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CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

ZéLIE

“L ET GO OF ME ! ” I scream.

King Baldyr drags me down the coast. Skulls rise from their fires as I pass. They stare at me like I’m a myth come to life.

The magic King Baldyr commands twists inside me. It’s like knives running through my blood. I grieve the gift of my people, tainted by Baldyr’s wretched bloodmetal.

“ I knew I would see you again ,” Baldyr mutters in his tongue. His breath stinks of blood. “ It does not matter where you run. With that medallion, you are destined to end up back in my arms. ”

The very medallion he speaks of vibrates in my chest. It’s like it senses its owner’s presence. Storm clouds start to gather above. Sparks of lightning flash through the clouds. Baldyr looks up at the sight. A dangerous zeal fills his hazel gaze.

Fight, Zélie.

I will myself to kick. To writhe, to thrash, to punch. With no other weapon, I drive my elbow into the back of his neck. I claw at his golden mask.

Baldyr releases my arm, and I attempt to run, but he picks me up instead. I struggle as he throws me over his shoulder, undeterred from my attacks.

“You escaped me once, Merle ,” he speaks in Or?shan. “You will not escape again.”

His every word consumes me. His insistence that I belong to him. All around us the Skulls move. They race aboard their ships. I won’t be headed to the capital city of Iarlaith with Baldyr alone.

I’ll be surrounded by his men.

Feel it.

Yéva’s words return to me in the chaos. I’m brought back to our training on the summit of Mount Gaīa. When I close my eyes, the volcanic stone warms my bare feet. The circle of vines closes around me.

Yéva knew it would come to this. She knew no one else would be able to save me no matter what they did. Baldyr’s used my magic against my allies.

I have to use his own magic against him.

Feel it!

With my Reaper magic twisting inside me, I sense a pathway I couldn’t summon before. The medallion pulses in my chest as I call for the surge. The rumble deep in my core.

Use it, Zélie!

Thunder booms above. It echoes through my ears. A hard rain begins to fall. I grit my teeth as a sharp heat courses through my rib cage before traveling up my neck.

King Baldyr stops his ascent in the middle of the drawbridge. His eyes widen as he realizes what’s to come.

“ No! ” Baldyr roars.

With a final push, the golden lightning breaks free. It crackles from my throat in brilliant bolts. King Baldyr shouts, blown back by the blast.

I fall to the ground as my lightning shoots through the vessel like a spear. The smell of sulfur leaks through the air. My lightning ignites a flame below deck. In a rush, the blaze expands.

Then the whole world explodes.