Page 23 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
She reached for her power again, closing her eyes and drowning out the sounds of the firefight. She needed to focus. She needed to hone this, to tame it into whatever it needed to be to get them out.
Her power moved stubbornly as sweat poured down her face and chilled in the mountain air. Tendrils of golden light in her mind’s eye coiled and spun, but each time she tried to force them into the brick, they escaped her grasp.
The brick still burned the pads of her fingers. She could feel it—but the power wouldn’t obey.
“I’m not sure what you are attempting to do, but I’d say bargaining with us is a better bet,” a voice murmured above her.
Two hands found her shoulders and squeezed. Cold like ice flowed through her veins, dousing her power like a match tossed into a snowbank.
The night was silent save for the crackling flames nearby. She opened her eyes and tore herself from the brick. The hands didn’t leave her shoulders.
A gurgling noise.
She looked up to find a pair of golden eyes amidst a perfectly proportioned face and framed with silky golden hair. Unkempt at the moment, but still shimmering in the soft moonlight.
King Filip was beautiful, even in such a bedraggled state. The days since Achilles had been unkind to him. She’d only heard horror stories about the king who allowed his people to starve so that he could live in luxury. It was hard to reconcile this Adonis of a man with the greedy, greasy king she’d imagined in her University courses.
Worse, he was an Essence wielder.
Hallie’s heart sputtered weakly, and she swayed on her feet. It was three against two, and Niels was bleeding from a pistol shot she’d unwittingly inflicted upon him.
They were both going to die, and it was her fault.
King Filip held Niels under his chin. The newest bloodstain on his knee grew like a puddle of spilled ink on his trousers. He clawed at Filip’s fingers with one hand, but the harder he tried, the more King Filip’s grip tightened.
Another voice spoke in her ear. Female, with a rasping lull to it. “Come with us, and your friend lives.”
Lies.
Hallie wanted to scream, but she couldn’t find her voice. She’d been in this situation before…except this time, it wouldn’t be the Yalvs who rescued them in the ruins of the old city on Tasava. Yarrow’s final moments and death-scream echoed in her ears.
This time, it would be Niels.
No.
Hallie tried to stoke her power, but nothing pulsed or flared. The tendrils, though merely evasive moments before, had disappeared completely.
No!
The voice spoke again, power zinging through each word and tingling up Hallie’s spine. She caught a glimpse of long, dark hair. “You have little choice.”
It was the woman. The one from Achilles, the other half of King Filip’s Essence power.
Hallie abandoned her pursuit of her magic and eyed the discarded flashpistol instead. She must have used the last of the power she’d regained fixing it. Or maybe it just liked to rebel against her whenever it could, like it had a mind of its own.
She had no control. She needed someone to teach her. She needed to get to Myrrai and find a way to rid herself of this curse.
She needed to find her way back to Kase. She would not die here.
Hallie straightened in the woman’s grip and looked King Filip in the eye. “Why should I believe you now?”
“We both work for the same goal.”
Hallie shook her head. “Then why the demonstration at Achilles? Correa tortured me, and you—you’re threatening my guide even now!”
King Filip loosened his grip, and Niels collapsed to the ground in a heap, gasping for breath. The moon paled the crimson blood leaking from his wound to scarlet. His face was too pale. Held fast, Hallie couldn’t help him.
“My uncle and I both harbor hatred toward your people,” King Filip said. He wore simple clothes very much like what the Jaydian elite would wear daily—a button-down shirt, blue vest, trousers, and a leather traveler’s jacket. He was only missing a bowler hat. Judging by the dirt and occasional rip, the clothes had seen better days. Hardly appropriate for a fight. “It is not easy to keep in check.”
