I silently called the void blade to me, using all my energy to keep the pain the cuff caused me from my face. The second the leather-wrapped hilt touched my palm, I thrust it into Nicholas’s stomach. He doubled over, no longer a mage. His head rested on my shoulder, his tears wetting my shirt. I whispered to him, “I’m sorry. More than you’ll ever know.”

  I tilted the blade up and plunged it into his heart.

  45

  As soon as the void blade drew Nicholas’s blood, Sybil and Deacon were released from their bonds. I lowered Nicholas’s body to the ground. Blood covered my clothes. I’d have to trash them.

  Sybil ran to the desk to look at the detonator, and Deacon knelt next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “It had to be done.”

  I nodded, making sure I had control of my voice before I spoke. “I know. I just can’t help but wonder where this all ends. He wasn’t like this when I met him.”

  “That’s a thought for another day. For now, we need to make sure we end this.” He pulled me to my feet, and we joined Sybil at the desk.

  “So,” Sybil looked at me, “how do we kill this thing?”

  I had assumed that Nicholas would manually detonate the bombs, but a red light flashed on the detonator. Seeing how prepared he was, I knew now that it wouldn’t be so simple. Nicholas would have set the detonator on a timer to make sure his plan went forward no matter what. Even if he were stopped here and the humans in his house were saved, there were still meetings taking place all over the world. The plan ensured that a devastating attack would still take place.

  “I don’t know why you’d think I’d know.” I pulled out my phone and called Trevor. With any luck he could walk me through what to do. I waited, but the phone never rang. I hung up and tried again. Still nothing. My phone showed no bars. Either this place was too far from a cell tower or Nicholas had blocked cell signals. “I can’t call out. I don’t know anything about this stuff.” We’d come all this way only to be foiled by human technology.

  “You can do this, Nadiya. You know more than you think you do. Just concentrate.” Deacon’s hand rested on my shoulder again. I wanted to believe him, but I’d never done anything like this before. I’d never even seen Trevor do this before.

  I leaned on the desk and peered at the device. It looked simple on the outside, but I knew on the inside it would be a mess of wires. “If we tamper with it, we risk detonating everything.”

  “Is that the worst that can happen?” Sybil asked.

  I looked at her as if she were crazy. “Yes, how much worse can it be?”

  “I’m just saying, if that’s the worst that can happen, it still means saving thousands of lives even if we may lose a few hundred.”

  She had a point. If I messed up and the detonator went off, the bombs would all explode Earthside. Humans would still die, but the casualties would be contained. The meetings were all being held in out-of-the-way locations. It was an issue of macabre math. Hundreds die to save thousands. Or maybe I would pull this off and no one would have to die. “I’ll give it a try, but you two need to port away. Those bombs are in this house, which means if I mess this up, everyone here is going to die.”

  Deacon’s grip tightened on my shoulder. “Not a chance. I’m not leaving you to do this alone.”

  Sybil shook her head. “That’s not how this works. We’re in this together. Besides, I can freely perform magic. This is a human device, so it’s not going to react. You tell me what to do, and I’ll be your hands.”

  “Are you sure?” This went beyond what was expected of the Oracle. She should be in a temple somewhere prophesying about my gruesome death or something.

  “Yes. Besides, this way I can also shield us in case things do go badly. It’ll give us a chance.”

  “You don’t need to waste your energy with a shield,” Deacon said, displaying his confidence in me.

  “Okay then, let’s get to work.” I had Sybil remove the screws holding the plastic casing together. Magic worked even better than tools. Magic couldn’t strip a screw or lose its grip and damage a component. Magic obeyed its wielder perfectly.

  Once the casing was open, it was just as I feared. Wires of all different colors were connected to a circuit board. This was the moment in the movie where we agonized over which color to cut, but I wasn’t about to make that call. For one, I didn’t know if the movies were accurate, and even if they were, I couldn’t recall which color the prevailing wisdom prescribed.

