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Too late The male had already struck He slit Sabine’s throat, blood painting the walls as her small body fell
Lanthe’s daze burned away She scra, "Ai-bee?" She ran for her sister, kneeling beside her "No, no, no, Ai-bee, don’t die, don’t die, don’t die!" Lanthe’s own sorcery was htning surrounding the me Because of Thronos and these ht A clarity such as she’d never knoept over her
My faer would she hesitate to use her power No mercy--for any of them
She coht each other--to the death!"
The room was thick horls of sorcery, and the abbey quaked all around the one of the stained-glass s In an earsplitting rush, it shattered
She turned to her betrayer, the boy she’d thought she loved The boy who’d led these fiends straight to her home
He ending his way around bodies to reach her, now that the adult who’d guarded hi, she sobbed, "I trusted you Sabine was everything to h the "--the one hundreds of feet above the valley floor--"and do not use your wings on the way down!"
His silver eyes pleaded for her not to do this thing, so she turned back to her sister’s body, refusing to watch
He never made a sound all the way down
"Live, Ai-bee!" Lanthe screahtless, her chest still of breath "HEAL!" she co all the power she possessed The roo furniture Mother’s head hit the floor and rolled, Father’s right behind hers "Don’t leave me! LIVE!"
More sorcery, more, more, MORE
Sabine’s eyes fluttered open--they were bright, lucid "Wh-what happened?"
While Lanthe was utterly e rested
I brought her back She’s all I have now
They fled froht Yet in the valley, Lanthe trailed behind Sabine She looked back over her shoulder, saw Thronos on the ground, clinging to life
His body lay broken, lis twisted, skin flayed
Soround to reach for her with yearning in his eyes
Now, hundreds of years later, Thronos raised his hand off the ground to reach for her once ht, Lanthe turned fro to find Carrow and her crew, Lanthe headed for low ground In the steady rain, she sprinted over uneven terrain Though her lungs began to burn, she kept up a punishing pace, slowing only to hide when she sensed other immortals
All the while, she tried not to think about Thronos So why did she keep seeing his scars, hishi him jump as a boy
If Thronos hadn’t betrayed her, then that Vrekener leader--as his father, the king--wouldn’t have murdered her parents Over the years, Sabine wouldn’t have needed so much of Lanthe’s sorcery to repeatedly cheat death
Lanthe could be one of the most feared Sorceri alive--instead of a power-on-the-fritz punch line Hell, even Thronos had ridiculed her!
To be the Queen of Persuasion was to be the queen of nothing
And in the Lore, perceived weakness was considered an invitation for enemy species to attack
Sabine had recently voiced a new theory about Lanthe’s persuasion: since Vrekeners tracked Sorceri by their power outlays, perhaps she feared drawing the performance issues Maybe her ability was intact, but her anxiety over the winged menace undermined it--even in Rothkalina, where they were sure no Vrekeners would ever cos
At least her portal ability still worked If she could lose this collar, she could walk straight into Castle Tornin’s court
The only proble adequate time to concentrate--she had little control over where her threshold opened Andas this one Worse, she could only create a portal every five or six days So if she screwed up with a destination, she couldn’t do a quick fix
A huge risk Yet so was staying on this island
Da to try to capture her? If he’d succeeded, Rydstroe demons to the Air Territories Well, Rydstrom would if someone could finally find that domain in the heavens, one that was hout the year
The only reason the Sorceri had never struck back against Vrekener aggression was because they couldn’t find the Skye, or capture any of its inhabitants
Maybe that hat ainst his kind
Lanthe was so caught up with thoughts of hi toward her face too late
Her last thought before she blacked out: Oneto blame him for
Lanthe dreaed to a feh worlds," the fe a secret to Lanthe "In one realm, hurt In one realm, leave In one realm, cleave In one realm, shine"
"I don’t understand," Lanthe said in her dream The voice sounded familiar, but after an immortal’s lifetime of acquaintances, she couldn’t place it
"Just think of your upco journey as the Four Realms of Samhain Past"
"That doesn’t even"What are you talking about?"
"Whisper, whisper, whisper"
"Oh, co whisper!"
"Be my spark," the voice said, "and send worlds aflame Noake, before it’s too late"
"Ow, OWWWW" Lanthe ca from the pain in her face "Who the hell hitshe’d been out