Page 56 of Inked in Emeralds (Inkbound #3)

“ J ames?”

But I knew it was already too late. I’d sensed it the moment she’d struck him. His life force flooding out of him, his heartbeat slowing to a stop…

“Being Queen means sacrifice, Harmony. Your mother never understood that.” Almira’s voice sounded distant and far away, dampened by the fog of sadness and pain. “Are you going to be as naive as she was?”

I struggled to breathe, hardly registering her words as I stared down at the man I loved, and she wasn’t done. I tore my eyes off him as she stalked forward yet again, power bleeding from her fingertips as she advanced on me.

Xander and Duncan stepped up in front of me in unison, ready to hold her off.

“No!” I gasped, horrified as Almira broke into a charge that they met head on.

The clock.

I yanked it from my pouch and stared down at it, willing it to stop with everything I had. If I just had a second, maybe I could gather my strength and?—

The second hand froze, and time halted around me, freezing Almira mid-swing, along with all the others.

“That’s not enough. That’s not nearly enough!” I sobbed. Even if we could find some way to beat her, what did it all mean, without James?

The lives of many…

A Queen needs to make sacrifices…

“Fuck you and your many. Fuck you and your sacrifices!” I snarled, pinching the clock’s brass hand, grunting as the metal fought back against me, resisting my magic with its own. “Just a few minutes,” I begged, pulling with all my strength. “ Please.”

The metal ground, but held tight, and a scream tore from my throat as I blasted it with everything I had, using my pain as fuel.

Click.

The hand gave way, reversing just a scant bit, and the world exploded into a blur of color and sound as time began flowing backwards.

Almira pulled away from Duncan and Xander, and my body moved against my will, surging back in the direction I’d come from, and Captain James Tyler Hook rose to his feet, his broken body whole again.

The relief kept me shaking and on my knees. While I was down there, I prayed for another moment to gather my thoughts, but the clock had other plans, ticking right back into motion as time began to flow.

“We’ve almost got her! Attack. Attack!”

The O’Donnellys rushed into the fray, Paddy roaring as he hurled a sharpened stone at her, striking her in the side of the head. I threw up a shield before she could counter, letting him dip away scott free.

Molly and Hook’s crew came sprinting forward, raining daggers and knives upon her like a hailstorm.

She was distracted, shielding herself from them, when Duncan and Hook lunged at her in unison, but she skipped away at the last second, her lips twisting into a cruel smile as energy gathered in her fingertips.

“Xander, back!” I shouted, spotting the shift in her demeanor.

Just as expected, Almira pushed herself into the air, letting loose a blast of energy, and I gritted my teeth, splitting my magic into two shields at once. One for Xander, one for Hook.

And this time, when she tried the same trick, turning the attack on Hook, and I let out a triumphant roar as it bounced uselessly off my shield. But it didn’t last.

Almira flicked out of view, appearing at Molly’s side with impossible speed. She lashed out with a blade of pure magic, severing her head before she even had time to cry out.

My scream tore through the air once again, raw and broken, and yet again, Almira laughed.

“No…Not this either! Fucking hell, come on!”

My fingers closed around the clock again, tears streaming from my face as I pulled it back once again, sending my surroundings into a blur. I couldn’t lose her.

Not Molly.

Again and again, I tried. Again and again, I watched those I loved most perish, and it only got worse. Hook and Billy. Molly and Duncan. Paddy and Scotty. And then, everyone except me…

Each reset grew more taxing. Each time, the clock fought harder. Each time, the moment grew closer. I was running out of tries and I knew it.

Had my mother been right? Was I destined to lose, no matter how many ways I tried? In choosing Hook, had I doomed us all?

But somehow, even as I spiraled into despair, I wouldn’t have changed it. There had to be another way.

One. More. Try.

I yanked with the last of my strength, and reality snapped back into view, and I fell to my knees.

My fingers shook around the clock, my heart twisting painfully in my chest. “This time, it’ll be different.”

“This time??” Billy asked, eyes filled with confusion as she looked at me. Her gaze drifted down to the clock, her eyes widening in recognition.

I leapt up as Almira charged, wiping my tears as I barked orders, moving my friends around the battlefield like pieces on a chessboard. “Hook, stay right! Xander, Paddy, stay on her. Don’t give her a second to breathe!”

The battle shifted in our favor, as always, this time even faster than usual. Almira staggered back, hardly able to get an attack off.

We would be ready this time.

Almira reeled, dashing away a solid minute before expected, magic gathering in her finger.

Fuck, fuck fuck. What had changed now?

“Duncan, Paddy, get back!”

