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She scanned past the Aethars to the ship, blinking through the rain. Maybe she thought we had boarded already.

“Do you want to die before or after you hand over the Ikhor?” Bastane spoke as if bored, holding back, waiting for the Aethar to make a move.

Although not a pureblood, he was nearly as golden as Falizha before him, with specks of gold that blended with his blue eyes. His jaw-length hair was stuck to his angered face. I couldn’t see the metal rings in his brow and nose from here, but I could see the blood on his hands.

“They know they’d rather die sooner,” Nuo said, eyeing his blade as if considering what side to use first.

“Which one is that?” Ollo whispered next to me.

“Nuo.” My voice cracked because it wasn’t the Nuo I knew. I hadn’t seen my friend since that burning field.

“Ah. The mapper for the Guards. The Sea-leg orphaned as a child.”

“Yeah.”

“Also known as the Interrogator.” Ollo eyed his sister on the other side of me, who paled at the mention of Nuo.

“What do you mean?” I asked, and Ollo searched my face. Was he looking for signs of the evil?

No. They thought I was a saviour. Possessed, but still a saviour. However, Ollo’s reserved hostility toward me didn’t make him appear happy to have the Ikhor close by.

A muscle ticked in his jaw. It was unnerving being so close to a stranger. And a man. And one so … beautiful.

“It’s known that the Interrogator is a well of information. Not only because he’s well read and trained since childhood, but he’s deadly once you’re in his grasp. He questions and kills Rydavians, usually slowly, gaining information. He’s a master of deception, clever and cunning.”

The description was wrong. So wrong.

Was that how the world saw Nuo? What of his jovial nature? His dedication to his friends? Nuo was cunning, sure, but he used that to entertain a room, telling grand stories. He was the cleverest man I had met. The Aethar’s depiction of him was backward.

“Don’t worry,” Ollo said, mistaking my concern. “All Guardians are our enemies. We are on your side. You’ll be able to take them on when you’re strong enough.”

“What do they say about the others?” I asked, ignoring how Ollo assumed the Guardians were my enemy as well.

“Kazhi, legacy unknown.”

Just as he spoke her name, Kazhi walked forward, her figure slight compared to the rest. Her body was covered in tattoos.

The stripes along her face went up her chin, sideways across her cheeks and brow, leaving a white band around her black eyes.

Scale-like patterns covered her torso and hands, while black covered her arms and legs.

She had rings in her nose and ears like Bastane.

When we first met, Kazhi had known I wasn’t from Veydes because I had no tattoos. I had not known she was an Aethar then, and I wondered if she ever thought I was one of her own people, lying about being from the Lost Lands.

Kazhi squatted low and braced her elbows against her knees. She scanned the field as Nuo continued to threaten the Aethar. Her dreaded hair blew around her face, though it seemed the torrent coming down did not bother her.

Ollo’s voice went lower as if worried Kazhi would hear from across the field. “They say ‘don’t blink, or you’ll be dead’ when the female Guard is near.”

They said right.

“Bastane?” I asked.

“The Council’s golden Guard. He has strong ties to those who rule these lands and is Aethar enemy number one. As skilled in battle as the others, but his connections make him dangerous in other ways. We believe he will persuade the others to invade our lands with the Aspis in tow.”

I used to think differently about Bastane—he was stern, but gentle. He had protected me those first few weeks. Until he turned me over to Falizha. I still couldn’t understand how he had betrayed me.

“And … what did they say about … the Night-leg?”

“The Shadow Guard. All you will see is darkness before you die. Not much is known about him. He’s close with Nuo, and they’re a deadly pair. We call the duo Shadow and Blood . Rydavians that have returned to our lands have told stories of their brutality and accuracy in battle.”

The rain came down harder.

I finally understood how he had felt all those years, knowing he was the Aspis and unable to control anything in his life. Lifeless. Even without knowing he was the Aspis, people didn’t see who he really was.

That’s how I was now—lifeless. He was gone, and I had to survive without him.

“The Shadow Guard was the host of the Aspis,” Maev told Ollo. “The Guards are down one. But perhaps they’ve replaced him with the golden Day-leg woman.”

“Good. One less to worry about,” Ollo replied.

Maev’s gaze darted to me, and she mouthed Sorry .

I shook my head. These two were Aethar—though it didn’t hurt any less that he was gone and not missed. “They may take Falizha along with them, but she’s not skilled enough to be a Guard. She has resources, however. And she’s the daughter of Governor Yulen Ravin.”

“The Councilman’s daughter?” Ollo wondered.

“Oh dear.” Maev worried her bottom lip. “That means the Guards have the Council’s funds. We heard rumours that this generation of Guards were not in favour with the Council. If they are travelling with the Governor’s daughter, we planned this all wrong. Our escape may not be as easy as we thought.”

Maev’s face pinched in concern, but her brother was quick to react.

“Listen.” Ollo spun onto his back and motioned toward the river. He pointed to a lump covered by a tarp. “I have the one racer left. We can all fit, but at best, we may only make it to Danuli.”

“Where is Danuli?” I asked.

His eyebrows met, and I didn’t have the strength to explain he knew more about the continent than I did. We were still in Veydes, in the Median, but for how long?

“Never mind. What’s your plan?”

Ollo turned back toward the Guards, grimacing. “The Guards will swarm the ship, taking whoever is inside. Next, they’ll search the field. While they’re in the ship, we make a run for it.”

“Our equipment is in there, our supplies.” Maev’s hand smacked the mud, making a nasty squishing sound. “Ollo, you’re jumping into these plans like you always do. Think about it—they’ll have our ship. The fast one.”

“We can replace it. We have the most important things.”

The Guards advanced on the Aethar, who were just as ready for a fight.

Kazhi was the first to strike down the Aethar—her own people.

Did the others really not know? And how were they fighting next to Bastane and Falizha after what they had done?

They kidnapped me and took me to that field to meet my death.

But I knew the answer—I was the Ikhor, enemy number one. That alone would bring them all together to work against me.

“Now’s a good time. Let’s go.” Ollo pushed himself up.

Maev muttered a curse in his direction. We were all slick with mud and soaked through, but I was weighed down with something more as I took one last look at the Guards.

Following her brother, Maev reached the racer and jumped on behind him. The racer was the same as hers—I would barely fit on the back.

She reached out a hand, but I stopped dead as a shadow passed across the river. I scanned the river’s edge. Was it the Aspis? No, it hadn’t been that large. So what was I seeing? Was I losing my mind?

“Come on!” Ollo hissed.

I reached for Maev, forgetting the darkness fading on the other side of the river.

Maev was kind enough not to mention my quivering lip as I said a final goodbye to the last piece of my heart left on the muddy ground, fifty feet from the family I thought I had made.

I tore away on that racer with one thing in mind—I was going to do whatever it took to get the magic out of me.

When the fog threatened to surround my thoughts again, I let it swallow me whole.