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The Sanctifier stared Taly down across it.

The rules of Aegis were simple, extending their protections to temples, shelters, and other places of refuge.

Inside that line, she was safe. Outside of it, she wasn’t.

And it was that very simplicity that left so much room for interpretation.

When this group of Sanctifiers had to testify one day as to why members of their group terrorized innocents until the right one stepped forward, they would argue, without shame, that they had never crossed that line.

They needed her to come out.

The sword twisted with a grind of flesh and bone. Kato jerked again, a fresh gush of blood spilling from his mouth.

Taly did her best not to flinch as the Sanctifier placed a boot against Kato’s lower back—and shoved.

The sound of his body sliding off the blade was sickeningly wet. He landed on his knees, looking up at her. He’d fought as hard as she had. His aether was nearly gone, and with it, his ability to heal.

Still, his eyes pled with her. Be smart . Stay inside the line.

When he slumped to the ground, he did not rise again.

Red consumed her vision—the red of Kato’s blood, the red of the fires still intense and furious. Her whole body shook with it. Rage. Grief. The need to destroy something.

And yet, somehow—she smiled.

“I’m going to kill you.” Not a threat. A vow.

The Sanctifier laughed and re-sheathed his sword as the others gathered behind him. “That’s going to be a little hard to do from in there, don’t you think?”

Taly glanced at the threshold, at that line drawn in blood. He was right.

So, she crossed it.

She stepped out of the Swap and into the sunlight, the first she’d felt or seen in weeks.

More people stood in the courtyard in scattered groups. None of them spoke as Taly walked a few more steps away from the safety of that line and stood, as if waiting.

The Sanctifier approached her, each step clanging with the metal of his armor. His magic swept over and through her body like an unwanted touch, and she sensed the spark of recognition. She was exactly what he thought she was, the very reason for his existence.

It delighted him. She could feel that too.

“No cousin around to save you this time,” he said.

The strike came without warning—a sharp, metallic slap across her face. The cold steel of the gauntlet bit into her skin, sending her stumbling back, stars bursting behind her eyelids.

“Even back then, I saw what you were. Filth hiding behind a pretty face.”

The pain was electric. It lit up every nerve. But Taly only laughed. “I’m going to kill you,” she said again, smiling and laughing as blood dribbled from her mouth.

The Sanctifier laughed with her. As did the others. They thought they were mocking her, but they hadn’t figured it out yet. Or maybe they’d just forgotten.

Time mages didn’t make idle threats. They spoke prophecy.

He struck again, metal meeting flesh. Taly reeled but refused to fall, swallowing the sting as the next blow landed—then another.

Then a hand gripped her hair, twisting painfully. She screamed, kicked, and fought like hell as she was dragged through the courtyard littered with corpses and out into the street.

The crowd who had been so ready to stand beside her—now, they just watched, gathered in a wide circle and saying nothing as she was thrown to the ground so hard her vision split.

Gravel bit into her cheek, into her palms as she tried to rise.

And in that moment, Taly finally understood why the Dawn Court protected the Sanctifiers’ identities.

It wasn’t to shield them from public backlash.

No. There was something about not being able to see a man’s face that gave him power.

Something that made a hulking tower of steel and metal and magic seem even more imposing.

And that’s what the Dawn Court wanted. Not anonymity, but fear . Because fear kept people focused on the past. It made them hold on to old hurts and worries about the future.

It made a group of Sanctifiers brutally beating an innocent woman seem justified in the name of duty. And trained the people who disagreed to stand by and do nothing about it.

A sudden, swift kick to her ribs sent her flying back.

A second kick quickly followed, this time to her spine.

A third kick, and something in her chest cracked. The pain had her gasping.

Three of them stood over her, laughing at her from behind their shadowy masks as she lay on the ground, trying not to choke on her own blood.

Cowards, all of them. She opened her mouth to say as much…

Then a boot pressed to her cheek. Laughter rang out as it bore down. Harder. Harder —

“What are you doing?” one of them hissed. “This isn’t what we do to the real ones and you know it.”

“The Seren Gate is offline,” the man with the boot to her face snapped. “What are we supposed to do? Hold her until we can contact the Conclave?”

