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“Kage—”

“No, this is important.” I took her face in my palms. “If the worst happens, promise me you’ll not let me live in such a way. I don’t want to live with cruel magic, Adira. Then, when I’m gone, I want you to keep my heartstone, don’t burn it. I’ll await you in the Afterrealm.”

A tremble came to Adira’s lip, but she nodded and kissed me through tears. “I love you, Thief. For every lifetime, I’ve loved you.”

The sun was setting by the time we reached the hills leading to the palace. White tents littered the gates. Smoke from flames blackened the sky. Wooden spikes were placed along the mote and palacegates, and all along the edges of the township Kappi, dressed in red and black, stood stalwart, awaiting our arrival.

I lifted my chin and faced the small crew who stood beside me. Friends, my lover, the only souls who truly mattered. “We end this today. Whether we see the next sunrise or not, we take heart, for we will be free of this curse one way or another.”

Asger pounded his fist over his chest. Cy kissed his fingertips and tapped his forehead, smirking. Gwyn and Adira held each other’s hands, the notion of battle like an inferno on their faces.

It was the call of a battle mage, an instinct that blazed across the brands on our spines. A passion for the fight, the vigor of holding a weapon, ignited the magic in our veins.

We helped each other prepare.

Knives, potions, and fire powders were sheathed and tied to belts. Jerkins and furs were settled over shoulders. Blades slid over our backs and waists. Gwyn stretched a bowstring taut, testing the weight and pull. Adira braided her hair for battle, plaits all down the back of her neck.

She came to me and wordlessly tied what was left of my hair off my neck into a tight knot. From Sleipnir’s bag she removed a bit of kohl powder and rimmed my eyes, the center of my lips, marking my chest with runes of protection and war.

I did the same to her, darkening her freckled cheeks in black streaks and spells of defense and power.

“Will this work?” she whispered.

“Yes.” I kissed the spot behind her ear. “You are the curse breaker. I believe in you, Adira Ravenwood.”

She smiled, but there was uncertainty in the gleam of her eyes.

“Now it is my turn for a speech. If I die today,” she began. I resisted the urge to interrupt and insist it would not happen, but the truth was, it had already happened before. “Swear to me you will live, Kage. You’ll keep fighting, and you will care for the others as you always have. You will be happy and look forward to when we’re joined again.”

A knot tightened in my throat. “And what if you don’t, Wildling?”

“What do you mean?”

“What if you don’t die?” I held her stare, unyielding. “What if I do not die? I want to marry you. I wish to waste no more time, and tell you those vows I wanted to make so long ago.”

Adira reached for me. “I want the same, and planned to ask you when this is all over.”

I let my forehead drop to her shoulder, my hands spanning the length of her spine. “You would never need to ask me.”

I gave the straps of her belt a swift tug, seeing to it the daggers sheathed there would not slide or loosen, then removed the wrapped crystalized stone from a basket. Adira held it against her chest, and in the dawn she looked every bit of a blood mage Soturi. Fierce, deadly, and flushed for battle.

One final look, one final breath, and we stepped onto the path for the palace gates.

When the knoll crested, a horn of warning blared from the walls of the palace. Kappi rearranged their position and the glide of steel over the leather rippled like a wave crashing over sand down the line.

We started at an even run, Adira careful not to jostle the stone. Our feet thudded on the ground in a strange unison.

Another blare from the palace and we were met with a row of Kappi hidden in the tall grass before the main road.

“Yield or we strike.”

I did not give them a chance. Being at the head, it would fall to me to clear a path. The glow of Soturi magic brightened under my skin. Talent with bone lent a connection to their skulls, spines, ribs, femurs, the whole of their skeletal elements in a matter of moments.

“Forgive me,” I murmured and tossed my arms out wide.

Jagged ends of ribs burst through leather guarders. One skull split down the center, blood draining onto the road. More legs snapped with bones jutting from the flesh over shins, thighs, and hips.

We kept pace, kept running.