Page 30 of A Legacy of Wrath and Reckoning

She was about to tell him her suspicions about Holt when she felt a tremor in her magic, something mixing with Kej’s signature, and a screech quickly followed. A thrall. “Kej,” Zylah breathed. “All three of them found him.”

Daizin barely waited for her to finish the sentence. His shadows dispersed, heading for Kej faster than she could follow. Zylah didn’t need them to guide her now. She broke into a run after him, wind biting her cheeks, her heart a steady drum in her chest. Where there were thralls, there were vampires, and they wouldn’t be far behind.

With every step she pressed against her magic, willing herself to evanesce a few steps ahead, to reach her friend, to move faster, but nothing within her responded. She shoved aside the frustration, casting the web of her new magic as far and wide as she could to feel the thrall’s exact movements.

She felt it a fraction of a second too late, unaccustomed to the speed with which they moved as a body slammed into her. Zylah rolled away, her spear lost to the tackle. It didn’t matter; as she leapt to her feet she called the spear to her open palm, swinging it around and slicing the tip across her assailant’s arm.

His surprised gasp and a muttered curse were her only warnings before he moved again, but Zylah already had a firm grasp on his signature, the inky blackness that surrounded him like those empty eyes all vampires seemed to possess. She dodged him easily, taunting him to follow her.

“You’re blind,” the vampire spat. “What are you?” Another swing, this time with a sword, the unmistakable whine of it being pulled from a hilt giving her warning. Another miss.

Zylah huffed a laugh. “Retribution.” But she wasn’t a fool; she couldn’t defeat him alone. She took another few steps back, leading him towards Kej and Daizin fighting the thralls. They were close enough now they’d be able to see her, and that was all she needed.

She hurled her spear and ran, pulling and pulling and pulling and—it was like passing through a ward, but one that was made entirely for her. When her feet touched snow, she reached for her sword, bringing it down on one of the thralls circling Kej. There was no time to dwell on the fact that she’d just evanesced the short distance between them. The creature swiped at her and she parried the blow, the thing shrieking as her blade cut through rotten flesh.

Zylah brought a foot to its chest as she yanked her weapon free, swinging it around with the full force of her weight to slice it into the creature’s neck. Kej had already leapt for the vampire, leaving her to face the second thrall alone.

This one was already badly wounded, black blood like ink blotting out the snow. Still, it lunged for Zylah, and she slammed her blade through its chest, long fingers clawing at her bracers until it stilled. She kicked the corpse away with a grunt, just as Daizin called out for Kej.

With gasping breaths, Zylah steadied herself. Kej circled the vampire, body low to the ground, hissing. The vampire hissed back. Daizin still fought off the final thrall, and somewhere nearby, Kopi called out a warning.

“Kej!” The vampire lunged for her friend, and Zylah summoned her spear to her palm. She risked injuring Kej if she threw it, so she moved closer, disappointment flickering in her chest when she tried to evanesce again and nothing happened. But she kept trying, kept creeping closer, Daizin’s shadows moving with her the moment he’d finished off the thrall.

The wildcat and the vampire tumbled through the snow, fangs snapping at each other, the vampire dangerously close to Kej’s throat. Shadows swarmed them both, and Zylah threw her spear, the blade lodging in the vampire’s shoulder. He staggered back as Daizin appeared between him and Kej, swiping a blade across its throat.

Then the thing laughed.Laughed. Zylah sucked in a breath as Kopi looped around her, his wings beating fast as he made little panicked noises. She was moving, running for her friends, willing herself to evanesce the gap between them. Too late.

Everything seemed to happen at once. Zylah moved through the aether, her strange magic showing her the moment the vampire’s teeth narrowly missed Daizin’s neck and sank into his shoulder instead, Kej slamming into the creature to shove it back.

Kej snarled as Zylah reappeared beside Daizin, barely catching him as he slumped to the snow. Kopi landed on her shoulder as she closed her free hand around Kej’s tail, evanescing the four of them away from the vampire.

They appeared beside a lake, Daizin on his back and Zylah’s hands pressed to his wound, the warm stickiness of blood coating her skin.

Kej shifted beside them, tilting Daizin’s face to his. “Why did you do that?”

“You’re practically a prince,” Daizin rasped. “I’m a thief. No one’s going to miss me.”

Kej made a pained sound, more animal than Fae. “I would miss you, you fucking idiot. I had him.”

“Shut up, both of you,” Zylah snapped, willing her healing magic to pour from her fingertips and heal her friend before it was too late. She wouldn’t lose anyone else. Not now.

Eyes closed, fingers resting over Daizin’s shoulder, Zylah willed her breaths to steady, her focus to narrow to the place she imagined her magic sat within her. Called to it, coaxed it,pleadedwith it, because the alternative was her friend bleeding out beneath her. This time, it answered. Warmth bloomed in her chest, spread from her fingertips and into Daizin, until sweat dampened her tunic and a piercing pain pressed at her temples. The familiar feeling surged to life within her, waking up after its long slumber.

She felt Kej shift his weight. Heard his intake of breath as Daizin’s wound knitted together beneath her touch. “Zylah. Your magic.”

But Zylah barely heard his words. Because it wasn’t the sensation of the magic at her fingertips that surged to life within her. She could feel Holt.

Chapter Seventeen

Itwasjustlikebefore when she’d followed his evanescing like an echo. Only now she could see them all, every shadow path he’d cut through the world, through the aether, like trails of light every way she turned.

It took everything Zylah had to ensure she finished healing Daizin, but the moment it was done, she rose to her feet, hands trembling.

“Zylah.” Kej was tugging at her sleeve, one hand at her shoulder. “You’re shaking. Sit down.”

“Look after Kopi,” she choked out, but Kej’s grip tightened.

“Zylah, please. You’re not making any sense. Just sit down.”

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