“If he’s waiting for us with Council guards down there, we’re trapped,” I said.

“Maybe he went ahead to make sure the cave was clear.”

A burble of acid climbed my throat—my body’s way of saying it had a bad feeling about this. My subconscious sensed trouble. If I was smart, I would listen to it. “I wish that were true, but we knew we couldn’t trust him.”

“We can’t get Jackie through the front doors with the wards in place,” Gideon said. “What else can we do?”

“How do we know Taviano wasn’t lying about that? He’s probably been lying from the start.”

“Do we risk it?”

“Take these cuffs off,” Jackie said, “and any wards will be of no concern to us.”

I cut Jackie a sharp look and turned back to Gideon. “Open the door. We’ll never know unless we look. If it’s just Taviano and a few sentries, maybe we can take them.”

Jackie cocked his head and narrowed an eye at me. “You’re very powerful, my queen. More powerful that the last time we faced each other. I can feel it. But without Taviano’s help, you’ll never swim out of here.” He raised his cuffed hands. “Either way, you’re going to need my Magic.”

“I should have insisted Brigette come with us,” I said to Gideon, still ignoring Jackie.

“Evelyn,” Jackie crooned. “Take off my cuffs.”

I pointed at the cavern access door. “Open it, Gideon, and be prepared to fight.”

Nodding, Gideon crossed the room, pressed his hand to the door, and pushed. It flew open, and a barrage of blue-green lights pelted our faces, blinding us.

“Traitorous prick,” Gideon growled. “Fall back.”

Blindly, I retreated until I backed hard into a wall. Stumbling, I fell to a knee. Thunder roared, and the basilica’s walls shook. The Magical lights cleared, and I rubbed my eyes, trying to clear bright spots from my vision. Gideon had recovered more quickly. His crossbow released a succession of bolts, thwack-click-thwack, answering the clamor of angry voices and gunfire spilling into the vestibule. Sentries rushed in, pistols and swords drawn. Gideon fired, and two guards slumped to the floor.

Acid burned in my throat. Panic dripped cold rivulets down my spine.

A cool hand latched around my biceps and yanked me up. “Evelyn...” Jackie’s face appeared before me, and he grimaced, bearing his teeth. “This is no time to cling to past prejudices and misunderstandings. Let me help you.”

I jerked away from him. “Where’s the main entrance to this place? If we can get to the doors, I can get us out.” So much for no collateral damage and not making the Council of Magic our enemy, but at least we didn’t have to worry about sneaking around anymore.

“You’re the one with blueprints in your head,” Gideon said. “You’ll have to lead the way.”

As we backtracked to the hallway, the guards fired, but their bullets bounced off us. Brigette’s Magic charms were working. At least that much has gone right.

The walls shuddered again as thunder rocked the basilica. Gritting my teeth, I tried to gather my composure. Desperation drummed an allegro beat in my head, swirling my thoughts into a murky mess. I clutched my chest as my scar burned as fresh and hot as the day I received it.

“Evie, we’ve got this. Don’t panic.” Gideon fired off another round and stepped diagonally, putting himself at my right flank, adding another barricade between Jackie and the Council’s sentinels. Le Poing Fermé would probably refuse to negotiate if I brought them their pet Magician riddled with bullet holes. As much as it sickened me, we had to protect him.

We hurried, turning from a backward plodding to an awkward lope, keeping an eye on our pursuers while searching for an escape route.

“You’re the Lady of Thunder,” Jackie said. “Queen of Inselgrau. You’ve defeated every foe who has come before you, including me. Twice.” He had the gall to wink. “Don’t tell me you’re going to let a few mundane guards get the best of you.”

Something about his wink broke through the raging flood of panic in my mind. I latched onto my memory of the basilica’s blueprints like a life raft. Tugging Gideon’s arm, I pointed down the corridor. “This way.”

I sprinted, bare feet slapping against cool stone tiles. Gideon and Jackie’s footsteps pounded behind me. How many guards followed?

Don’t waste time looking back, Grandfather ordered.

A huge orb of blue-green light whizzed over our heads and slammed into a column, inches from Gideon’s shoulder. Sparks and rubble flew. Gideon snarled. “That one packed a punch.”

“Keep moving,” I said. “I don’t think Brigette’s charms are going to protect us against whatever that was.” I wheeled around another corner. A long hallway, lined in arching windows, stretched before us. It extended toward a grand foyer ending in a set of massive doors. If my memory of the blueprints were right, those doors led outside to freedom.

Too bad we couldn’t use them.

A second cadre of Council sentinels in dark robes and hoods stood before the doorway—pistols raised, swords drawn. In two rows of three, they formed a double-layered wall blocking our exit.

I slid to a stop as despair wrapped tendrils around my iron heart and squeezed.

We were cut off. Boxed in. Where in the Shadowlands is Brigette?

Jackie shoved his cuffed wrists at me again. “Please, Evelyn. We’re open targets.”

Inhaling an anxious breath, I latched onto a lightning bolt and slung it into the windows behind us. They shattered. Shards of glass streaked through the air, cutting like knives, and our pursuers wailed and cried out behind me. I regretted their pain but not as much as I would regret my own if they captured me.

Another Magical bomb exploded at Gideon’s feet, spraying him with rubble. He stumbled and dropped to his knees. I grabbed his shoulder to steady him as he tried to stand, but another wave of ammunition pelted us. Jackie jerked, grunted, and pressed a hand to his shoulder. Red bloomed between his fingers.

“Flesh wound,” he grumbled between clenched teeth. “I’ll survive.”

I spun and faced Taviano, placing myself between his guards and Jackie.

Five sentries flanked the young Magician, and he gave me a victorious grin, as if certain he’d already won this fight. Wind streamed through the shattered windows, and the sentinels’ robes billowed. Taviano’s white hair danced. “You will never escape, Stormbourne. Not without casualties. Your Magician will not come to your rescue—you should never have depended on her.” He formed another glowing sphere between his hands. “This one is for your guardian. But if you give yourself up now, I will let him live.”

In reply, I hurled lightning through a broken window. But the bolt struck an invisible shield around the Magician and his guards. A crash, louder than a thousand cymbals, shrieked in my ears as the thunderbolt’s energy merely undulated across the Magical barricade like ripples across a pond.

The lightning had failed.

Oh no. My knees wobbled. My gut clenched. Oh no, oh no, oh no...

“Antonio!” Jackie roared. “Dammelo adesso!”

One of Taviano’s sentinels lowered his weapon and tossed something to Jackie. Before I could comprehend his intentions, Jackie had rid himself of his cuffs.

The fragment of calm I’d been clinging to shattered. A flash flood filled me with frigid, muddy horror, and I screamed for Gideon.

Jackie threw his arms around me and muttered something under his breath. Invisible bands as cold and hard as iron wrapped around me, squeezing, constricting.

Gideon roared and grabbed for me, but Jackie slashed his hand through the air.

Gideon crumpled.

Jackie waved again, and a blast of power blew down the guards like wheat stalks in a storm. Only Taviano remained on his feet, and he struggled to form another glowing orb.

I called down a pair of lightning bolts and slung one toward the basilica’s front doors, which shattered like kindling under an axe blade. The other bolt slammed into the ground at Taviano’s feet.