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Storm magic filled Thea’s whole body. There was not an inch of her that wasn’t humming with lightning. From the blazing look in Wren’s eyes, she felt the same.

Audra had been wrong. Transferring power was possible.

Anya had left them one last gift.

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

THEA

Thea’s whole body trembled with the force of the raw power as she stood. Wren did the same beside her, the pair of them standing over Anya’s body as her magic wove its way into the very fabric of their own.

Something unseen tugged at the corner of Thea’s senses, and she moved on instinct, conjuring a vibrant bolt of lightning at her fingertips and hurling it into the dark —

A scream echoed off the walls and a reaper staggered forward, only to be hit with another bolt, this time by Wren’s hand.

The monster lurched towards them, and Thea was glad. Her magic surged: lightning, wind and rain swirling into a fiery vortex that she sent hurtling towards the reaper, right for its heart. The air around her and Wren crackled, and they speared the creature with bolt after bolt of pure energy.

They burned out its dark heart, but it wasn’t enough – not for Thea, and by the look in Wren’s eyes, not for her either. With lightning and thunder they would avenge Anya, and they would bring the fucking reapers and their ilk to their knees.

As though Thea had voiced the challenge aloud, a fresh wave of howlers, wraiths and arachnes swarmed the broken gates and scaled the walls of Thezmarr.

‘Gods,’ Wren muttered in disbelief. ‘Even with storm magic, we…’

‘We won’t last,’ Thea finished for her, looking to where Wilder, Talemir, Torj, Vernich, Drue, Adrienne and Dratos all fought at the heart of the courtyard. They were exhausted, even those with Furies-given strength.

Thea scanned the grounds, looking for something – anything – that might help. Cal was on the wall with his archers, but there were only a handful of them now, and judging by the intervals between arrows, they didn’t have many left.

‘Wren.’ Thea turned to her sister. ‘Gather as many arrows from the fallen as you can. Take them up to Cal. Blast any enemy with lightning as you go.’

‘Shouldn’t we stay together?’

‘I’ll find you again, but right now, we need Cal guarding us from above, and if he doesn’t have —’

‘Find me,’ Wren cut her off, and started wrenching arrows from the corpses around them.

Beyond the fortress walls, by Thezmarr’s cliffs, darkness gathered. It loomed low in the sky, an otherworldly presence that made Thea’s skin crawl. There had been no sign of Jasira since her declarations, nor had they faced all the rheguld reapers at the princess’ disposal. Tearing her eyes away from the shadows on the cliffs, Thea was willing to bet that was where they were. That desolate place at the edge of the world was where all these fucking monsters were pouring from.

She fought her way to Wilder and the others, throwing bolts of lightning as she moved. When she reached them, she realised there was someone missing.

‘Where’s Kipp?’ she shouted above the chaos, driving her blade into a howler’s gut and kicking it away to free her sword. Her limbs were heavy with exhaustion, and her chest ached for Anya, whose body lay amid the wreckage. It didn’t feel real.

‘Haven’t seen him,’ Vernich replied as he slit the throat of a wraith and left Drue to cut out its heart.

Panting, Thea turned to Torj, but the Bear Slayer shook his head.

‘I can’t remember the last time —’

But he was cut off as an arachne leapt from the walls, its fangs aimed right for him. He ducked and rolled just in time, as Thea threw a ball of lightning at its face.

The monster didn’t even shriek. Its body simply spasmed as the lightning burned it from the inside out and it collapsed in a heap atop the rest of the carnage.

Thea twirled her blade and fell into the dance of death. Slice, thrust, parry, slice, thrust, parry. But it didn’t matter how many monsters she slayed – more spilt across the walls and through the gates, as though their numbers were endless, as though their units were being replenished by the second. Wraiths blocked out the sliver of moonlight, charging from that billowing cloud of black on the cliffs.

Wilder’s gaze met hers, and she saw the sadness there. As more and more monsters swept into the courtyard and the allies’ strength flagged, she heard the unified intake of breath from her friends. This was it; it truly was to be their final stand.

Had they made it worthy of legend? She didn’t know, not anymore.

No amount of lightning could save them from this assault. They had done all they could.