It was the promise she’d made him that stopped her. She couldn’t break it.
The world spun like she’d stepped into the eye of a hurricane. The air smelled of blood and smoke, magic and gunshots. As Rune recalled the pages of her grandmother’s spell books, the shouting soldiers and cracking pistols seemed to go quiet and still.
She’d skimmed through so many spells over the years, most of which she couldn’t cast because she didn’t have the blood required.
Now she did.
She needed to make the most of it.
Save yourself, Alex’s voice echoed in her mind.
As his body grew cold beneath her hand, Rune let his words guide her. She recalled the last spell book she’d opened, remembering a spell too powerful for a witch like her to cast.
Earth Sunderer.
The seven golden marks flared to life inside her mind.
With Alex still in her arms, she lifted her hand from his blood and started to draw on the stone slabs around them. It shouldn’t have been possible to remember them so clearly, but she did. She traced each mark into the ground, her hand guided by something nameless. Ancient. That familiar roar crashed in her ears. Brine bloomed on her tongue. That powerful wave was swelling, only this time, Rune was swelling with it. Her fingers moved as if possessed, the magic itself guiding her.
The moment she finished one mark, she started on the next.
Is this what being a witch is supposed to feel like?
Good. Easy. Right.
With an immense amount of fresh blood, nothing held her back. That ocean inside Rune wasn’t happening to her; it was her. She and the magic were one.
When she finished the last line of the final mark, encasing both her and Alex in a circle of glowing white symbols, her bloody fingers lifted from the earth. As they did, that thunderous wave crashed, shuddering through her, bursting out of her as the ground shook and an earsplitting roar tore the world in two.
SIXTY-TWO
GIDEON
GIDEON WATCHED HIS BROTHER collapse. Watched Rune catch him and sink to the ground beneath his weight. Watched Alex cradle Rune’s face in his hands, and Rune lean down to kiss him.
And that’s when Gideon’s steps faltered.
Because Alex didn’t want Gideon at his side. He wanted her there.
When he heard Rune’s heart-shattering sob, he knew his brother was gone.
His throat constricted. No …
Alex was dead. Killed by a bullet meant for Gideon.
All the color seemed to drain from the world.
I didn’t get to say goodbye.
He fell to his knees, hands fisting in the stones. He pressed his forehead to his fists, his whole body shaking at the loss of the last person he had left. A ragged cry ripped through him, tearing out of his throat.
Is this my lot? To fail everyone I love?
A sudden BOOM! resounded through the square. Gideon lifted his head to find the world gone dark. As if someone had swallowed the sun. He heard the cracking before he felt it: the earth quaking. Rising and falling beneath his feet. Like an unruly sea.
The metallic tang of blood magic spread through the air, mingling with another scent. Salt. Like the sea.
Gideon tried to rise, but kept losing his balance.
When the sunlight returned, he found a black chasm widening in front of him, separating him from his brother’s body, and into the void poured the ocean. Protecting the witches from those coming to kill them. Tearing the town square in half.
The ground continued to shake, forcing Gideon to step away from the edge, lest the shuddering earth thrust him over. As white waves churned, rushing to fill the gap, the dust from the earthquake rose into the air, turning it gray. His brother disappeared behind it.
Gideon turned to the surrounding chaos. Looking for Laila or Harrow—whose voice he now heard, barking orders. Hoping neither of them were near that widening chasm. If they were, they’d be swallowed.
When he glanced back, he found Cressida staring at him from the other side. Through the gray. Seraphine stood at her left. Rune, at her right.
Cressida’s pale eyes narrowed on Gideon, and he knew this was far from over.
The witch queen retreated. Her movement caused the dust to swirl, concealing her behind it. Seraphine followed, leaving only Rune, whose sorrowful gaze locked with Gideon’s until the dust cloud swallowed her, too.
His hands curled into fists.
“I will never stop hunting you, Rune Winters. No matter where you go, I will come for you.”
In her absence, Gideon saw something flutter in the air above the chasm. Small and red and delicate, its wings shimmering in the gloom.
A crimson moth.
Gideon’s heart hardened at the sight of it.