55. Nora

55

NORA

C lementine starts cackling, revealing her true identity while still standing as a replica of my sister. The group of soldiers grows around her as she looks Raiden dead in the eyes.

“You wouldn’t hurt me, would you? Not the love of your life,” she insists, making my blood run cold. Whatever game she’s playing here, I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.

If she’s not my sister, then where the hell is Addi?

Dammit.

I should have stayed home. I should have stayed at the castle with my father.

“You’re not the love of my life,” Raiden states, his hands clenched at his sides as the soldiers snarl and holler around us.

We’re on the brink of a battle.

Unprotected. Unsafe. Guardless.

“Are you sure? Maybe this is the real me and you just haven’t had the pleasure of really getting to know who I am,” she purrs, and Raiden doesn’t like it.

He charges at her, and the second he takes a step, the entire army takes off too.

I squeal, panic-stricken as everyone spurs into action, while all I can do is drop to the grass in a heap of petrified limbs, curling into a ball as the ground thunders beneath me.

With my head ducked and my arms banded tight around my legs, I sob. I sob so hard it hurts. I’m waiting for death to take me. It’s coming, and it’s all my fault for coming here.

A grunt rings beside me, the voice familiar, and I freeze, unsure what to do. But curiosity gets the better of me, and I peek my face to the side to see Brody pinned to the ground beside me.

His hands are at his throat, fighting at something, but there’s nothing actually there.

Frowning, I look up to see a man who looks like an older version of him hovering a few steps away.

“You were supposed to follow in my footsteps, Brody,” the man snaps, and my gut tells me it’s his father.

“And you were supposed to be a decent human being,” he croaks back, his face turning redder and redder as his father sneers.

“This kingdom isn’t worthy of the mages. With the power we can command, we should be on top. Clementine will offer us that.”

Despite his struggle, Brody laughs. It’s raspy and choppy, but it’s a laugh all the same.

“If you think she’s going to offer you anything, you’re delusional.”

“It’s a shame you won’t be able to live to see just how wrong you are.” His voice is void of emotion, resigned to the fact that he’s going to kill his son.

There’s something about it, the uncaring emptiness of his voice, that forces me to my feet.

He can’t kill him.

He won’t kill him.

I won’t allow it.

My heart pounds in my chest as I cut the distance between us. He doesn’t even see me coming. He’s so focused on his son that the rest of the battle doesn’t register to him. I throw myself at him, tumbling us both to the ground, and I land with a thud, knocking the wind out of myself as I gasp for breath.

I look up at the cloudy sky, watching it grow more and more gray as every second passes, and I’m certain I’m never going to breathe again. The noises around me grow louder, the pounding of flesh on flesh, the chants of magic, the final breaths. All of it.

“I’m sorry you won’t live long enough to realize the disappointment you always were,” Brody states, his voice chilling as I tilt my head in his direction.

This time, it’s to find him hovering over his father, but he stutters.

He was about to murder him but hesitates. Then his father pulls a blade from his hip, twirling the handle as his irises darken, and once again I react on instinct.

Slamming my hand down on his father’s head beside me, I close my eyes and let my magic explode.

There’s no noise, no pain, no struggle, no blood.

Nothing.

It starts to hurt, and I feel a tear slip down my cheek, but I can’t pull my hand away.

“Nora? Nora!”

I blink my eyes open to find Brody staring down at me, concern rich in his eyes as he strokes a hand over my forehead.

“Nora, it’s okay. You can stop now. You can stop.”

I pry my hand away, feeling the first breath vibrate in my lungs before I exhale slowly.

“I’m sorry, I?—”

Brody shakes his head, cutting off my apology as he offers me his hand. He pulls me to my feet, a soft smile on his lips. “Don’t apologize. I should be thanking you.”

“No, you can’t. I just killed?—”

“You just protected the kingdom when I hesitated,” he insists, and I nod along with him. Before I can protest any further, my father appears at his side.

“Nora, we’re outnumbered. We have no idea where our soldiers are. We need you to use your magic.”

I glance around the field, instantly overwhelmed by the bloodshed around us. Fire burns in the distance as Kryll flies overhead while Arlo commands water in the distance and Flora uses her mind magic to bring a soldier down just as I did Brody’s father. Gulping, I keep searching. Cassian is in wolf form, barreling toward soldier after soldier with his teeth stained crimson.

Then I see him.

“I need Raiden to help me. Flora too,” I state, and my father shakes his head.

“Raiden’s busy right now. You can do this, Nora,” Brody insists, squeezing my arm, but I shake my head.

“I don’t think I can. I don’t know how to only target the enemy right now,” I rasp, shaking my hands out nervously, and my father cups my cheek, pressing a loving kiss to the top of my head as Brody remains right at my side.

“Close your eyes, Nora. Focus. It’s going to be okay.”

I rub my lips together nervously, casting my gaze over the field once more, but panic continues to get the better of me. Defeated, I shake my head, the words on the tip of my tongue, when a bright light blasts through the air, knocking me off my feet. It somehow catches me before I hit the ground, engulfing me in a familiar warmth.

“Addi,” I gasp, searching wildly for her and spotting a beacon shining brightly in the distance, projecting a protective orb in every direction, shielding those she loves and cares for. “She’s here. She’s here!” I cry, turning to my father to find him not covered by the same light that drapes over me and Brody.

