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I landed strike after strike, not caring where, only putting all my anger and strength into each blow.

She staggered again, disoriented, and with a cry of rage, I backhanded her with Farron’s buckler.

The hit landed solidly, smashing through her shield and into her face, her head flying back with the impact.

She fell, limp and broken, skidding across the floor as she hit, unconscious if not dead.

It had taken mere seconds, but I spun away from her, desperate to get back to Moreau and protect my two girls.

Yet I was too late.

With one hand, he held Kara pinned to him by the throat.

Iyoni was on her knees, blood gushing from the wound high in her back.

She raised her sword in a last attempt to intervene, but even I could see she was too weak.

Moreau knocked it from her hand with his own, then kicked her in the chest. She fell back, landing on the ground with a cry.

She struggled to rise, but her arms gave way, and she slumped.

“No …” The sound came out hoarse, barely a breath, torn from the hollow where panic met helplessness. I reached for the bond, desperate to know if she still lived—relief flooding me when I felt it, vibrant as ever, aether flowing through the connection.

I froze, eyes widening. If the aether flowed into me, could I push it back the other way?

Kara struggled in futility against Moreau’s far greater strength.

I’d never tried, but if there was ever a time that Kara needed my help, it was now. Focusing on our bond, I pushed with everything I had.

In the spiritual mind’s eye of my own ability to sense aether, the bond I had with Kara changed from black to white. Aether rushed from me to her, drawing a gasp not only from me, but from Iyoni, lying bleeding on the floor. I was drawing from her too, and I hadn’t intended that.

But as the aether surged into her, Kara’s shield shimmered, her black nimbus melding with Iyoni’s white celestial aether, just as I’d seen with my own. Mine had turned pure white. Kara echoed our gasp, Moreau momentarily stunned, and in that instant, she struck.

She punched blindly over her own shoulder, guessing where he was, and her fist smashed directly into his face. She’d gone straight through his shield, and his nose broke with a distinct crunch. He reeled back, Kara following up with an elbow jab into his sternum, and she twisted out of his grasp.

But he was still the most powerful supe in the room, and his speed and strength were unmatched.

He backhanded her even as he staggered, his strength smashing through her shield and sending her crumpling to the floor beside Iyoni.

She caught herself on her hands and knees, shaking her head as if stunned.

She wasn’t badly injured, and Iyoni was.

I immediately stopped pushing aether to Kara, diverting it instead to Iyoni, not wanting her to be weakened further when she was so badly hurt. My shield shifted from white back to almost black, but I still retained some of Iyoni’s aether, and raised my hand to point at Moreau.

The combined magic of all three of us began to coalesce in my palm, just like it had in the warehouse, but this time there was only enough of Iyoni’s power to let me use her spell, and not so much that it would drain me—I hoped.

I let loose as soon as the power built, and a bolt flew from my hand.

It was electric, crackling through the air with aether, black almost to the core, where a hint of Iyoni’s white remained.

Moreau tried to twist out of its path, and with his speed, he almost made it. But the bolt was faster than he was. It struck him high on the right side of his chest, piercing his shield as if it wasn’t even there, spinning him around. Blood misted the air behind him.

For a moment, he stood frozen, staring down at himself. His shield flickered, then faded. His chest and shoulder were a mangled mess where my spell had hit. His right arm hung limp, shards of bone protruding through the wound.

“Not so weak … after all,” he gasped, blood bright and crimson on his lips.

Behind him, Kara staggered upright, Iyoni’s sword of light held in both her hands.

The exhaustion of using Iyoni’s magic hit me hard, and I reeled like I was drunk.

But it wasn’t as bad as in the warehouse.

I couldn’t afford to lose consciousness, not in the middle of a fight, not with Iyoni bleeding out.

I focused with everything I had, yet the effort to stay upright was almost overwhelming.

Moreau coughed up blood, then slumped to his knees. To my astonishment, he gave me a grin. “At least now … there’s no doubt … who your mother is.”

“What did you say?” I cried, taking a shaky step toward him.

Iyoni’s sword sliced into his neck and down through his chest, biting deep, no shield to stop it. Moreau stiffened, his eyes glazing over as Kara pulled the blade free. His face slackened, and he crumpled to the floor at my feet.

I raised my eyes from his body to see Kara standing over him, the sword in her grasp, her expression shifting from fierce determination to horror.

“Xan …” she gasped. “I’m so sorry … I didn’t know …”