The closest of the beasts dropped to all fours and brought its savage jaws to bear. It shredded the force-shield he erected and clamped onto his shoulder. The teeth went through his armor and cut into his iron-skin almost instantly. Will screamed, and the world went white.

  But he wasn’t screaming from the pain. It was anger, the absolute rage of a child denied its desire. Blue-white power erupted from his skin instead of blood, ripping through the monster and climbing into the sky above. It happened in an instant that would have been impossible to measure, except that Will felt it, directed it. The monster spasmed and released him, stunned but not dead. Its twin never paused.

  The power returned from the sky in a lightning strike that made the initial surge seem almost insignificant. It slammed into the one that had bitten him and then flowed across the intervening space to strike the second monster. The shock of sound and light was so great it nearly rendered Will insensible, but his rage wouldn’t relent.

  Rising to his feet, Will staggered toward Lognion, who stared at him with an expression of mild surprise. Lifting his hand, Will pointed at the king. “You’re next.” White sparks of lightning ran from his fingers, dancing across the ground around him. He realized then that it covered him, flowing across and down his skin like rivulets of water.

  “William, you amaze me once a—”

  “Silence!” His yell struck the king’s defensive shield like a battering ram, but there wasn’t enough turyn remaining in Will to break through. He was still able to silence the king’s voice, though. “I told you already. You—don’t—get—to—speak.”

  Lognion needed to die. Will felt it more keenly than any desire he’d ever experienced. It was worse than thirst, lust, hunger, or any other emotion he could imagine. But his will was beginning to flag. He could feel it. He still had turyn left, but soon he would begin to lose control. The electricity racing along his skin was an unconscious product of his anger, but it was wearing him down quickly.

  And the king was still as safe as ever behind his unbreakable force-dome powered by the stamina of a thousand elementals. Will pulled at the air around him, searching for the power he needed, but it wasn’t nearly enough. It would never be enough.

  Then he raised his eyes to the sky. He’d felt the power there, though it was so distant it seemed unreachable. The storm was his doing, somehow, and when the king’s beast had almost killed him, he had finally made contact with the part of himself that had created that storm.

  Still furious, Will reached into the ground around Lognion’s shield and pulled at the turyn there, combining it with his own and everything he could draw from his surroundings. It was a more conscious effort than what he had done with the reptilian monsters, but he grew more certain as he worked. Actinic streamers of blue-white power shot up from the ground and flowed around Lognion’s shield and into the storm above.

  A split-second later, the storm answered.

  Will was ready this time, protecting his eyes and ears from the sound and fury that slammed into the earth. He was connected to it, and he couldn’t, wouldn’t, let it go. The vast power of the storm flowed down around him like rain, striking the king’s shield repeatedly until it collapsed a second later. It happened so quickly that Lognion likely never registered its impact.

  “Yes! That’s what you deserve!” Will’s heart soared and his eyes lit up with delight. Lifting his arms, he called more lightning, lusting for it like a long-absent lover—and it came. It thundered into existence and smashed into Lognion’s already dead body, but Will needed more. The king was dead already. He needed more people to punish.

  He sent several more bolts into the monsters that had attacked him, then began considering targets farther away. The palace garden still held a number of living people. Most were the king’s sorcerers or defenders, those who had been stunned and deafened by his earlier sonic attack. Some were guests who had failed to flee quickly enough, and a few were probably just unlucky servants who hadn’t expected any of this.

  It would be difficult to figure out which ones were active supporters of the king. “I warned them, though,” he muttered, his rage still unsatisfied. It would probably be safer to eliminate them all, for Selene’s sake, when she began to rule. With a manic smile, he brought a lightning bolt down on the head of a man he saw trying to crawl away. It was probably a soldier, but he wasn’t very worried about it.

  A large man appeared from the direction of the palace. This one was walking normally. Will almost killed him before he recognized the shape. It was Tiny. “I told you to leave,” Will whispered, making sure his voice would be plainly audible in his friend’s ear. To punctuate his words, he brought two lightning bolts down just thirty feet apart, on either side of his friend. “Stay and I’ll kill you, along with the rest of them.”