  I thought back to the time I’d spent with Trevor. He always liked to say that things were simpler than they first seemed. Break everything down to the smallest component and follow logic. Try as I might, all I saw was a mess of wires.

  “So what do I do?” Sybil asked.

  “I don’t know.” I straightened, shrugging my shoulders. “I haven’t the first clue.”

  “Calm down.” Deacon turned me to face him. “You’ve got this.” His green eyes were solid and sure. “Time isn’t passing as quickly as you think it is. Relax and let yourself think.”

  I took a deep breath and bent over the device again. We were operating under the assumption that it was running on a timer. I wanted to kill that timer, but there was no countdown clock like in the movies. Any one of the wires could be controlling the countdown. That was a dead end. Too risky.

  If I couldn’t stop the timer, then I needed to stop the detonator from sending out a signal to the repeaters and the explosives. Again, none of the wires had a label on them. I didn’t know which one triggered the signal. Once the timer got to zero, something would trigger something and the signal would go out. Oh yeah, I definitely sounded like I had this under control. The signal would go out, and we would all die.

  Kaboom.

  Maybe I could think of a magical way to solve this problem, contain the transmission. A tellenium box might work to block the antenna.

  The antenna.

  I’d been an idiot. Of course. All I had to do was destroy the antenna and no signal would be leaving the detonator. I bent closer, looking for something that could be the antenna. At least this was a component I’d seen before.

  “There.” I pointed at what I thought was the antenna. “Disconnect that and it won’t be able to send a signal.”

  Sybil pointed at the same thing and looked at me. “This one? Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure.” At least, as sure as I was ever going to be, and I wanted this over.

  With steady precision, Sybil severed the antenna from the device. “Is that it?” she asked.

  “It should be. The repeaters were to send the signal through the portals. If this detonator doesn’t have an antenna, it can’t send out a signal, which means there’s nothing for the other devices to repeat and nothing to trigger the explosions. You can go ahead and destroy it now.” Boy did I sound more confident than I felt.

  Sybil took a breath then disintegrated the detonator into a pile of ash on Nicholas’s desk. We all froze for a second, suspended in time as we waited for a possible explosion in the house that would kill us.

  Nothing happened.

  Deacon pulled me into a hug, ignoring the blood on my clothes. Exhaustion swept over me. I relaxed into his embrace, wishing so strongly that we were back home that I actually started to teleport. The pain from my cuff stopped me.

  “I knew you could do it,” Deacon whispered in my ear. “Didn’t doubt it for a second.”

  “There’s just a few loose ends to tie up, the mage and the elf in the dining room, and the humans should be arriving soon,” Sybil said.

  I pulled away from Deacon. “Let’s get this over with then. I don’t expect the elf to put up a fight. He’s just here for the money. The mage could be a different matter. As far as the humans go, we should probably stay until they’re all accounted for and then you can do your memory stuff on them. We don’t want anyone wandering in here and finding Nicholas’s body.”

  I wiped my void blade on a clean section of Nicholas’s robes then sheathed it. Without a mage, we couldn’t use the teleportation rings to go back to the dining room, so Sybil ported us. When we appeared, fifteen humans turned to stare at us. One woman looked at me and screamed.

  The mage smirked and pointed at my blood-soaked clothes. “Murderer!”

  Shit.

  46

  The humans collectively gasped.

  “Yes!” the mage said. “They murdered Richard!”

  The group of humans rushed us. I don’t know why, if they believed I murdered Richard, they thought it was a good idea to rush me, but that was the level of fanaticism we were dealing with. I didn’t want to hurt any of them, but I also didn’t want to be hurt by them. They looked ready to beat me to death. Behind me, I heard Sybil whisper something to Deacon about messing with their memories and then she pulled me out of the way.

  Deacon shifted into all his glory right there in the dining room. He shook his head menacingly and the humans backed away, most of them screaming, and one even fainted.

