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“She is your concern, Rayner, not me,” Sorin yelled. He drew his own swords from his back, and Scarlett’s breath caught as flames ignited down the blades. He stepped towards Talwyn, but a gust of wind slammed into him.

Scarlett cried out as he was thrown backwards, but again her voice was carried away by the whirlwind she was trapped in. Rayner vanished into smoke and reappeared just outside the vortex.

“Rayner!” she cried. “Help him!”

“He can handle himself, Scarlett,” Rayner replied, his voice calm and steady, even though he was yelling to be heard over the raging winds. He was walking around the whirlwind, his hands up with smoke and ashes pouring from them, as if searching for any weakness in the vortex.

“She just threw him against a wall!” Scarlett cried.

Still focused on the tempest before him, Rayner shot a quick glance to Sorin. “He is not using the full extent of his power, Scarlett. He is barely tapping into it.”

“Where are Cyrus and Eliza?”

“They are coming as fast as they can,” Rayner answered. Then he swore under his breath as he realized there was no way to get to her.

“Go to Callan and the others. Help them!” she screamed at Rayner, but he made no move to do so.

“She has them in invisible wind prisons, Scarlett. They cannot hear anything that is being said. They can only watch it happen. We cannot get to them.”

“Tell her to give me that ring, and we can end all of this now,” Talwyn was saying to Sorin. Scarlett watched in horror as what she had thought was a bracelet began uncoiling from around Talwyn’s wrist like a snake. It sparked and crackled like lightning, turning into a whip that Talwyn now held in her hand.

“It is hers, and no one tells her to do anything,” Sorin growled. He stepped forward again, and this time when the winds blasted towards him, he held his footing.

A wicked smile spread across Talwyn’s lips. “Don’t waste your strength, Sorin,” she taunted. “We both know you are feeling a little…less than these days.”

Talwyn brought her whip back, but before she could bring it forward, it was wrapped around a flaming blade from behind. Talwyn whirled in surprise. Eliza stood behind her, holding that sword. It was the most gorgeous blade Scarlett had ever seen.

“I underestimated your speed,” Talwyn snarled.

“You underestimate me a lot, your Majesty,” Eliza tossed back.

If looks could kill, Eliza would have been dead from the glare that Talwyn threw at her.

Cyrus appeared at Rayner’s side, swearing viciously when he beheld what she was encased in.

“Cyrus, go help Callan!” Scarlett cried again, but he, too, made no move to do so.

Talwyn jerked her arm, and the whip came back to her. She turned back to Sorin. “None of this is necessary, you fool,” she growled.

“You are the one who accosted us, myQueen,” he answered. The venom that dripped from the word queen was palpable.

“Enough of this,” Talwyn cried. With a sickening thud, Sorin and every member of his Inner Court were hurled to the edges of the courtyard on winds that would have ripped trees from the ground.Restraints of what appeared to be tree roots grew from the cracks of the stone walls pinning the others to them. Sorin was on his feet in an instant, but Talwyn was already on top of him, her whip coiled around his throat.

“I know who she is, Sorin.” Her voice was low and cruel. “I know why she has that ring. How dare you keep her from me. She is my own blood.”

Scarlett stilled inside the whirlwind. She knew. She knew they were cousins. How had she figured it out? How long had she known?

“I know you care nothing for me,” she continued to Sorin, “but do you truly hate everything and everyone in the White Halls that much? Did your love die with Eliné?”

Sorin was struggling against that whip around his throat. Flames surrounded his hands as he tried to wrench it free. His Inner Court was thrashing and cursing against their own restraints.

“Do it, Sorin!” Eliza cried from where she struggled.

“No! Don’t!” Cyrus bellowed.

Talwyn clicked her tongue. “What ever will you do, Sorin? Shall you waste that slowly draining well?”

Scarlett couldn’t focus on what they were saying. She couldn’t even try to decipher what they were referring to. Her breathing was ragged. Her shadows were whipping around her, slamming against the walls of the wind vortex. She could hardly draw a deep enough breath into her lungs, and she wondered if Talwyn was doing that, too.