Chapter 26

Panic licks at my nerves when I wake. I'm curled up in the grass like a newborn babe, the ground freezing and unforgiving beneath my spine. My entire body goes rigid as soon as I gain awareness, knowing something isn't right and trying to decode how I've ended up here. I was dueling with Sin and… the memory of the events lashes behind my eyelids like a crack of a riding crop.

Sin had been arguing with me about not holding myself back. Called me a filthy bloodwitch… antagonized me.

He wanted this to happen.

The Black Art's power is strengthened with Adelphia's blessing—his shield wouldn't have broken that quickly—not with the goddess of the arcane on his side.

"And the dead awakes," he murmurs behind me.

The sound of his voice melts the frozen casings on my limbs as I remember the smell of his spilt blood—and my desire to taste him. I wanted to consume him so badly. I almost did.

But I didn't.

I tried to run away.

I would have had he not hit me with the sleep spell. No doubt Sin knocked me out so I would sleep off the blood high before barging back into the castle. Warmth brushes my cheeks at the memory of how I acted—how wild I felt. But it is quickly replaced with rage at his trickery.

"You deceived me."

"Are you furious with me?" he asks in a low voice.

"Why? Why would you do such a stupid thing?"

An extended beat passes before he answers. "You can't help me win this war if you won't fight."

I spin to face him. He's still sitting against the tree I left him at, but he healed the wounds he—we—inflicted on his hand and arm. The dried blood staining his flowy white shirt is the only evidence the embarrassing incident occurred at all, but he should pay Anika a visit to assess internal damage.

"And I suppose you didn't care if I failed your ridiculous experiment and tried to kill you? Of course not, because if you had managed to fight me off, it would have provided you cause to kill me. And if you couldn't stop me, and I took your life right there against that tree, you still win because then you wouldn't have to wake up and look at your pathetic self in the mirror another day."

"You will watch your tongue in my presence," he snarls, clenching his hands draped over his bent knees. The air between us thickens as tension rolls off him, and I know not to push him further. Not right now.

"It wasn't just your life you risked, Singard. If you kill me after we take out Legion, at least I'll die knowing I was protecting the innocent. You could have taken that away from me today. If I lost control, if I had hurt you… hurt others, then I'd be no better than you and your father who would rather kill my family for simply being what they are."

"There will never be peace so long as their kind continues to wreak havoc in the cities," he says, calmer now. The bored king.

"Most of Legion's soldiers aren't even transcendents! They're just people who don't want to be controlled, who don't want to worry that they, or their loved ones, are the kingdom's next target."

"You say that like you support them."

I shake my head. "No. I say that because humans are more monstrous than any transcendent I've ever met. The shifters that are fighting with Legion… they're scared. They have a right to live in peace, just as I do. Your kingdom is cruel," I say, drawing out my final word.

"How can you say that after what they did to you? They stole you, chained you up like a fucking pet, and you dare point a finger at me when all I did was show you that you have the means to put an end to them."

"If you have to justify your actions against those of Cathal's, what do you think that makes of you?" I spit back at him.

"If I hadn't done that—hadn't shown you that maybe, just maybe, you shedding blood won't turn you into some horrendous monster, you would never fight how I need you to fight."

"You are sadly mistaken if you think I won't give up my life for my sister's freedom and my family's safety without a second thought. When the time comes, I will killfor them, even if doing so does turn me into some legendary beast because I'm certain you hadn't planned on letting me live long after the war anyway. Isn't that right, YourGrace?"

"You're a fast learner, little witch."

I swear the temperature around us drops a few degrees as his stare turns razor-sharp. If looks could kill…

Rising to my feet, I slap my hands against my tunic to send the dirt flying off it. I want to storm far away from here, from him, but I linger for a moment, looking at him over my shoulder. "Should I send a healer?"

I hate myself for asking, for showing that there is a part of me that still feels guilty for hurting him, even if he did weaken his shield on purpose.

"No. I can walk back."

Nodding, I leave him and head towards the castle, unable to stop myself from imagining the kind of power the Black Art spoke of. A power without limits, restrictions… without fear. I had shown control earlier, and I can't help but wonder just how far that control can stretch.