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And backhanded her across the face.

There was so much power behind his blow that Kiva cried out and fell to her knees, her hand coming up to cover her cheek, her eyes watering all over again. Vaguely, she noticed the handprint-shaped bruise already blossoming on her forearm, but her more immediate concern was the throbbing beneath her eye, the skin over her cheekbone instantly beginning to stretch and swell.

“Get up,” Navok ordered, merciless.

Kiva bit her tongue to keep from saying something that would make her situation worse, and shakily stood.

“Now, heal yourself,” he commanded.

Kiva shook her head, not because she was denying him again — she wasn’t stupid — but because her magic wouldn’t work on her own body. “I can’t. It won’t —”

“You still refuse me?” Navok interrupted, incredulous. He didn’t wait for her reply before moving back to his throne. There, he rang a bell, then took his seat again, before saying, “It would seem you need more motivation.”

The look on his face told Kiva that he was past the point of listening even if she tried to explain. She wondered how far she would get if she attempted to flee the throne room. But before she could take a single step, the doors opened and a man walked through them, his skin and hair dark, his eyes like bottomless black pits.

“Tua Carem,” the man greeted the king in Mirravish, bowing deep. Like Navok, he wore black from head to toe, but unlike the king, whoseoutfit was formal and edged with crimson embroidery, the man’s attire was more like the leather armor Naari would wear, only without any visible weapons. “Geh nerro eh jakoweh ken darra?”

“Rise,” Navok told him in the common tongue. To Kiva, Navok said, his voice conversational enough that it was as if he’d forgotten that he’d just struck her, “This is Xuru. He has a particular skill set that I find valuable when it comes to my enemies. And, it would seem, my disobedient bride.”

Kiva swallowed, wondering again whether she should risk fleeing. But Navok anticipated her thoughts and called to his Gray Guards, summoning them into the room and ordering them to stand beside the inner doors, blocking her escape.

The king then spoke to Xuru in a string of Mirravish. The look of anticipation that filled the new man’s features caused a coil of apprehension to twist in Kiva’s middle.

Turning back to Kiva, Navok said, “My patience has run out. Show me your magic, or you’ll leave me no choice but to force it from you.”

Good luck with that, Kiva thought, but she knew better than to speak this time, and only nodded and raised her hands. She wouldn’t be able to heal herself, but she could still obey his request and show him proof of her magic, thereby avoiding Xuru and his “skill set.”

But... Kiva had never tried to summon her power without needing to heal someone. And the last time she’d attempted it — to heal Cresta in the Abyss — nothing had happened.

Now wasn’t the time to doubt herself, so she clenched her jaw against the pain radiating down her face and called to the magic in her blood. Just a hint of golden light — that’s all she needed to show him. Then he would leave her alone.

Sweat trickled down Kiva’s spine as she sought to draw her power out, but it was as if it was ignoring her, refusing to rise to the surface.Almost like it knew there was nothing to heal — or even if there was, that it wanted no part in it.

Please, Kiva whispered inwardly, dreading what the king might have Xuru do to her if she didn’t comply.Please.

It felt like a century passed while she tried to coax her power out, to no effect. She was just about to offer some pleading excuse to Navok, when suddenly, she felt it. A tingling in her fingertips, a warming of her hands, and then the slightest tinge of golden light glimmering from her palms. It was nothing compared to the blinding radiance of a full healing, but it was evidence that she had magic, and she looked triumphantly at the king before it spluttered out into nothing.

He cocked an eyebrow. “Is that it?”

Kiva remained silent, unwilling to court his wrath again.

“Your mother claimed you were powerful. Incomparably so. And you give me, what? A little bit of a glow?” Navok snorted. “Pathetic.” He jerked his chin at Xuru, speaking to him in Mirravish again, then turned back to Kiva and finished, “Seems you need that motivation after all.”

That was the only warning Kiva received before Xuru raised his hands and thrust them forward. She would have thought the move ridiculous, if not for the fireball that appeared out of nowhere and shot toward her.

Three thoughts came to Kiva as the flames reached her:

Xuru had elemental magic.

He was an anomaly.

And she wasburning.

Chapter Eight

Kiva barely had time to spin and duck before Xuru’s magic collided with her, the fireball slamming into her bare shoulder from behind. The damage would have been considerably worse had it hit her straight on; instead, it only glanced off her flesh. But the searing pain came instantly, causing her to scream and curl in on herself.

Her body quaked as she swiveled her neck to inspect the damage, but all she could see was —