“Yes,” the first voice answered firmly. “That’s exactly what we should do. She deserves a trial.”

A chuckle, mean and low. “Ooh, hear that?” he cooed, boot lifting. “New guy thinks this is a courtroom.”

“But—”

“She’s a time mage. We all saw it,” said a woman’s voice—harder, older. A gauntleted hand snatched Taly by the hair, yanking her upright. Battered and bloody, she stared unblinking into that restless, swirling darkness. “It’s as I feared. This is Castaro’s ward.”

A few cursed. More, however, laughed with anticipation, having already put it together.

“The longer we wait,” the woman said, voice muffled beneath the shifting veil of shadows, “the more we risk him stealing her back and spiriting her away to the mortal realm. If we don’t do this now, we lose her.”

The first man hesitated. “These are not our orders.” He sounded young.

Taly tried to take a breath, but something in her chest caught, and she began to hack. Blood splattered on the pavement.

“You need to relax, Will,” the woman said. “Look at it this way. Why should those pricks at the Conclave get to have all the fun? I’ve never gotten to see a real time mage, and I’m certainly never going to be posh enough to execute one.”

“Plus, Dareth’s been pouting ever since the tavern,” said a Sanctifier with a voice like gravel. “Let him have this.”

Taly felt any remaining hope she may have had wither and die as the first man— Will —hung his head. He gave her one last glance, something like pity churning in those anxious shadows, before dutifully stepping away.

Moving to the edge of the crowd, he began pushing them back with a gentleness the others lacked.

The Sanctifiers gathered around her in a circle. Dareth—the creep from the tavern, because of course that would come back to bite her—announced in a booming voice that carried over the hum of the crowd, “This woman has been found guilty of possessing time magic. How does she plead?”

Taly was hauled to her feet. “Seriously?” She spat blood onto the pavement. “If I said you could beat up on me a little more, could we just skip over this sham of a trial?”

A metal gauntlet backhanded her from behind, cuffing her on the ear.

“New guy’s right,” the woman hissed, wrenching Taly’s arms behind her. “Even if the verdict’s a given, everyone deserves a trial. Even time mages, filth that they are.” She gave Taly a hard shake. “He asked you a question, filth. How do you plead?”

Taly glared up into the face of the nightmare.

And pouring into it every ounce of defiance, venom, and hate that she could muster, she growled, “I plead guilty. That is the answer you want, I’m assuming.

The only answer you’ll accept considering everyone here just witnessed me saving the city using TIME MAGIC! ”

She shouted those last words to the sky as her coat was torn away. Two Sanctifiers stood on either side of her, gripping her arms as another man ripped her tunic down the back.

The crowd was silent, utterly silent as the Sanctifier addressed them.

“Time mages almost destroyed the Fey Imperium. Their Queen shut down the Gates, killing so many billions of people, the blood will never be washed from their hands. It will be inherited by those who share their capacity for destruction, which is why we remain vigilant.”

Someone cut Taly’s stays with a dagger, leaving the shredded fabric to hang around her.

“They left us vulnerable, nearly destroyed our empire, and this woman—their legacy—will now pay the price for their crimes. For the countless lives lost. For the cowardice of her Queen and Guild.”

“Stop!” The word cut through the chaos like a blade, sharp and desperate.

Taly’s head jerked up, her vision blurring as she focused on the figure stepping out of the crowd. Ren .

“This is wrong!” he shouted. He turned to the crowd, arms wide as if to hold them accountable. “You know this is wrong! She saved us!”

The words had barely settled before a Sanctifier stepped forward and struck him down. The blow landed with a sickening crack, echoing into the silence as Ren crumpled.

“Your drunk cousin goes first,” he said, drawing a ripple of laughter from the others. “Then it’s your turn.”

The crowd didn’t move. No one dared.

Dareth turned to the man beside him. “Lash her,” he said. “Then she will be hanged and disemboweled, her anima forcibly removed and scattered to the winds. And take your time. I think some of these people may have forgotten what we do to sympathizers. Let’s remind them.”

Taly slammed into the ground. Hands forced her down, rough and unforgiving.

Then two fingers settled at the base of her spine.

Her breath hitched. Her heart stuttered.

She braced herself.