  Tiny fell, but rose again, his legs twitching from the proximity of the blasts. “You have to stop. It’s over.”

  “It’s over when they’re all dead!” Afraid he might kill Tiny, Will turned and walked in a different direction, toward three men who had collapsed. At least two of them were still breathing.

  One looked up, fear in his eyes. “Please, milord. I have a family.”

  “Do you still serve the king?” Will’s voice came out sounding strangely hysterical. “Do you?”

  “No. Please don’t kill me! The king is dead. I’m just a soldier!” The man’s face was twisted into an expression of absolute terror.

  But Will knew it was just an act. His nostrils flared as his anger rose again. “Liar! Of course you would say that!” The lightning would purge the man’s evil.

  “Behind you! They’re not dead!”

  He wanted to ignore the voice, but it was Tiny’s, and deep down he trusted him. Whirling, Will saw that both the reptilian creatures were climbing back to their feet. For a moment, he merely goggled at them. How could anything have survived that? Tiny was running toward them, and behind the massive knight Will saw a second, smaller figure. In his paranoia, Will almost killed the woman before he realized it was Darla.

  The two attacked the closest monster, and the result was almost comical. Tiny was moving at a speed that suggested he had taken a Dragon’s Heart potion, but it hardly mattered. He struck at the beast with a sword he had picked up somewhere along the way, and despite his strength and size, it accomplished exactly nothing. The monster’s reaction was still slow, but it ignored Tiny, and for reasons of its own chose to strike Darla instead. She deflected the swing with her own weapon, but the claws shattered the blade and ripped straight into her chest, tearing through her ribs. She fell in an awkward heap.

  “Get back!” Will screamed. The lightning was still coursing over him, but he didn’t dare use it with Tiny so close. Instead, he began pounding the humanoid lizard with force-lances straight to the head.

  At forty yards, his turyn dropped quickly, and he began to feel fuzzy. His will was almost at its limit. Even if he had more power, he would soon be helpless. Thankfully, the monster chose to run toward him instead of going after his friends. The second one followed, and as soon as they were far enough from Will’s companions, he unleashed the storm once more.

  Lighting slammed down, lashing the beasts repeatedly. They kept moving for several seconds before finally going limp once more. Only then did Will relent. Exhausted, he sank to his knees. There was nothing left in him; his turyn was gone and his will utterly used up. The pain in his chest returned, stealing his breath away.

  Tiny lifted Darla and gave her what appeared to be a potion. Then he began walking toward Will. He stopped in horror as he passed the closest of the reptilian beasts. It was beginning to twitch. “Will, it’s still alive. They’re still alive!”

  Will stared back numbly. “I guess we die then.” He didn’t have the energy to care, and consciousness was fading fast. In fact, at that moment, death sounded rather attractive. He needed a rest.

  Tiny dropped the female assassin and drew his only remaining weapon, a feast dagger. Kneeling down, he tried to cut the monster’s throat with little effect. Stabbing the eyes was equally useless, so he opened the thing’s mouth and tried stabbing the interior. Will saw him pull the knife back with an incredulous look. The point of the blade had snapped off.

  The knight paused, then looked at Will. “I can’t kill it, but I don’t think I can carry both of you.” He was clearly torn, but he climbed to his feet and started toward Will.

  “They’re after me,” Will warned. “You can’t run fast enough. Take Darla.”

  “Use this.” The faint voice came from the fallen assassin. With one hand, she offered a long knife with a black blade to Tiny.

  The big man took it immediately, while Will stared at her suspiciously, for he recognized the metal. The blade was made of demon-steel, and as far as he knew, the only samples of it were in his possession, primarily in the breastplate he wished he’d been wearing not long ago. Tiny wasted no time, and he thrust the point into the monster’s mouth. He met some resistance, but he leaned into it, and after a short pause the point sank in, passing through the back of the throat and into the creature’s spine. It shuddered and went still.

