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A shiver of unease rippled through the silence.

Those memories.I stared at Thysandra – clever, stoic Thysandra, whose lips were now showing the faintest hint of a smug smile – and felt my heart ever so slowly sink towards the soles of my feet. She had been waiting here for us. She had known that Creon and I had almost single-handedly taken down the full force of the Sun fleet. Which meant she must have prepared for us some other way – ofcourseshe had.

And we had, indeed, underestimated her.

‘There exist keys to the defences of the Cobalt Court, you see,’ she added, every single word drenched in poisonous honey, ‘one of which happens to be mine. As we speak, one of my people is inside the castle, keeping an eye on this pleasant conversation from afar and keeping a good dose of red at hand. The moment anything happens to us’ – her smile broadened a fraction – ‘you’ve lost the bindings forever.’

The fresh sea air had gone thick and oppressive, burning in my throat as I tried to keep breathing without gasping. So theywerehere, the bindings. So wehadbeen right – about the physical forms of the damn things, about the location, even about the right way to breach the shield around the castle ruins. Yet if we made one wrong move now, if we miscalculated for even a moment …

They wouldn’t hesitate to destroy the bindings. Taking all of that magic with them. Taking all of those sacrifices, too.

‘You’re threatening the entire magical world with irrevocable extinction,’ Lyn said, her voice shaking. ‘Do you even realise that?’

Thysandra shrugged, unimpressed. ‘To be fair, you are currently threateningmypeople with extinction.’

‘That’s …’ Lyn interrupted herself, drawing in a shivering breath. ‘Hell take every single one of you. What do you want?’

‘Your surrender.’

No one moved.

‘I can guarantee your safety until the moment we reach the Crimson Court,’ Thysandra added dryly – as ifthatwould be anyone’s greatest worry. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not the one in the habit of gutting prisoners … or skinning them … or taking their tongue and fingers for my amusement …’

‘Yes, thank you,’ Tared interrupted sharply. ‘A great relief. I don’t suppose you can offer us any reassurance that the Mother will be equally mild?’

She raised her dark eyebrows. ‘I’m not a liar, Thorgedson.’

‘And would you agree to any other compromise to leave the bindings alone?’

‘Not killing you on the spotwasthe compromise,’ she said dryly, and behind her, some of her warriors risked chuckles and grins. Gone was the earlier confusion. They had us where they’d planned to have us from the start, before their commander had momentarily been brought off balance by the drivelling of some little demon, and that high of triumph was enough to make them forget about those moments of uncertainty.

Naxi looked as though Thysandra had just slapped her in the face, cheeks burning and eyes feverishly wide.

‘I see,’ Tared said, and the flatness of his voice made my stomach turn. He wasn’t going toagree, was he? There had to besomethingwe could do to get out of this trap? ‘In that case …’

To my surprise, it was Creon he turned to as his words drifted off, his eyebrows raised in an unspoken question.

Without looking at me, Creon signed two words.Em. Key.

‘Yes.’ Tared sighed, sounding even more defeated now – was that an act? I could hardly ask, nor could I ask what in hell the two of them were cooking up. Before I could even catch Creon’s gaze, Tared calmly added, ‘Bey, get Em to safety.’

Fingers dug into my upper arm.

The colours of the world warped around me, fire-yellow mingling with the dark blue of night. It lasted for barely the blink of an eye. Then I stood wavering on a familiar mountain path, the starry sky overhead, Alyra’s talons digging so hard into my shoulder it hurt even through the thicker patch of fabric. In the distance, I heard the echo of something suspiciously similar to Thysandra’s voice; the glow of torches lit up the mountain slopes behind the ridge just before us.

Beyla hastily let go of my arm and pressed a meaningful finger against her lips.

I gave a numb nod, still desperately trying to catch up with whatever the others were planning – their clues offering no more than meagre glimpses into their minds, but apparently enough for people who’d spent centuries strategising together.Em. Key.The magical key currently with the person Thysandra had sent into the Cobalt Court to destroy the bindings …

Behind the shield.

Pieces clicked into place.

‘Oh, fuck,’ I breathed. ‘But I never even tried—’

Beyla glared a warning over her shoulder as she slunk towards the low ridge separating us from the others. I could make out Thysandra’s voice now – ‘… don’twantto destroy them, but if another one of you disappears, I won’t have a choice but to give the sign …’

That was what Beyla had been looking for, apparently. She turned on her heel and strode back to me with brisk steps, again grabbing my arm without a word of explanation.