“Evelyn!” A voice rang out above the commotion, amplified, if I had to guess, by Magic. One of the strangers dropped his hood, and my lightning flickered on his incandescent hair. “Stand down. There’s no need for a fight.”

His presence hit me like a fist of ice. My knees wobbled. The injuries on my chest blazed as if I’d been shot again. I gasped and slumped against the wagon.

He was here, my nightmare incarnate.

Jackie.

Chapter 26

Jackie and his fellow Magicians—five in all—raised their hands. The edges of the clearing, from ground to sky, undulated like the surface of a puddle disturbed by a breeze, and the air rippled with the sheen of a soap bubble. Then, everything and everyone inside that bubble disappeared, including the princess.

Stunned, I gasped and scanned my surroundings, searching for something, anything that might tell me what had happened and what I should do next, but the circus troupe had retreated the moment Jackie’s barrier went up. Only Falak remained, and he raced toward me, his dark eyes wide and brimming with fear.

“What now?” he asked, pausing to draw a breath. “This wasn’t part of the plan.”

I shook my head and stepped closer to where I’d last seen the princess. Another step forward, and my foot struck an indistinguishable obstacle. I pressed my hands against what felt like a wall of frigid air, but it refused to let me through.

Falak had caught on, and he too patted at the wall like a mime performing an invisible-box routine. “What is this?”

“Magic. Obviously.”

He rolled his eyes at me. “But what do we do about it?”

“Ask Svieta?” I fought the urge to panic. “I don’t know.”

Admitting defeat already? That’s not the Stormbourne way. I’m disappointed in you, girl.

My grandfather’s voice jolted me out of my bewilderment. “I’m not admitting defeat, but I don’t know what to do. Le Poing Fermé’s Magic is devastating. I’ve witnessed it firsthand.”

A Magician has never been stronger than a god.

“I’m not a god.”

You are so long as people worship you.

Falak’s brows drew together. He frowned as he tried to make sense my one-sided conversation.

No time for doubts, Evie.

I nodded and met Falak’s gaze. “Part two of the plan, ringmaster.”

His frown deepened as he contemplated my words. Understanding settled over him, and his grim expression lightened. He smiled. Skipping back several paces, he raised a finger. “Give me one moment, Evie. I’ve already explained to them what they need to do. I only have to give them the word.”

The ringmaster ran toward the big top while I turned my attention to the barrier before me. Already my bullet wound throbbed and ached. The pain of it weakened my knees, but I shoved aside my discomfort, doubts, and fears. Reaching deep, I collected my will and slung it like a broad net, grasping for the sky.

In my thoughts, I urged the ringmaster to hurry. This is going to take everything in me. You better be quick with the reinforcements, Falak.

Drawing energy together, I molded a bolt of lightning into a fierce missile and aimed for the Magical barrier. With a great mental heave, I sent it hurtling. The concussion of its impact threw me, and I landed hard. The back of my head struck the ground. Blinking, I struggled for breath as the sky spun overhead in a dizzying cartwheel. Blackness and stars sparkled at the edge of my vision, and the dark, hollow place in my mind roared, reminding me of how close I’d already come to dying.

“D-don’t know...how much of this...I can take,” I panted.

Jackie replied before my grandfather could. He appeared, standing over me, and gazed down with his familiar, hungry-wolf smile. A blue globe, similar to the ones Otokar had devised, bobbed beside him, casting his face in cold light. Apparently, my attack on the barrier had worked. Too bad I had nothing left for Jackie.

“What a prize you are, Evie,” he said. “Clever and strong. We’ve dampened your powers for months, and yet you’ve overcome.” His brows drew into a scowl as he lowered into a squat at my side. “I must know how you managed it.”

Ignoring the pain in my chest, I raised up on one elbow and surveyed my surroundings. The circus looked the same as before, except several wagon windows had blown out, most likely from the blast of my lightning. Genevieve stood alone, not more than two or three yards away. Her eyes flashed, but she remained silent. The spell Svieta had cast on the Thunder Cloak still concealed her identity, and she still looked like me, but my lightning assault had given me away. So much for hiding in plain sight.

