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The creature was two stories tall and had to weigh more than ten carriages stacked on top of each other. She wove as fast as she could and loosed bolt after bolt of her earthen magic. But the magic barely slowed it. It didn’t even flinch as a weave sliced down its arm. She didn’t hesitate as she formed more weaves, glaring at the creatures that were doing their damndest to block out the morning sun from the sky.

She spotted more ogres pacing through the forest beyond the ward, likely trying to find the tear or some way to get in. There had to be at least a dozen of them.

There was no way they could get past so many. Not unless they bought themselves enough time to slip away without being detected.

We are so fucked?—

A hand enclosed around Arabella’s arm, hauling her back.

“Quit daydreaming,” Brynne hissed as Arabella released several bolts of magic at the ogre in front of her. “Or you’re going to get us all killed.”

It roared and brought down a fist toward them.

“Heads up,” Cora shouted in her lilting voice as she formed a shield of earthen magic above them.

Jessamine was beside Cora in an instant, arms waving above her head as she reinforced Cora’s shield with her magic.

It shattered upon impact, sending the weaves in every direction before sinking back into the earth. The ogre wailed, clutching its broken hand and stumbling backward.

Arabella’s thoughts raced.

Brynne was right. She needed to come to a decision. Now wasn’t the time for hesitation.

An idea blossomed in her mind.

“Breckett,” Arabella said, spinning toward him. “We’re going to fix the tears.”

He stared at her dumbly for a moment. “I already told you, I can’t repair the ward?—”

“Not you,” she interrupted, glancing down at her shadows. “My enchantress magic isn’t compatible with the ward, but my shadow magic might be. And you’re going to shield me. I can’t fight the ogres and repair it at the same time.”

There were many different types of magic in this world. And she’d learned from her time repairing Shadowbank’s ward that a wielder had to use the same magic that created a ward to repair it. If Elias had dark magic from being a demon and he’d repaired the ward before, perhaps her shadow magic would be able to form a patch over the tear.

“Keep the ogres distracted,” she shouted to the enchantresses as she reached for Breckett’s hand, which he held out to her begrudgingly as though accepting soiled undergarments. “We’ll be back soon.”

Ears popping, the world blurred as though she stared through a pane of glass. It was one of the side effects of Breckett cloaking her with his invisibility.

The ogre charged again.

Gripping his fingers, she ran forward, ducking beneath the ogre’s arm as it swung a meaty fist toward them. Skiddingbeside her, Breckett nearly fell. But there wasn’t time for any hesitation or mistakes. She leaped forward and slid beneath its legs, dragging the erox behind her.

“Keep up,” she hissed, careful to keep her voice low.

The male was moving like an infant.

“I am,” he bit back as the ogre moved toward the enchantresses.

Jessamine and the others could handle one ogre, but if more came through the tear, they’d be overwhelmed if they didn’t get to higher ground.

I can’t worry about them now,she thought. She had to focus on fixing the ward.

She and Breckett got off the path and moved through the gardens toward the lake. As they crouched low, she heard Breckett’s labored breaths.

“Are you winded?”

“Of course not.”

She raised an eyebrow.