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I was quite possibly going insane.

But Creon was dying, and what need would I have for sanity if I didn’t have him?

‘Doralis?’ I said, quickly taking down two more fae who were trying to work themselves in around Beyla. My dress was paling at an alarming rate. ‘Change the floor to mother-of-pearl instead, will you?’

She did not even ask questions. The large paving stones before and beneath us turned white and lustrous with a single yellow blaze. I took another step forward, carefully flattening my feetagainst the silky surface –iridescence.Hell, how hard could it be? It was there, plenty of it, and if I could just draw it in through that rough, calloused skin …

Doralis lunged past me, driving a long dagger deep into the neck of a fae warrior who’d been about to fire at me.

I clasped my hands together as in prayer, aiming every ounce of my willpower at the soles of my feet. The ball of my big toe, a little cushion pressed against that silky surface. The outer ridge, grounding me, digging in deep. My heels, strong and solid, keeping me from inching back even as that black-clothed swarm of fae descended upon me.

‘Emelin!’ Beyla shouted, not too far away. ‘Whatever you’re doing, best do itfast, will you?’

Something tingled through the bottom of my feet.

I closed my eyes.

No magic.That shimmering shield around me, again. It came easier now that I knew what I was looking for, knew what would work – I was the opposite of power. I was whiteness, the emptiest, palest shade of it. I was …

‘Emelin!’

I looked up.

The world had gone scarlet and crimson around me.

I was standing in a whirlwind of red, magic nipping at my arms, my chest, my face … and yet I felt nothing but the intoxicating currents of iridescence up my body, fizzing from my feet upwards like bubbles in sparkling wine. One step forward, and still there was no pain. As if I was striding through a firestorm unburned, untouched.

The red faltered as Beyla’s sword made quick work of the fae who’d drawn it in the first place. A temporary relief – the next group was already crowding inside.

‘Doralis?’ I had no time for joy or triumph. It was working. That was all I needed to know. Creon was still out there, andgods knew what had happened to him in the meantime. ‘Change the rest of the corridor too.’

I didn’t dare to look down and take my eyes away from the approaching fae, but the reflection of light against the walls changed ever so slightly, and the surprised hiss of my opponents seemed a good sign. Another step forward, and the magic kept flowing. Another one. I settled my right foot onto the mother-of-pearl with painstaking thoroughness before I dared to lift my left – the safety of the earth below me was the only weapon I had against the next round of red magic barrelling my way.

This shouldn’t be taking so long. I wasn’t looking forward to the moment they all realised they just needed to change the floor back to its previous stony state.

‘Beyla?’ My thoughts were spinning so fast they left me dizzy. ‘Mind if I borrow a sword?’

‘I do mind, yes,’ she hissed, pressing Sunray into my hand as she shot past me, easily flipped Icebreaker to her other hand, and whacked the knees out from below a tall fae female. ‘Lose it and I’ll kill you. Anything else?’

‘Fade Doralis to another side of the courtyard,’ I said quickly, testing the weight of the blade in my hand. At least I’d held it once before, but it felt new and uncanny all the same. ‘Somewhere that allows her to overlook the place. I need her to turn all of the paving iridescent.’

She scoffed, catching a ray of red on her sword rather than jumping away from it. ‘And leave you here to—’

‘Beyla!’

With a curse, she turned, grabbed Doralis, and vanished.

I gave myself no time to think or worry. They’d just have to manage. If they didn’t, I was lost anyway; no use panicking over what I couldn’t control. The only thing Icoulddo now …

I tightened my hand around the leather-covered hilt of my sword, making sure not to allow my skin anywhere near its alf-steel blade as I straightened my shoulders and looked up.

About a dozen fae had crowded around the open doorway to the courtyard, glaring at me with panic in their eyes and bloodlust in their sneers. What did I look like to them? Small and human. Half-dressed and barefoot. Clutching a blade that wasn’t mine to hold. Most of all, destined to die in a few minutes at most.

‘Fuckers,’ I hissed under my breath and lowered my left hand to my pink dress again.

I had to let go of the iridescent magic as I drew – no mixing colours drawn through different limbs, I noted, in some faraway corner of my mind still capable of noting anything. It lasted just a fraction of a moment. Long enough for me to draw the last bit of red I had. Too short for my opponents to realise this would be the moment to attack.

My magic slammed into the wall beside the gate, leaving a man-sized hole in the sandstone.