I nodded at her. “Now, princess.”

She returned my nod, drew her hood over her head, and disappeared.

Jackie roared some ineffable sound and snapped his fingers. Across the clearing, Gideon stumbled out from between two wagons with a pair of cloaked Magicians following close behind, pinning his hands behind his back. Fear flashed across his face when he saw me on the ground at Jackie’s feet. “Evie!”

Jackie’s face twisted as though he’d tasted something bitter. “I know your weaknesses, Lady Thunder. You care about people. Your heart is soft, compassionate. You’ll do anything to save those you care about.” He wrapped his fingers around my upper arm and stood, jerking me to my feet.

I screeched, certain his rough handling had ripped several of my stitches. Gideon lunged, but his captors jerked his arms, pulling him back. He stumbled and fell to one knee with a grunt.

Jackie’s brow furrowed as he examined my face, my heaving chest, my clenched teeth. His face wavered, going fuzzy around the edges, and I feared losing consciousness. If I passed out, our defeat was certain. Jackie would take me away, and no telling what Le Poing Fermé would do with Gideon or Genevieve. It was my fault they were here. I wouldn’t be the reason either of my friends came to harm—Jackie was right about that much at least.

“What’s happened to you, Evelyn? Are you hurt?” His gaze dropped to the low neckline of my blouse, a thin linen shift that would have revealed too much if not for the bejeweled waistcoat keeping me modest. Jackie fingered my collar, pulling it aside. I jerked away from him, but he’d seen enough. “You’re wounded? How?”

I bared my teeth at him, refusing to answer.

He clicked his tongue. “You know I can heal you.” Pressing two fingers to my chest, he lightly touched my shirt where it lay over my wound. His pale brows drew together, and he blinked at me. He inhaled a strangled gasp. Stumbling back, he dropped my arm as though it had burned him.

Gathering my strength, feeble as it was, I raised my chin and straightened my back. “I have survived. No thanks to you and your Brigands.”

“There’s a foul Magic at play, here.” He shook his head. “Darkness. Death.” He narrowed his eyes. “It’s the same Magic that was driving that abominable beast....” He twisted his fingers as if wrenching something from the air. “Before I snuffed his life force and sent his spirit back to the Shadowlands.”

I staggered. Grief forked through me like tree roots spreading deep into the earth. Sher-sah! I clenched my jaw and snarled. “The only abominable beasts around here are you and your filthy cabal.”

Jackie raised his hand as if to strike me, but instead he balled his fingers into a fist. “Bring him here,” he shouted. “The charlatan who did this—find him and bring him to me.”

The members of the cabal not occupied with restraining Gideon bowed and peeled away, disappearing into the night shadows. A cold finger of dread swirled the contents of my gut. What would they do to Svieta if they found her?

I stepped away, seeking to gain some distance between me and Jackie. Preparing another lightning attack would require room, but did I have the strength? My mind buzzed as though dozens of voices were calling to me at once.

Falak....

He’d executed his part of the plan as promised, and so had the members of Le Cirque de Merveilles Mécanique. They owed me nothing. My presence among them had put them all in danger more than once, but there they were, lending their faith, worshiping me. Their prayers echoed in my ears, and the storms answered in kind, rumbling, roaring.

Fisting my hands at my sides, I met Jackie’s cold stare. “What did you do to my lion?”

He flinched. “Your lion?”

“You’ll pay, Jackie Faercourt. You don’t get to march into my life, destroy the ones I care about, and think you’ll get away without a reckoning.”

Thunder boomed. The wagons rattled from the concussion of soundwaves and energy. Clouds boiled like a poisonous brew, and lightning crawled through their pulsing mass like glowing veins and arteries. The circus troupe had given me enough for one more brutal attack, and I would have to make sure I used it wisely.