“No-no-no-no-no!” I rush over and catch him as he falls forward and position him with his head in my lap. He tries dragging in a breath and coughs, blood spurting from his mouth as the mortal wound worsens by the second. “Come on, Dmitri, you can’t do this. I need you.”
My brother, my protector, lies dying because of that monster, and it’s all I can do to stop myself from falling apart. Dmitri’s blood-soaked hand grips one of mine, the red color draining from his irises to reveal his usual icy blues as he stares up at me. “Moy sestra…navsegda.”
My sister…for always.
Then the light dims in his eyes and his chest no longer moves. I choke back a sob, outrage and despair warring within me as I gently lay my brother’s head on the ground and rise on shaky legs.
“You know what comes next,” Edevane sneers, twirling the spear again with a sickeningly casual air. “Bequeath the Power to me now or watch him die.”
I run over to Finn and stand between him and Edevane, but I’m too slight in comparison to be able to protect him from anything, much less a magical spear that will find a way to hit its mark.
He’s still held in place as though his wrists and ankles are shackled to an invisible wall. Placing my hands on his solid chest, I feel for the beat of his heart, remembering all the times it lulled me to sleep while his arms were wrapped around me.
Panic squeezes the air from my lungs, the unbearable decision I now face crushing me under its weight. Losing Finn will shatter me but giving Edevane the Power means dooming all of Faerie to his tyranny. I know the choice I should make, but I can’t do it. I can’t sentence Finn to death.
“Taryn, no,” Finn’s voice breaks through my turmoil, firm and resolute. “You can’t.”
“He’ll kill you,” I whisper, my voice trembling with fear and anguish.
“Loving you was worth everything, solnyshko.” Finn’s gaze locks onto mine with a fierce resolve, his devotion to me shining in the sunlit honey of his eyes. “If I burn, I burn, remember?”
Tears blur my vision as his words sink in, the depth of his love both a comfort and a dagger to my heart. He nods to me in encouragement, and I return it, letting him know I understand what I have to do. But I refuse to let him leave this world without hearing the words I should have said to him long before now.
“Finn, I—”
“Ibar.”
Finn’s body jerks as the spear slices through his right side and exits out his left, easily hitting its target despite my proximity.
The scream that tears from my throat is primal and raw. It’s a sound born of pain and fury that stirs the storm of emotions deep inside me.
I collapse to my knees, clutching Finn’s lifeless body, his blood soaking into the lavender ropes he lovingly tied on my body before the battle. The words I never got to say linger on my lips, a bitter reminder of what’s been taken from me. My hands tremble as I cradle his head.
“I love you, Finn. I love you so much,” I whisper through my tears, the confession breaking free too late. “Until we meet again.”
Pulling myself together, I lock away all the pain from his loss to be unpacked later, along with the losses of everyone else I cared about.
I kiss him one final time, then use my fingertips to shutter his lids over his golden eyes. I don’t want him to see what I do next, even in death. I know it will be terrifying and beautiful, but it’s not how he knew me, and I want to keep it that way.
As I stand and face my enemy, grief and savage wrath infest my heart, weaving their slithering roots through the useless muscle. The door that keeps my devastating magic contained trembles under the pressure of my emotions.
I feel the One True Power pulsing, begging to be unleashed. And for the first time, I’m more than happy to let it out.
My vision blurs with violet sparks. As the energy builds, the wind whips around me, causing my curls to lift and dance like the slithering snakes on Medusa’s head. Streaks of violet light snap in the air as I raise my arms out to my sides, welcoming the growing power coursing through me.
The rope armor begins to smolder, and with a roar, I burn it away, no longer interested in containing the forces within me. The sensation is overwhelming, a surge of raw magic that pushes at the confines of my body, ready to explode like a fucking supernova.
Edevane’s smug expression falters as he senses the shift in me, the sheer magnitude of what I’m capable of. Good. I want him afraid. I want him to feel as helpless as I did.
Images of my loved ones flash before my eyes—my parents, Dmitri, Conall, Connor, and Finn—all struck down by Edevane’s hand and a weapon of the gods that delivers death to near-immortals with a staggering finality.
Nothing short of reversing time itself can bring them back.
The thought embeds itself in my mind, desperation grasping at impossible straws. Even if something like that was possible, someone with no control could never pull it off. I’m letting the Power slip its leash knowing full well everything around me for a square mile will be decimated. But that includes Edevane, and I’m good with that.
Believe in your fire, Taryn, and you can do anything.
The words my father said to me the night we watched the Scorched Sky suddenly come back to me, as though he’s speaking to me from Mag Mell.
Remember to believe in your fire.
His last words to me as he passed away.
Athair’s voice continues to echo in my mind, the phrases repeating again and again.
Believe in your fire, Taryn, and you can do anything.
Remember…
…you can do anything.
…anything.
It’s then that I have a mind-altering epiphany.
The only one who’s never believed in me…is me.
I take a deep breath and exhale. It’s time to let go of my fear. It’s time to let go of my self-imposed limitations. It’s time…to reverse time.
