Page 138

Taly emerged to a city in panic.

All around her, people screamed, some huddling together while others tried to flee. Thunder drummed wildly in the distance, boom after boom of it. The warning bells rang down near the city walls.

Taly pushed into the crowd, her sobs muffled by the chaos. Her vision blurred with tears, and her body was weightless, swept up by the tide of desperate souls rushing in every direction.

Calcifer was gone. In an eyeblink, this little thing that she’d cared for and helped to grow, that she was supposed to protect was just gone , and there was nothing she could do to bring him back.

It didn’t seem real. Every bit of her, every fiber rebelled against it. Her mind was in freefall as all around her people were screaming.

Something had happened, though Taly couldn’t say what. Above, flashes of lightning danced through the gaps in the tarps strung between buildings.

No, not lightning, she realized. It was the aerial ward shield flashing.

A man stumbled into her, catching her before she fell. “Sorry,” he panted—then blinked. “Wait, Taly?”

She stared at him, disoriented. Ren . Behind him, a woman with two young girls clinging to her skirts—his mother and sisters—looked her over.

The woman—Ana, if Taly remembered right—noted the tears on her face, must have mistaken them for panic. “Bring her,” she told her son.

Ren gripped her tighter as Ana caught her other arm, and together they dragged her along.

Taly let them. She didn’t have it in her to fight. With every step, the shattered pieces of her heart scraped like glass inside her chest.

Two more massive booms sounded, getting closer.

Enough now to know for sure—those were explosions, not thunder.

The ward shield sputtered. Beyond it, she could just make out a swarm of dark, winged forms that hovered and swooped, throwing themselves at the invisible veil of protection magic that stretched like a dome over the city.

Of course, that asshole had to bring harpies into this.

They lunged for the ward shield, their stretched arms clawing madly. Where they struck, lightning splintered from the point of impact, illuminating their grotesque forms in bursts of electric blue.

“Don’t worry,” Ana said, patting her arm. “There’s shelter at the Swap. We’ll all be safe there.”

It was one of the contingencies in case Aneirin made a move—a festival brought people together, and that made them a target. So, Ivain had made sure to have routes of evacuation set up and designated areas where revelers could shelter in place.

Indeed, Gate Watchers marked the way, guiding the crowd like riverbanks directing the flow. Bodies pressed together, parents clutched their children tightly, funneling through the narrow streets in a singular direction.

Up in the air, two more harpies slammed into the ward shield. Screams rose from the crowd, people ducking as sparks rained down. Ren threw Taly to the ground, covering her with his body while Ana shielded the girls.

Another boom sounded. Close enough to shake the ground and rattle nearby windows. Every light went out in a ripple of darkness that consumed the street.

Everything held still. Just for a second. People gasped. Someone sobbed. Taly’s heart pounded in her throat.

Then the next blast came—a building half a block ahead erupted, spitting flames and smoke into the street.

Screams filled the air as bodies surged backward, shoving against one another in blind panic. A shoulder slammed into her, and Taly nearly dropped. The air left her lungs in a sharp gasp.

Ana leaned in, her voice barely audible over the din. “Stay up! Don’t let them push you down!”

Taly nodded, the heat of the explosion still pricking her skin even from a distance. She fought to breathe through the press of bodies. Ren grunted as a shove from behind jostled them all.

Further down, another blast erupted, stirring up another wave of terrified cries.

They needed to get off the street. They would get crushed if they didn’t. But before Taly could put any action into the thought, the sky split open.

A harpy broke through, diving in freefall. At first, it was just another terror, but then the truth came into focus: skeletal wings, skin clinging to decayed bones, and eyes that held no life.

It wasn’t alive. It wasn’t even close.

“Oh, hell,” Taly whispered.

A cry went up as it sliced into the crowd, shooting back up dragging a woman behind it.

The second was nearly on top of them when it lunged, tearing through the colorful tarps strung from the rooftops, ripping away rows of lanterns. Its talons, warped and blackened, splayed as it dove.

Taly ducked, the stench of rot sweeping past her. Behind her, another woman screamed as she was lifted into the air.

More holes ripped open, more undead monstrosities swarming through.

Humans and Fey alike ran in every direction, anyone with a drop of aether shooting off spells.

A bolt of lightning arced wildly through the air.

