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Every inch of me screaming, I blinked up at the domed ceiling, the sudden silence unnerving. Spots danced before my eyes, and a high-pitched, tinny noise filled my ears.

“Victor!” Runa’s scream pierced my ringing skull. Cries from the terrified White Bridge villagers accompanied her litany of curse words.

“Are you okay?” Her face swam in my vision.

“Ouch.” I exhaled the breath I held, puffing smoke from my parted lips.

“Behold your fabled savior, good people of White Bridge.” Idris’s laughter rang out. “Is this the sort of king you’d have on Carcerem’s throne? This impersonator before you couldn’t defend this kingdom from a herd of cottonpelts. It’s no wonder his mortal world didn’t want him.”

“Help me up?” I met Runa’s anxious gaze.

“Of course.” With trembling hands, she dusted bits of crushed stone from my legs, then slung my arm over her shoulder, lending me her strength as I shoved to my feet.

When last I was brought this low, I faced my adversary alone. This time would be different. I just had to hold out for a bit longer.

I turned my face to Runa’s ear. “Focus on getting your people to safety, as many as you can, while I distract him.”

“You sure?” She caressed my cheek, sweeping the dust from my skin.

“Go.”

Runa nodded, releasing me to slip into the crowd of those gathered while I strode down the aisle.

With a self-assured smirk twisting his mouth, Idris watched my unsteady approach, his eyes narrowed in amusement. Once I stood before him in the circle where he liked to incinerate those he believed to be law breakers, I braced my wobbling legs.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Thankfully, my voice was strong, failing to reveal the damage he’d done.

His cocky grin spread. “I’m going to enjoy breaking you, Custodis.”

“Then give me your best shot,” I said, holding out my arms.

Idris drew back his arm and let a glowing sphere fly. I ignited my own magic, coating my palms and knocking the speeding orbskyward, into the ceiling. Stones cracked. Dust rained down on the huddled villagers. Their cries of terror rang out.

Flark. To prevent striking them, I’d need to get closer to my target.

Before Idris could regroup, I rocketed up the steps to the dais and slammed my glowing fist into his unsuspecting jaw. His head snapped back, and he crashed over the arm of his throne, tumbling over the sacred arbor’s blackened roots. As Idris tumbled, his queen let out a squeal of distress, abandoning her mate to scurry around the side of the tree and scramble over roots.

The false king glared up at me from where he’d fallen. He swiped the streak of blood from his lip and spat on the ground. Without getting up, he snarled, “So we’re to behave as brutes, fighting with our fists? You really are a gutter rat.”

I smiled in return. “What’s the matter, Brother? Haven’t you ever been in a bar fight?”

Idris lurched to his feet and charged. Skin glowing with an eternal light, he leaped root to root. Body tensed, I summoned a wave of magic to shield my flesh and charged as well.

Crash!

Two mighty forces of nature slammed together. Planets on a collision course.

The impact sent a shockwave pulsing through the realm, rippling across the stones and up the limbs of the sacred tree. The castle shuddered beneath us, walls groaning, lamps swinging wildly as dust rained from the ceiling. Cries of the innocents echoed through the throne room. Their fear was a sharp knife against my resolve.

Above us, the great tree trembled. Its glorious leaves ignited from the amount of raw power the king unleashed. They fell like dying stars, fireflies burning up the space between us.

I barely saw the punch before it landed. Idris’s fist slammedinto my ribs. Cracking. Once. Twice. Bone snapped, fire igniting in my side. Pain shot through me, but I refused to fall.

I twisted into the grapple, using his momentum against him. With a sharp pivot, I flipped him over my shoulder, sending him crashing into the ropy foundation of the tree. The impact rattled the branches, sending another wave of leaves cascading down on us.

The pretender rose from the wreckage, his piercing eyes locking onto mine—not with hatred, but something more dangerous. Coercion.

He coughed a laugh. “You and I both know you cannot win this fight. I’ve wielded this power for eons while you’ve toyed with it for a handful of turns. The odds are against you, fallen one.”