  The blade, however, burst into black flames, causing Tiny to hiss in pain as he withdrew it. It was obviously burning him, but he held on bravely and turned to the second monster, which was also waking up.

  “Wait,” Will cautioned. “Bring me the knife.”

  “I’ve got to hurry,” said Tiny, his voice filled with pain.

  “You’ll kill us all.” Will held out his hand. “The blade is near its limit. It will explode if you do that again.” He didn’t mention the fact that Tiny himself was already dying, poisoned by the turyn that fueled the dagger’s flame. Tiny hesitated, but Will was insistent. “Quickly!”

  Tiny handed the weapon to him, and Will drew out the demonic turyn, absorbing it until the metal stopped burning and eventually went from black to silver. He would have liked to use it on the second beast himself, to save Tiny from further injury, but he was too weak to stand. He handed it back. “Here.”

  Tiny finished the job, though by now the king’s guardian monster was aware enough to struggle. The knight tried cutting its throat, but finally settled for pushing it through one of the eyes since the thing wouldn’t cooperate and open its mouth. Once again, the knife burst into shadowy flames. Tiny dropped the blade the moment he was certain their last enemy was dead, and it was clear he was in a lot of pain.

  Will tried crawling closer, but the pain was too much. “Come here.” He could see the dark energy flickering beneath the skin of Tiny’s forearm. Demonic turyn was similar to poison for living creatures; it would slowly kill his friend if not removed. Thankfully, Will knew what to do. Years before, he’d done the same for Selene, long before he’d had any understanding of what or why.

  When Tiny was close enough, he clasped the warrior’s forearm and began drawing out his turyn. His will failed him partway through. He simply couldn’t move turyn any longer, not Tiny’s, not even his own. “Damn it!”

  Having had half his vital energy drained out, Tiny was barely conscious, but there was still fire burning in his veins. “What’s wrong?”

  “I can’t get it all,” said Will. “I’m not strong enough.”

  “It’s all right,” said Tiny. “You did enough.”

  Will didn’t have the energy for tears, but he wanted to scream with frustration. “No, I didn’t. You’ll die.”

  “I was prepared for that,” said the big man tiredly. Tiny sagged until he was fully prone. “You warned me. Twice.” His eyes closed, then opened again a moment later. “Be sure to take a regeneration potion before you pass out. You look pretty bad.”

  “Gods damn you, Tiny!” Will swore. “If you aren’t dead and I wake up healthy enough to move, I’m going to kill you for real.”

  Darla finally spoke again. “Death shouldn’t be this noisy.”

  Will could see that the worst of her wounds were already closed. “You aren’t dying.”

  Her eyes were devoid of emotion when she looked at him. “My heart is dead.”

  Pain stabbed into him as Will realized what she meant. Darla was one of the rare individuals who was astrally sensitive. She was probably the only other person who had seen what happened to Laina’s soul. Even if the body was still breathing, she knew her lover was gone. Will’s face twisted for a moment and his eyes closed tightly, but when his body started to sob, a shiver of pain stopped him cold. He could barely breathe as it was—crying was out of the question.

  Time passed, but unconsciousness wouldn’t come. Tiny hadn’t spoken in a while, and Will began to wonder if he was awake. Death would take hours, or even a full day, depending on how much of the magical poison was left in the warrior’s system. The big man’s voice shocked him out of his daze when he asked, “Did you really mean what you said?”

  Will knew what he was referring to. “She was supposed to tell you when you came back, but things happened too quickly. You need to ask her to marry before she tells you, otherwise she’ll think you are asking for the wrong reasons.”

  “You said I was dying.”

  “I’m going to fix that,” said Will. “You’ve probably got at least half a day. There’s time.”

  “Is that why you still haven’t taken the potion?”

  Will grimaced. “If I do, I might not wake up until tomorrow. Besides, I need to stay awake and keep watch.”