They hesitated, eyes wide with confusion, and my heart sank. She was far too close to them, and they weren’t nearly ready for the counter that would come when I blocked her first attack. Panic clawed at my throat, knowing what came next.

I threw magic forward in a frantic wave, shields bursting into existence to cover Xander and Hook. My strength burned away as I strained to shield Duncan and Paddy, too, but Almira was already on them, a blade of magic forming in her hand.

My magic shimmered into view in front of them, but it was too little and too late. Her blade sliced clean through it, hurtling toward their exposed necks.

Then a blur of motion flashed at her side, smashing into her the instant before her sword would’ve landed. I blinked in confusion, already gathering my magic for an attack as I realized what’d happened.

Billy had slammed into her at the last possible second, knocking her back and plunging her dagger deep into the witch’s neck. Blood spurted into the air as if from a fountain, and an agonized scream tore from Almira’s throat as she flailed.

“Not today, you evil bitch,” Billy snarled, tearing her knife free only to plunge it in again, this time right into the side of her head.

Almira shrieked, her arm shooting out to grab Billy by the throat.

“You worthless defect,” she spat, her voice shaking with rage.

I tried to manifest a shield around her, but Almira was ready, batting the spell away with a flick of her wrist. Almira slammed Billy onto the ground.

The sickening snap of bone cracked through the air.

Billy gasped once, pain etched on her face, then Almira unleashed a torrent of dark energy directly into her chest standing above her, relishing in her screams.

“No!”

Hook lifted his hand, taking advantage of her distraction, creating a funnel of swirling wind in his palm. A second later, a tornado surged from his fingertips forming a storm unlike anything I'd ever seen.

Miguel’s tornado Tideblessing, I realized. The magic Hook had sworn to never use.

The storm slammed into Almira, breaking her dark hold on Billy and sending her skittering back, water battering her from every direction.

I screamed, pouring every bit of energy I had left into one, desperate strike.

The sky itself opened at my command, a lightning bolt cracking downward and smacking right into her.

The tornado pulled in on itself and then exploded outward in a flash of light, sending raindrops spattering to the dirt below.

Silence reigned as we all stepped forward, waiting for the steam to clear.

Please, gads…please let it be over.

And then there it was. Almira’s rigid, carbonized body, mouth frozen open for eternity in a final scream. I could hardly believe what was right in front of me. The truth settled in the sudden silence. We’d done it.

She was dead.

I rushed to Billy’s side. She let out a wheeze, sending a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth. She managed a weak smile when she saw me.

“Did we get that bitch, Princess? We got the bitch, didn’t we?”

“We did,” I said, trying to quell the terror closing over me as I fell to my knees beside her.

Could I do it one more time? Surely, I had enough power to do it once more. I’d do exactly as we’d done, except for shield Billy as she mounted her attack. It would work out the exact same way this time.

It had to.

My hand flew to my pocket and a sense of dread closed over me. Had I dropped it in the battle? I searched the ground frantically as Duncan, James, and Paddy reached us. And then it hit me.

“What did you do!?” I demanded, covering the sucking wound in Billy’s chest with my hand, watching in horror as the blood spread, soaking the front of her shirt in seconds. “Answer me, Billy! What the fuck did you do?”

Her head had lolled to the side and she met my gaze.

“Sorry, Princess. I need this to be the version that sticks.” Her arms flexed against my knee, and I looked down as her closed fist unfurled, revealing the shattered remains of my clock resting in her palm.

Clever girl. She’d seen me. She’d realized what I was doing and then decided to take matters into her own hands to save her brothers this time.

To save us all.

The lives of one for the lives of many.

“No!” Duncan cheeks were chalk white and his eyes filled with panic as he wheeled around. “No, fuck this! Hook?”

I swiped the river of tears from my eyes and turned to James. “Can you?”

But I already knew the answer before he shook his head. Even if he hadn’t expended most of his energy during the fight, the Mend Tideblessing wasn’t meant for mortal wounds. He could heal broken bones, help with pain, or stitch a gash.

Billy’s heart was beyond repair.

“Please don’t cry, Princess. I got everything I ever wanted.” She sucked in a rattling breath as she focused on something just over my shoulder. I turned to see Paddy and the rest of her brothers just a few yards away. She yanked me closer and pressed my ear to her lips.

“When you write my story, will you tell them I was brave?”

“The bravest.” I choked the words out as I cupped her cheek.

She nodded and pulled away as Paddy, Andrew, and the others all gathered around her.

“I’m here, love,” Paddy murmured, taking her hand and squeezing. “We’re all here.”

“Perfect.” A peaceful smile spread across her lips as she held his gaze for a long moment before her eyes drifted shut. “That’s perfect.”