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“Why is it that animals and creatures always like you?” She could settle even the wildest of beasts.

“It is my aura. They are drawn to it and sense I will not hurt them.”

“Well, I wouldn’t hurt it.”

“No, of course not, but you are a predator.”

One thing Katana was not, was a predator. “Got it.”

She took out her golden sword, longingly staring at the careful inscriptions along the blade.Zythara—Darkbringer. “I need your help,” she whispered in the primordial language. It warmed in her hands in response. “We must protect the people of this city.”

She turned it over, blade point down and drove it as hard as she could into a crack in the slate rock. It hit with a spark and a repelling force, throwing her back. She stumbled toward the water, waving her arms wildly to catch her balance. Presco lurched and hooked her arm before she fell over. With her mouth open in shock, she stared at it. This sword had never fought against her before.

“Perhaps it needs a little more coaxing,” Presco mused.

Coaxing? It was her damn sword. It existed because she made it. Taking in a calming breath, she wrapped both of herhands around the hilt, and stared at it. It warmed again, sending a tingle through her. It liked being held by her. Of course it did. She was its creator. “I need you now for a shield.”

It whispered back,not ashield.

“I know you’re not a shield. You are a sword, and you belong to me.”

To command and wield in combat, it answered.To cut down our enemies.

“I need you for a different purpose.”

No.

Valeen balked. “Can you believe this?” she said to Presco.

“Is it speaking to you?”

“Yes. It won’t let me use it as a shield.”

“Well, it was forged by your hand and has likely inherited your stubbornness.” He was on the verge of laughing about it.

“Exactly, it was forged by me and should do what I say.” It was made of the rarest and strongest metal in the realms, found only in two places: the deep heart of the Black Mountain in House of Night, and in Mount Aeofi in the winter goddess’s territory. It had taken her dwarven friends a decade to find enough to craft this blade, and she spent months forging it and getting it to bend to her will.

“You could try saying ‘please’,” Katana said with a wink.

She gritted her teeth and then huffed. “Please, Zythara allow me to use you as a shield.”

No no no no no,ithissed. Not my purpose.

She shoved it back into the scabbard at her hip and crossed her arms. “We don’t have anything else. Zythara was our only plan?”

Presco adjusted his glasses and tilted his head. “You could try reforging Lightbringer. It still lies broken in a tower, correct? Hel told me about it.”

“Lightbringer didn’t belong to the goddess of night. It was made by my elven father.”

“Yes, it did. You have always been the goddess of night even before you remembered. And part of you is still the elf, Layala Lightbringer.”

“And what if I take the time and effort to reforge it and it won’t act as a shield conductor either? I don’t remember Lightbringer having a mind of its own, but if I imbue it with my magic…”

Katana smiled brightly and her eyes widened. “Maybe Zythara cannot be a shield because this is not House of Night, it was not born here. But what if you and I imbuedourmagic into Lightbringer to shield day and night? We can instruct it that it is made for this purpose. To protect the elves. It was originally made here and for that purpose.”

It might just work, and at this point, what other choice did they have? She shuddered at the thought of going back to the Void, surrounded by the pale ones. It made her uneasy to consider what memories and feelings it might bring up. The last time she was there, hundreds died, she’d been dragged against her will into that tower, terrified, and yet it had brought her… him.

“I’ll get the sword, and we can start the reforging when you get back from the dragon court. If we want it to have both our magic in it, you’ll need to help me. Have you ever worked in a forge or with weapons?” It had been an age or two since she had done it herself but hopefully the skill would come back to her. Presco was good at it if she was rusty.