  Darla snorted. “You couldn’t protect yourself if you wanted to. A small child could kill you right now.”

  “Drink the potion, Will,” said Tiny seriously. “You might not last. I can see you’re hardly able to draw breath.”

  “Fuck off.”

  “One of us needs to survive. You can. Promise me you’ll take care of my child.”

  Darla growled. “I’m going to kill both of you if you don’t stop whining.”

  Tiny turned his head toward her. “He’s too stupid to live. You’ll take care of my child, won’t you?”

  “Give me the knife,” she rasped. “I need it.”

  “Do you hear something?” asked Tiny, thinking she’d detected a new threat.

  “I’m going to cut your tongue out with it.”

  Will almost laughed, but it turned into a sharp, gasping whimper. He twisted his head to look away, and it was then that he saw someone coming toward them from the southern end of the palace garden. It was Selene, gliding across the ground at speed, carried by an elemental travel disk. She was alone, and he couldn’t decide whether to be relieved or angry that she hadn’t abandoned them as he had commanded.

  The others spotted her soon after, and they watched in silence as she approached. When she was a few feet away, Selene dismissed her spell and stepped off next to Will. Her face was grave as she studied him. “Can you talk?” He nodded and she continued, “Where are you hurt the worst?”

  “Ribs, collarbone too maybe. Help Tiny first. He’s got turyn poisoning.”

  Her glare said it all. She held out a glass vial with the stopper already removed. “Drink it.”

  He turned his head away. “Tiny first.”

  Selene wouldn’t take no for an answer. With her other hand, she reached down and lightly pressed against his upper chest. Will let out an involuntary scream, and as soon as his mouth opened, she poured the contents of the vial into it. “Idiot,” she pronounced as he choked and sputtered.

  “Says the woman who is bleeding,” he snarled back.

  “Was bleeding,” she corrected. “I had the sense to bind my wound before returning to find the fool I married.” Rising to her feet, she went over to Tiny and began draining him of the rest of his turyn. Selene was still pretty fresh, as third-order wizards went, but she was able to convert the demonic turyn into something harmless, and she even returned some energy back to Tiny, taking care to match his natural frequency. The massive warrior passed into unconsciousness long before she finished.

  Darla was also out cold, but Selene examined her before returning to Will. “Why are you still awake?”

  Will’s eyes were swimming in his head. “The bodies, we need them. Help me store them.”

  “I’d do it for you if I had a limnthal,” she groused.

  He smiled faintly. “Tomorrow, after I have a nap.”

  She chuckled sourly at his joke, then kissed his forehead. Something wet landed on his cheeks, but neither of them mentioned it. Standing up, Selene took the easy route and grabbed his ankles, then she dragged him roughly across the ground, until he was in easy reach of the monsters.

  Will gave her a disgruntled look but held his tongue. Storing them should have been easy at that point, but for the first time, he came up against the limit of his limnthal’s storage space. He was forced to abandon two barrels of ale and all of his jars of fresh water before he could store the heavy bodies.

  That done, he relaxed, and the world quickly began to fade. The last thing he heard was Selene asking, “What were those things?” He was out before he could reply that he didn’t know.

  Chapter 13

  Will’s eyes opened on a rather ordinary scene. He was in bed, and given the furnishings, he thought it was probably the Nerrow family’s city house. He was alone, which was rather refreshing. In the past, he had often awakened from traumatic events only to be overwhelmed by either Selene or one of his other loved ones. The silence was welcome.

  Besides, he had a lot to think about.

  His newfound talent with storms, or lightning, or whatever it was—that merited some consideration, but it wasn’t at the top of his list. The strange, nearly unkillable monsters that had been guarding the king, those were also worth serious investigation. Neither of those things held his attention, though.

  Tabitha and Laina were dead. His only siblings were gone, and he’d only just begun to get to know them, to build some kind of understanding. He’d been an only child his entire life, and finding that he had two half-sisters had been immensely important to him, despite the complications. With Laina he had fought, but they had already shared much. Tabitha was a different story.