“Why doesn’t it cover you? She would protect you,” I rattle, panic getting the better of me as I try to pull my father inside the orb with me, but nothing happens.

“It’s okay, Nora.”

“It’s not. Why isn’t it working?”

He shakes his head, eyes drenched in sadness. “Clementine was the first in our family for over a century to receive the protective magic. She could have been something special with it, but she didn’t see the joy in such a thing. She wanted more. She focused more on her other abilities, and when we eventually tore her magic from her and bound it, we found we were unable to bind the light as well and it vanished. It’s said to seek out those who are worthy, the ones who care more than most, and it seems to have found a new home in Adrianna.”

“But why doesn’t it protect you?” I snap, frustrated as the soldiers try to slam into the protective glow, only to burn against the magic and fall to their knees.

“She cursed me to never be protected because she felt I never protected her.”

The pain in his eyes is soul-destroying as the devastation ripples through him, but he shakes it off, turning his attention back to me. “Addi’s magic is giving you the opportunity you need, Nora. Focus on taking out those not protected by her magic.”

“That includes you,” I breathe, and he nods, the sad smile on his face an attempt at encouragement.

“It’s okay, Nora.”

“Dad, no.”

“You’ll save me; I know you will,” he insists, like it’s as simple as that, but it isn’t.

“I can’t promise?—”

“Do it, Nora. Do it. You’re our only hope.”

Brody nods beside him, and as I swallow past the lump forming in my throat, I close my eyes.

I’m scared. I’m freaking petrified. But if Adrianna can be as brave as she is every second of every day, then I can be too, even if it’s just for this moment.

Channeling my magic, my head falls back and the tendrils of my mind’s magic break through the barrier protecting me, extending to the very edge of where the army has us trapped. It’s overwhelming. Nausea churns in my gut as every single thought threatens to intrude upon my own.

I stop thinking and just act.

Not my dad. Not my dad. Please, not my dad.

The energy coiling through my veins holds me tight, draining rapidly until I slump to my knees. The bright light reflecting on the back of my eyelids dims as if the barrier protecting me has been released.

It takes four attempts to open my eyes before I can finally focus on anything. The first sight that greets me is grass—crimson-stained grass between where my hands are planted.

Dad?

I sway as I lift my head, finding Brody crouched in front of me with a smile teasing the corner of his mouth.

“Dad,” I rasp, hoping like hell he doesn’t think I’m delusional.

Thankfully, he points to my right, and I turn slowly. Oh-so-slowly, to find my father on his knees in a similar position to me.

“Dad,” I repeat, watching in slow motion as he tilts his face to the side and smiles at me.

“You did it, Nora,” he croaks, and I take a deep breath, relief flooding me as I try to glance around the field.

I can’t think about the actual lives I’ve taken. I can’t handle it, so I focus on the fact that I’m saving those I care about, that my sister loves.

The single thought of my sister seems to set off a blood-curdling scream that ripples through the air. Brody hauls me to my feet, pushing me behind him protectively, and I almost stumble over two dead soldiers.

I spy Raiden, Flora, Brody, Arlo, Beau, and Kryll among the madness, all safe, but that’s not where the scream came from.

Addi collides into… Addi, knocking her to the floor.

Scrambling over dead bodies, I cling to Brody, barreling toward them with everyone else.

“You conniving bitch. You think you can defeat me?” One of them snarls, and I freeze. Would my Addi say that?

They stand en guard, facing one another, ready to rip each other to shreds as the rest of us ping our gazes back and forth, trying to figure out who the hell is who.

I peer at Brody, mouthing one word.

‘Bond.’

He shakes his head, making my stomach tighten with panic as I spin back around to the two identical women standing side by side.

The one to the left turns with wide eyes, gaping at Kryll. “Kill her. She can’t keep pretending to be me!”

Nobody moves.

Nobody breathes.

Two sets of eyes. The same pleading look. I can’t shift my gaze to see who is wearing a black gem. They both might be, I don’t know all I know is one of them is my sister. The other… an imposter.

I inch toward them. My father tries to tug me back, but I shake him off, eliminating the remaining distance between us as I come to a stop in front of them both.

“Nora, I?—”

“Shush,” I breathe. Words aren’t going to help the situation. Or maybe they will, but my gut knows. My gut always knows.

I look from left to right and back again, assessing them both like my life depends on it because it does. The entire kingdom depends on it.

Seconds drift into minutes, the air growing still around me, and I spot it.

The single difference.

Just one, so small, barely there, but enough for me to pull the trigger.

Holding my hand out to the Addi on my right, she places her hand in mine, a smug grin on her lips, but it doesn’t last long as I yank her toward me and slam my palm against the side of her head.

It’s quick, far too painless, and done in seconds.

She collapses to the ground, but I pay her no mind, turning my attention to my sister.

“How did you know?”

I shrug. “Her nostrils flared impatiently at me. You would never.”

I’m bundled in her arms a moment later, and with each passing second, someone else joins us. Arms around arms, chest to chest, we soak in the moment.

“It’s done,” Cassian states, disbelief in his tone as my sister nods.

“It’s done.”

I smile up at her, pride making my eyes water. “You saved the kingdom.”

She shakes her head, grabbing hold of me before pressing her forehead to mine.

“No, Nora, you did.”