Page 72 of Winter's Fate

He pushed to his feet reluctantly. Katrina’s surprise at their arrival would only last so long.

As Thaddeus knelt beside Laena, Callum forced himself to turn away, keeping his body angled in front of hers. This fight was not over yet. He had no illusions that he could best a heart-tither by himself. But he would damn well try—at least for long enough to distract her until Hawk revealed himself.

Katrina was standing with her hands balled at her sides, like a child preparing to throw a tantrum. “You think I cannot face you all? Because I can.”

Dirt swirled around her, forming into a pair of cyclones. The wind whipped her golden curls around her face, and she tippedher head back, basking in the power that was forged through the pain and sacrifice of those she claimed to love.

“Katrina. You need to stop.”

At the sound of Declan’s voice, the cyclones stilled. They did not crumble; they merely stopped, hovering above the dirt, the wind calming. Katrina tipped her head back down, eyes widening. “Declan,” she breathed. “You’re alive.”

Callum didn’t know what had happened to make her think otherwise. Declan claimed she had imprisoned him. Had she left him for dead? Did she care enough for him that his pain would feed her own power? She cared for something in this world; that was evident enough. He knew enough of heart-tithing to know that a few scratches on her sister’s cheek and a broken wrist would not be enough to breed the kind of power she now wielded.

The regent came forward, approaching Katrina with a courage Callum would not have expected of the man. When he held out his hands, she accepted them, and he pulled her toward him until their bodies were flush against one another. He lowered his lips to hers, pulling her into an embrace.

Behind Callum, Laena made a sound of disgust. He could only hope that meant Thaddeus’s herbs were helping.

Katrina opened her eyes and drew back, placing her hands on Declan’s cheeks. “How did you find me?”

For a moment, Callum thought the regent had brought them here only to betray them. That he would join Katrina with power of his own. That he would tell her their secrets, warn her that Hawk waited out of sight to see if Declan could sway her with words. That it was over.

Declan leaned his forehead against Katrina’s and whispered, “You can stop now. You have what you need.”

Katrina melted against him, pressing her lips to his once more. “Oh, Declan,” she said. “I don’t think you’ve ever been more right.”

And then Declan slumped against her, a trickle of blood leaking from his mouth as Katrina eased him to the ground, tears in her eyes. She kept one hand on his chest, right beside the dagger she’d plunged into the regent’s heart. She gathered the fading man into her arms with a gentleness that was both surprising and horrifying.

For a moment she knelt there, her head bent over her lover’s body, her palm pressed against his chest.

And then the dirt began to stir.

Lightning cracked down from the sky, splitting the nearest tree in half. The trunk ignited with a crackle, the wind picking up until sparks whipped into the grass. A line of fire howled out across the ground behind her, wreathing her silhouette in flame.

“I didn’t want to kill him,” Katrina said, her voice amplified despite the howling wind. “I wanted to kill Laena. But stepping stones work just as well. Iwillhave my throne.”

The queen strode forward, the childlike mask vanished behind a wall of pure rage. “Stand up and face me, sister. Show me why the mages fear your magic so very much.”

Jealousy, Callum realized. Katrina’s voice was thick with it, the derision in her tone failing to conceal how much she wanted to be the one with the power. She wanted to be the one with Vales magic.

Perhaps that was why she wasn’t.

Laena began to rise, but Thaddeus placed a hand on her arm. “The herbs can only do so much.”

Laena nodded, shaking him off gently. Callum moved to stand beside her, to close the gap that had widened as he’d attempted to follow Katrina’s movements. But a crack of lightning split the road before him, knocking him back and leaving him half blind as he fell into the dirt.

He’d so rarely encountered a fight he could not win, or at least attempt. But this fight, this was made of magic. He didn’tthink there was anything he could do to prevent it from consuming them all.

When he looked up, Laena was on her feet.

He’d seen her take down an army of humans and shadow monsters, not a day ago. He’d seen the power emanating from her as she’d taken control, the fresh air of her magic wielded to protect those she cared about, rather than to destroy them.

Now, tears leaked down her cheeks, the effort a strain. How could the magic she wielded with such ferocity… how could it be hurting her?

Callum looked to Thaddeus. “Help her,” he said.

But the poisonkeeper only shook his head. This fight was beyond him.

A blast of cold air stirred his hair as Laena raised her shaking hands, unleashing a column of ice and coiling frost at her sister. But Kat’s power met hers in midair, shadows unfurling to meet Laena’s magic—near-depleted magic, if her shuddering shoulders and rapidly whitening skin were any indication. Kat bared her teeth, and tendrils of shadow carved into Laena’s ice, digging black-veined paths toward her heart, until there was no longer a way to tell where Laena’s power ended and Kat’s began.

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