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The sword twisted with a grind of flesh and bone. Kato jerked again, a fresh gush of blood spilling from his mouth.

Taly did her best not to flinch as the Sanctifier placed a boot against Kato’s lower back—and shoved.

The sound of his body sliding off the blade was sickeningly wet. He landed on his knees, looking up at her. He’d fought as hard as she had. His aether was nearly gone, and with it, his ability to heal.

Still, his eyes pled with her.Be smart.Stay inside the line.

When he slumped to the ground, he did not rise again.

Red consumed her vision—the red of Kato’s blood, the red of the fires still intense and furious. Her whole body shook with it. Rage. Grief. The need to destroy something.

And yet, somehow—she smiled.

“I’m going to kill you.” Not a threat. A vow.

The Sanctifier laughed and re-sheathed his sword as the others gathered behind him. “That’s going to be a little hard to do from in there, don’t you think?”

Taly glanced at the threshold, at that line drawn in blood. He was right.

So, she crossed it.

She stepped out of the Swap and into the sunlight, the first she’d felt or seen in weeks.

More people stood in the courtyard in scattered groups. None of them spoke as Taly walked a few more steps away from the safety of that line and stood, as if waiting.

The Sanctifier approached her, each step clanging with the metal of his armor. His magic swept over and through her body like an unwanted touch, and she sensed the spark of recognition. She wasexactlywhat he thought she was, the very reason for his existence.

It delighted him. She could feel that too.

“No cousin around to save you this time,” he said.

The strike came without warning—a sharp, metallic slap across her face. The cold steel of the gauntlet bit into her skin, sending her stumbling back, stars bursting behind her eyelids.

“Even back then, I saw what you were. Filth hiding behind a pretty face.”

The pain was electric. It lit up every nerve. But Taly only laughed. “I’m going to kill you,” she said again, smiling andlaughingas blood dribbled from her mouth.

The Sanctifier laughed with her. As did the others. They thought they were mocking her, but they hadn’t figured it out yet. Or maybe they’d just forgotten.

Time mages didn’t make idle threats. They spoke prophecy.

He struck again, metal meeting flesh. Taly reeled but refused to fall, swallowing the sting as the next blow landed—then another.

Then a hand gripped her hair, twisting painfully. She screamed, kicked, and fought like hell as she was dragged through the courtyard littered with corpses and out into the street.

The crowd who had been so ready to stand beside her—now, they just watched, gathered in a wide circle and saying nothing as she was thrown to the ground so hard her vision split.

Gravel bit into her cheek, into her palms as she tried to rise. And in that moment, Taly finally understood why the Dawn Court protected the Sanctifiers’ identities. It wasn’t to shield them from public backlash. No. There was something about not being able to see a man’s face that gave him power. Something that made a hulking tower of steel and metal and magic seem even more imposing.

Andthat’swhat the Dawn Court wanted. Not anonymity, butfear. Because fear kept people focused on the past. It made them hold on to old hurts and worries about the future.

It made a group of Sanctifiers brutally beating an innocent woman seem justified in the name of duty. And trained the people who disagreed to stand by and donothingabout it.

A sudden, swift kick to her ribs sent her flying back.

A second kick quickly followed, this time to her spine.

A third kick, and something in her chest cracked. The pain had her gasping.