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“Is there a safe word? Does she have a favorite blanket, maybe a muzzle?” Aneirin ducked out of the way of a stray blast of ice. “You know, when she’s angry. How do you make that stop?” He waved a hand in the direction of the city. “Look, I’ll admit, sometimes I have anger issues. But never let it be said that Aneirin of the Ash-Shallayn—that is my name, by the way—doesn’t know how to ask for help. You see, I made a mistake.”

A fireball exploded on the ground between them.

“She wasn’t responding to my bribes, so I thought, maybe, she just needed a firmer hand.”

Skye eyed him as they circled. “What did you do to her?” he snarled.

“Nothing,” Aneirin said. Black lines spider-webbed up the boy’s neck, black blood frothing at the corners of his mouth. He was killing him. “Mostly… nothing. Okay, look, how was I supposed to know she’d be so attached to the demon creature?”

Demon?“Wait, you mean Calcifer?”

Aneirin snapped his fingers. “Yes.Thatwas its name. And now I’m afraid she’s very cross with me.”

Explosions thundered from the city. Skye turned—

“No, no. Don’t look over there.” Aneirin jumped, waving his hands. “Just tell me how to diffuse the bomb—I mean, girl. There’s no bomb. Absolutely no danger.”

Lightning cracked, except… it wasn’t lightning. It was too loud and right on top of them.

Magic gathered, heavy in the air. Dread coiled in Skye’s stomach as he looked up.

Standing at the base of the wall, he couldn’t see the city—but he could see the sky above it. No stars. Dark clouds. Anda slice in the fabric of reality that split open the heavens like a wound.

“Real temper, that one,” Aneirin said, edging away. “I’d say there’s only a 50-50 chance she destroys all of reality.”

The rift stretched wider, threatening to split the sky entirely, the edges fraying like fabric being torn apart.

“60-40.”

The ground beneath them trembled as the rift seemed to… inhale.

Objects from the city below lifted, drawn skyward. Roof tiles tore free, spinning through space like leaves caught in a gale. Loose stones and debris rose from the streets.

“70-30.”

Around them, trees bent towards the rift, branches straining as they reached for the void.

“And this is where I think I’m going to, as they say,skedaddle. This is your problem now.”

Then Aneirin did just that. Though Skye didn’t see anything leave the body, he felt it rushing past.

Lunging, he caught an unconscious Geoff. The boy was still breathing, glassy-eyed with blood dripping from his nose.

“I need a healer!” Skye shouted as the shades began to retreat. All around, they dropped their weapons, dropped out of the fight, and fled into the forest.

Another deafeningcrackof lightning split the air, thunder rolling in the darkness beyond the rift. It was the sound of the heavens, of stars colliding and reforming.

And wherever Taly was, she was at the center of it.

He had to get to her.

Chapter 72

She’d brought Ren back.

That should’ve been impossible. But she’d done it.

And she would do it again.