were almost there, almost to the doors. Kato pushed through the sea of bodies, Taly in his arms. He could feel her blood soaking through his coat. Without her magic, she couldn’t heal. She just kept bleeding and bleeding andfuck, they better have a healer.

Skye had been called to the city walls. Kato too. But there was still the matter of Taly. So, he’d volunteered to go back—he was faster, and Skye was the better fighter. It had made sense at the time.

He’d promised to find her. Promised to keep her safe.

She couldn’t die here. Not now. Not under his watch.

“Kato?” Taly rasped, but he kept moving forward.

Almost there, almost—

“Kato,” she said more forcefully, tugging on his coat. He looked down, and Taly lifted a limp and bloodied hand to his cheek. “I’m sorry,” she whispered as all around people screamed, pushed, and jostled.

Kato didn’t remember blinking, only that the moment seemed to stretch.