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If the faeries and the Colynes witches fought, maybe whoever won would be so weakened we could overpower them and escape. Or slip away. Or maybe the fight would buy us enough time for Kalcedon to arrive. Where was he?

I felt a flare of heat above. A spell, I thought at first, but it didn’t feel like a spell. It felt like… someone powerful. Two someones.

“They’re here,” I said, looking up at the ceiling above our heads. “The faeries.” Oraik gulped. I braced myself for an explosion of fighting above us.

“Meda?”

“What?” The cupboard doors were latched, but not locked. I tore them open and started rifling through the contents, looking for anything useful amid the reed pens and folded maps.

I don’t know what I was hoping for. There was nothing that could make my magic stronger. I found a single iron knife, but a dagger wasn’t going to do much good against two faeries and the war witches. I doubted even a key or lock picks would open a door sealed by magic. The porthole was a little too small for us to fit through. Not that it would be helpful if it were larger, since jumping into the Etegen was hardly a path to safety.

“I never kissed anyone. I don’t want to die, having… never kissed anyone.” Oraik clutched his head in his hands, rocking forward as he panicked.

“You have a very strange reaction to death,” I told him.

There wasn’t any fighting above us; no flare or shift of spellwork. It would have erupted immediately, I was certain, if they were enemies.

Did it mean the faeries and the Colynes were working together? I closed the cupboard and leaned my head against it, thoughts racing.

“Can I kiss you?” Oraik asked.

“Mysteries. Get a hold of yourself.”

“Well, I might not get another chance to try it,” Oraik said mournfully.

If we didn’t escape, we were as good as dead. And I didn’t think we stood any chance of escaping without help. I didn’t know where Kalcedon was, but he might be looking for us in entirely the wrong place.

I had a lock of his hair. And I knew the spell I’d need. The problem was, I wasn’t strong enough. It would drain me, and if he was too far away, there would be no coming back.

Then again, if he didn’t find us, I was as good as dead anyways.

I stepped forward, grabbed Oraik by the shirt, and pulled him down. Rising on my tiptoes, I angled my face up and planted a kiss on his cheek.

“You aren’t going to die,” I told him, letting go of his shirt. “Sit down and stop talking. I am about to do something incredibly foolish, and if I don’t survive, you need to run the first chance you get.” I wrenched the porthole open. It was stubborn, and took all my strength; when it finally gave I nearly fell over backwards.

“You’re scaring me.”

“Sit,” I commanded sharply, and pointed at the chair. Hands trembling, he did as I asked.

Drawing sharp, shallow breaths—I was on the verge of losing all control myself—I sank down to the floor and dug into my bag for the lock of Kalcedon’s hair.

Setting it on the ground in front of me, I made quick gestures for the spell. Taloir, backed by Rhunen. Shift to Elezan. Add Polyin, Harrow, Leferin. Back to Rhunen, and the fifth sequence from Noktes. My hands flew. The spell formed. My body chilled, and the hair charred into ash with a horrible burnt smell.

Death took an interest in me and loomed in close. My eyes blurred as a silent wail tore through my being.

“Kalcedon?” I rasped. The wind was loud, wherever he was. I heard it whistling past my ears, a strange sensation when the air around me felt far too still. I heard the high-pitched chirp of a bird. “Kalcedon? Can you hear me?” I asked. My hands trembled. Magic spooled out of me, a thinning thread.

Ice set; veins slowed. Every cell of my body turned over itself, clinging desperately to the shreds of power I tore out of my body and poured into the spell.

The bird chirped again. Louder this time.

“Faeries attacked us.” A series of short, sharp cries pierced my ear. “Look for a shadow over a town. We made it to a Colynes warship just offshore from there.” Another chirp. “We’re locked below deck.” Only the wind, this time. No bird cries. “Please come quickly.” The wind was louder in my ear. “My heat’s gone. I’m going now.”

As I let go of the spell, one final high-pitched cry rang in my ears. He’d heard me.

A pain unlike any I’d ever known swallowed me whole. “Meda,” I heard Oraik yell.

I collapsed to the floor.