  As much as I wanted to reassure the humans that everything was going to be all right, I focused on the mage. There was still a table full of explosives in the room, and he couldn’t be trusted. Sybil bound him with her magic and cast a spell to mute him. I wished she’d cast that spell over all the humans. Their screaming wasn’t great for concentration. I casually walked up to the mage and nicked him with my blade, just enough to draw blood and void him. I didn’t want the humans thinking I was the villain here.

  With that threat neutralized for the moment, I turned back to the humans. “Listen!” I raised my hands, trying to get their attention. The commotion continued. I stood up on a chair and waved again. “Listen up!”

  Deacon roared and the humans finally silenced. I nodded my thanks, and then he went to tend to the girl who had fainted. She’d hit her head pretty hard on the way down.

  “What is that thing?” one person asked.

  “What’s it doing?” another one chimed in.

  “It’s eating her!” one screamed.

  “No, he’s not. He’s healing her wounds.” These people were hysterical, not that I could blame them. I wanted to tell them not to worry about it because we were going to take care of their memories, but that seemed like it would only cause more panic. “Is everyone here who was invited?”

  The group looked around and some nodded. The others clearly thought I wasn’t to be trusted with such information. The girl who fainted came to and scooted on the ground away from Deacon as fast as she could. He backed up, giving her space and reducing the threat. A shadow passed over his eyes. He didn’t like being feared by innocent people.

  “Good.” I turned to Sybil. “It looks like they’re all here. Why don’t you take them to the other room and send them home? I can handle the mage.”

  Sybil nodded and roped them all into a corral with her magic and ushered them from the room. That left me, Deacon, the mage, and the elf. Just a couple more loose ends then I could go home and sleep, though I didn’t know how long it would take me to get the image of those exploited humans out of my mind.

  “Now for you.” I strolled over to the mage. He’d realized by now that he no longer had magic. At this point, there wasn’t really any more intelligence we needed from him, and I didn’t want to risk keeping him alive. If he managed to sneak away with one of the explosives, he could do a lot of damage.

  He held up his hands and begged. “Please. Richard took advantage of me too.”

  “Oh, I’m sure he did.” With one swift movement I plunged my dagger into his heart. He died instantly.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a portal appear. Up until this point, the elf had quietly watched the scene play out, amused, waiting for his pay. Once he saw me kill, he decided the pay may not be worth it after all.

  “Not so fast.” With the job almost done, I could tolerate the pain of one spell. I gritted my teeth and bound the elf before he could step through the portal.

  “Ah, now, come on. You don’t have any problem with me. I’m just a taxi service. I don’t care what you do. I won’t tell anybody. I’m a shade. I can keep a secret.” His blue skin paled a bit as I advanced. Shades could be discreet as long as the person whose secret they kept paid them enough or scared them enough. In this instance, fear would be the primary motivator. He’d already seen me track down one person who crossed me.

  If I let him go through the portal, no one would know. I believed him. He’d probably go to the feast, enjoy the celebrations. Meanwhile the people of Elustria would keep looking, hoping for the Dragon Fae, completely unaware of how close they had come to dying.

  Then again, some would know how close death is. Some were still performing funeral rites for their son and daughters. Some would take an offering to the temple with the hope that the Dragon Fae would come.

  Deacon stood beside me in his human form, his bloody shirt discarded, the white patch of skin over his heart a firm reminder of who he was and what he believed. He didn’t say anything, trusting me to make this decision. I’d done my part of the deal. Alistair would make sure Meilin upheld hers. Even as he attended a memorial service for a niece whose body would never be found, he would honor my choice. The longer I stood staring at this elf who waited for me to pronounce his fate, the more it seemed I was the only one who had a choice. The humans couldn’t choose whether or not to fall victim to the mages. Alistair and countless others didn’t choose the devastation the Directorate brought on their families.

  Destiny had come calling uninvited, but I had the choice to turn her away or welcome her in.

