32. Finn

THIRTY-TWO

Finn

I have broken her, and I am glad of it. A moment ago, she was so strong and so very cocky. And now she is like a scared child, scrambling away from the body of her dead friend. Her only friend.

"Seek out the Sunborne and end them," I tell Yarrow. "Don't stop until they are all gone."

He nods at me. "You'll handle the empath?"

"I'll handle the empath." I stare down at the roof. "And the Fae Lord."

As my army disappears, swooping down to scour the flooded streets and buildings, and the dark crevices inside the castle walls, I land on the edge of the roof.

So much has happened here. This very spot is where Kayan had his wings ripped from his back. This is where I transformed, and now this is where it will all end.

"I really did want you to be by my side at the end of this." I jump down onto the roof, my feet landing with a heavy thud. "But after what you did to my kind, I am not sure there is any way back for us."

Alana looks up at me. Tears are streaming down her cheeks. "I did not do this." She gestures to Briony. "None of this would have happened if it wasn't for you."

"No, Alana. You did this. You chose to destroy hundreds of fae to save yourself."

"That's not true."

"It is true!" I bellow. "You got high on the power. You were enjoying it. I saw it in your eyes and your body in those moments before I dropped Briony at your feet. Before you saw the evidence of your own evil intent."

"Everything I have done has been to protect this city from you."

"And who do you sound like now?" I am standing above her. Eldrion tries to step in my way, but I push him over with just one jerk of my wrist. The once powerful lord goes flying towards the wall and crashes into it, falling to the floor in time for my shadows to begin swirling at his feet.

He cries out. I stifle his noise with more darkness.

Alana looks at him, then at me. She stares into my eyes, and I blink down at her. "I think we can overcome it," I whisper. "If you apologise and promise to be a good girl from now on."

She lowers her gaze.

There it is. She is mine again.

But then she looks up at me. Gold and purple flicker in her gaze. Her wings spread wide and she rises to her feet. She pulls back her arm and, without hesitation, hurls a bolt of magic towards me.

And the power of it . . .

I am almost impressed when it hits me in the chest and sends me flying.

What is this? It is not just her magic and the water magic she stole from Kayan, it is something greater than that, too.

"What did you do?" I ask, tilting my head in awe as she stalks towards me.

"You are not just dealing with one person's power now, Finn," she says. "I have the power of an entire city inside me. And you're about to know what it feels like when it takes everything you have, and turns it to ash inside your bones."

I grin at her, rising to my feet.

"I cannot wait," I tell her.