Page 85 of Fortress of Ambrose
“Go now.”Zecky urges him out the door, knuckles white on the metal box.
My arms are lead. I glare at the box, trying to move, but the world sways. So I focus on slowing the pace of my breath as I search for an inkling of warmth, a tickle of granules inside. I feel nothing. They are gone.
The Sphere’s proper magic inside me is gone. What’s left of it is in that metal box.
Fog forms on my lips.
Cold unfurls in my chest, lugging itself from the space inside where it wedged itself as Zecky gapes in shock, holding his seared fingers. I feel more balanced as the toushana spreads through me in a way it never has before. No longer wrestling for a place inside my body. But spreading over each organ, coating every bone, slinking underneath each muscle and into every limb.Up. I need to get up.
But my body feels like dead weight. Like no matter how much power I hold in my hands, it will never be enough to protect what matters. Like Iamthe useless nothing my father insisted I was. I see Beaulah’s face and then the Dragunhead.
Darkness dents the edges of my vision.
A deathly cold races through my veins. It feels like all I have left. So I whisper to the dark magic.
“Help me, please.”
Shadows seep from my pores, and the table at my back crumbles. When my feet touch the ground, shadows swallow my steps. And I feel steady for the first time in a long time. Memories of Beaulah and the Dragunhead fade as the world sharpens in focus. Sounds are crisper. Allkinds of smells unfurl in my nose. But the one that licks my insides with delight is the fear beading on Zecky’s forehead. He drains of color as he stumbles backward, away from me.
“Please,hear me out.”He white-knuckles the box, offering it to me. “I’m more on your side than you think. I could have made a deal with the Dragunhead when he came looking for you. But I refused him. That should matter.Please.”
“You baited me into trusting you.” I snatch the metal box. But Zecky wasn’t the only one baiting me. I inhale deeply, piecing together the chaos of the last several weeks.
The Sixth Ward. The other cities. Darkbearers hurting innocent Unmarked. Audubon’s mansion being burned.
These attacks were also bait.
Darkbearers have been trying to use my sense of duty, my desire for justice, to draw me out in the open forweeks. They want the Sphere’s magic. Badly.
Zecky collapses to his knees with praying hands. I should really thank him for helping me see. I’ve been so worried about Beaulah, when Darkbearers are burning down the world to lure me.
“Our team is brilliant,” Zecky says. “They have discovered all kinds of things about the Sphere. I gave them access to all my ancestors’ research.”
My ears perk up.
“I recruited the best brainsawayfrom the Order. I can help you.”
He could. But I could never trust him again.
“Together we are an unstoppable team. I would give my life for that opportunity.”
“You just did.” I reach for him. Shadows slither off me toward him. Darkness hoists him up by his throat. His face purples, choking on useless apologies.
“I, Jordan Wexton, former Dragunheart, sentence you to die for theft of sacred magic with ill intent.” I close my free hand into a fist and rotate my wrist. The bones in Zecky’s body twist in the direction of my grip until they snap.
End him, magic whispers.
His bones pop and crack as the light leaves his eyes. Leaning into an urge never felt so good.
Zecky is a mastermind. He plotted from the moment he met me. And the toushana in me knew it. That’s why it was so unsettled when I arrived. Instead of listening to my instinct, I buried it.Never again.The skin falls from his bones where my darkness touches him, and he collapses on the floor. I open the metal box to inspect the diadem, which has half as many gems as it did before. My heart knocks in my ribs.
This is all that’s left of the Sphere’s proper magic.
The jewels are still warm from the heat of the magic it absorbed. Could we multiply it somehow? Is there a way to restore what was lost and grow what we have?
My side aches with a dull pain.
My heart skips a beat.