  I may not be ready for this, but my people, sorcerer and human, fae and dragonkin, couldn’t wait for me to be ready. They needed hope now, not when it was convenient for me. And when would it ever be convenient to take on the role of a prophesied heroine?

  I ripped the cuff from my wrist and threw it to the ground. My magic washed over me and through me, surging to the surface of my skin. Long tendrils of magic whipped out of my hands, pulling the elf to me. I took him right to the portal.

  “Do you know this magic?” I asked, letting it caress him, surround him.

  The elf nodded, wide eyes brimming with fear that spilled over into a single tear. Of course he recognized it. Everyone in Elustria did. It was the magic of the assassin. If you followed the signs, as the elves did, then you knew it was more than that. I held him up off the ground, ready to throw him back to Elustria.

  “Then go, bear witness to what you’ve seen and tell the people of Elustria that the Dragon Fae has come.” I flung him backward into the portal, and it closed.

  47

  With the portal gone, stillness filled the air. My magic leapt with freedom, feeding off the adrenaline that ran through me in the wake of my decision. There was no going back now. It was done.

  The heat of Deacon’s chest warmed my back, but he didn’t speak. He just stood, close enough that his presence couldn’t be denied but giving me space to process what I’d done.

  How long would it take for the news to spread? I didn’t doubt that the shade would speak. Even if he didn’t fear me, news of the Dragon Fae was too momentous to keep to himself. Sybil had said the elves—among others—thought the assassin could be the Dragon Fae. It seemed everyone had an opinion about who I was, first the feared assassin, then the prophesied hero, and all the while I’d been kept in the dark here on Earth. Behind all the rumors was Nataliana, a sorceress, and then Nadiya, a human with only an elderly neighbor for family.

  Somewhere in all of that was me, but I didn’t know where. I guess it didn’t matter anymore. This new identity as the Dragon Fae would subsume everything.

  What had I done?

  What would come tomorrow? I couldn’t think about that. Declaring my existence had to be enough for now. I’d figure out how to actually be the Dragon Fae later.

  Ready to face the consequences of my actions, I turned around and came face to face with Deacon. Shining down on me were green eyes filled with admiration. I soaked it up, needing the reassurance that I’d done the right thing and hadn’t just made the most foolish mistake of my life.

  He closed his eyes and breathed deep. In that moment I felt it too, our magics mingling, dancing around each other. I’d experienced his magic against my skin from the very first time we’d met, and now Deacon was feeling mine. The sensation of his magic against my skin had been unforgettable, but his magic against my magic was something else entirely. Where my skin was soft and vulnerable, my magic was confident and bold, meeting his as equals. It’d been years since my magic had touched another’s uninhibited by the cuff, but I didn’t remember it ever feeling this incredible with anyone else. The sensation was intoxicating.

  A gasp sounded in the doorway, and Deacon and I both turned to see Sybil standing there. “You did it.”

  I nodded, and she came running, breaking into the space between me and Deacon and flinging her arms around my neck. “I knew you’d do it.”

  Apparently, Sybil had taken to the human custom of hugging more than I had. When she let go of me, I saw that Deacon had picked up my cuff from where I’d thrown it on the ground. He rubbed the leather with his thumb then held it out to me.

  “Here. You don’t need to put it back on yet, but you will.”

  My magic chafed at the idea. Of course, Deacon was right. Just because I declared my identity didn’t mean I wanted to make myself a target. My imprint was already all over this place, but once we left, the cuff would have to go back on. I put it in my pocket until then. “Thanks.”

  Our eyes met, and so much more than that simple thanks passed between us. Things would forever be different for us now.

  “The humans are all gone,” Sybil said, either oblivious to the tension between me and Deacon or simply too concerned with getting us home to care.

  Home. That’s what I needed. I gave Sybil my full attention.

  She continued. “I gave them the memory of a fun party and they all left.”

 

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