Page 345

Her glamour was gone. She’d felt it crack the moment she fell back into her body, the enchantments unable to withstand the sheer amount of power in her blood. There would be no more hiding after this, and honestly…good.

Taly loaded the bullet into the chamber.

She was done. Done with the lies. Done with hiding, with pretending she was something less than what she was.

She was done with the suffocating fear that loomed over her every waking moment.

She was done feeling shame for the sin of being born—a decision that hadn’t even been hers to make.

The courtyard rippled, shimmering gold. Time was restarting. The harpies were beginning to move. Slowly, endlessly, they fell through the air.

Taly threw the first glass sphere into the heart of them.

Human or Fey, Shardless or time mage, she was allowed to exist in this world—hadjustas much right to it.

Raising her rifle, she took aim.

Fuck anyone who would tell her otherwise.

It was time to let them see what she could do.

She fired.

The sphere exploded in a blast of ice and cold that ricocheted outward. And as it did, more rifts opened, more of her BABIES dropping into place among the harpies, carefully spaced.

The explosion was still spreading, that first icy blast still echoing. When it reached the next orb, the blast discharged—another explosion rippled outward, catching the next orb in its radius, then the next. One after the other, the blasts ignited, a daisy chain of detonation that lit up the sky like slow-motion fireworks.

The harpies froze—literally froze as ice hardened over their bodies.

In regular time, the explosions would’ve been fleeting, but in this warped existence, she could savor every bit of carnage as it unfolded—ice splintering, shards cascading, destruction stretching without end.

Then the last orb detonated.

She let go of the spell.

Time snapped back. Sound and movement crashed in at once.

From the outside, it had been instant—one shot, one breath, and the sky erupted.

The harpies shattered, raining down in pieces over the courtyard. Cold air and blood pelted her face.

Taly spit out a piece of gore, unfazed.

There was silence as all around buildings burned, the fires casting the courtyard in stark relief. Turning slightly, she noted the pale faces gawking from every window of the Swap.

She’d stopped the harpies, but Aneirin would still be coming. She needed to lead him away if they were going to have any sort of chance.

That power inside her gave a vicious heave, and Taly doubled over. Panting, golden aether speckled every exhale, crackling in the air around her. The heat inside her was unbearable, burning as if the sun itself had found a home in her chest.

She ripped off her coat, fingers tearing at the laces of her tunic until she could feel cold air against her throat. But it didn’t help. The heat still surged, that power still rising—refilling,rearrangingher from the inside out. It moved through her, shifting parts that weren’t meant to move, like molten glass being pulled into a new form.

She needed to burn it off—needed to do something,anything, before it consumed her. And there were more harpies out there. Their shrieks echoed in the distance.

Gritting her teeth, Taly straightened. She re-loaded her rifle, swapping ice for fire.

And as the sky began to lighten, the stars fading into the promise of a new dawn, she set off into the city, intent on fulfilling a vow she’d made long ago.

Harpies were horrible beasts. Really, she should thank Bill for gathering them all in one place.