Another mage nearby sent jagged shards of ice rocketing skyward, narrowly missing a swooping harpy as it twisted through the air with terrifying agility.

Gusts of wind toppled stalls, spilling food and prizes into the street, and flames—

“Shit.” If she’d had her magic, Taly would’ve seen it before she felt the heat. But without it, all she could do was dive for the girls, throwing them out of the way.

The stray burst of fire hit her square in the back. The ground vanished as her body went flying, crashing through the archery stall, the row of targets, the backboard—

Crack .

Her head, her whole body, bounced off the brick wall before crumpling to the sidewalk.

Shrill ringing filled her ears.

And maybe she blacked out for a moment because suddenly there were people standing over her, voices she couldn’t make out.

Taly groaned, sprawled on the pavement. Debris, shattered wood, and trampled prizes lay strewn around her. Frost coated her skin from where the protection wards sewn into her robe had activated, the cold at odds with the feeling of something warm and wet pooling beneath her.

“Fuck,” a male voice muttered, and Taly peered up at him, blinking, blinking .

Shards, why wouldn’t her eyes focus? “I get it now. Skye’s not paranoid.

You really do attract trouble like a magnet.

And blunt-force trauma.” His voice was sharp, but there was an edge of concern beneath it, his eyes scanning her with something softer than usual.

“… Kato?” she rasped.

“Not who I expected,” Ren murmured, eyes narrowing. “Where’s the prince?”

“Otherwise engaged,” Kato replied, stooping to slide an arm beneath her. “I’m on damsel duty today.”

Taly was drawn to her feet. Ren came around to her other side. He looked pale and worried. As she was hoisted up between them, her head lolled, and she saw the reason why.

A massive wooden shard stabbed clean through her abdomen.

“Tha’s no’ good,” Taly slurred, though she could barely feel it. Only the warmth of her blood as it soaked through her clothing.

She reached for it.

Kato caught her wrist, slinging her arm over his shoulder. They began moving forward. “We need to get her to the Swap,” he said, a silent Ana following behind with both girls. “It’s an official shelter, which means they’ll have medical supplies. And healers. Right now, she needs both.”

Taly’s feet dragged across the pavement, enough that they had to lift her higher. People were still screaming, wailing, and every step, every jostle had the shard of wood digging deeper, a little more feeling coming back.

A shriek pierced through the fog, high and ragged. It sliced through the ringing in her ears, drawing her eyes up.

That woman—the first one taken—was still so high in the air. The harpy gripped her like a toy, turning her over and inspecting her with long, bony fingers. Sniffing and licking and—

Then it dropped her. Just let go.

The woman screamed, tumbling end over end. Her hair streamed behind her, a golden banner, as the wind tore at her clothes.

And with a wet, crunching thud , she died, impaled on a streetlamp. Blood and gore splattered across the people below.

It happened in a ripple.

One by one, the harpies began to drop their cargo.

Bodies slammed into the street, into the crowd, onto rooftops and stalls.

Then, one by one, they plunged back into the panicking crowd. When they rose, they carried more.

More women. More girls.

All of them with yellow hair and pale skin.

All of them looked like—

“Oh, Shards,” Taly whispered.

As she watched the chaos unfold, a terrible realization dawned on her—they weren’t hunting at random. The harpies were searching for something.

They were looking… for her .

Picking through the crowd like she was a scent to track—lifting women into the air, inspecting them, then dropping them when they failed.

Over and over, they rose into the air.

Over and over, they dropped.

Because of her.

This wasn’t just an attack. It was a punishment.

For not going with him. For stealing his keys. For defying his authority and standing against him time and time again.

The Swap was just ahead. They emerged from the narrow side street onto a wider avenue. People crowded the courtyard, streaming through the open doors while Gate Watchers stood on either side bellowing orders. Hurry! Get inside! Everybody cram together.

Wards shimmered over the whole of the building, with another temporary shield extending over the courtyard, held in place by a handful of mages stationed around the perimeter. They stretched their arms high, magic glowing brightly, casting a barrier against the harpies.

The creatures circled above, ragged wings beating the air, feathers sparse and broken.

Others lingered on the fringes, perched on the rooftops of nearby buildings like grotesque sentinels.

Claws gouged into stone. Flesh hung in tattered strips, exposing raw sinew and bone.

Hollow, red eyes scanned the crowd below, waiting.