“What the—” She spins around to face me, her eyes widening. I’m being held by two massive trolls wearing beaten leather armor. I’ve never seen one before, but I know they dwell in the deepest caves of the Beltza Mountains and are constructed of brute strength and vicious tempers. One wrenches on my bruised shoulder, and I fall to my knees with a cry.

“Let him go!” she shouts at Herric. “We made it! Let him go!”

Herric laughs, and my chest caves with the disappointment of knowing I was right about him all along.

“Perhaps I changed my mind,” he says.

“We have a bargain!” Lor spits.

She lifts her arm, brandishing the silvery mark on her palm like a shield.

He shrugs and waves his fingers. There’s a flash of light, and I see the silver dissolve from her skin. She stares at her hand, open-mouthed, while I fight uselessly against my captors.

She turns to look at me, her chest heaving with anger. Her hair is wild, standing on end, and her eyes burn with the sum force of her rage.

I’m going to use my magic.

We need the ark first. We can’t leave here without it.

She drops her hands and stamps her foot, screaming out a sound of frustration.

“So this was all for nothing?” she shouts at Herric. “Why did you do this?”

“It wasn’t for nothing,” Herric replies. “I had fun.”

“You fucking asshole!” She cries so loud her voice cracks, her hands squeezed into fists.

He places a hand against his chest. “My dear. I’m the Lord of the Underworld. What were you expecting? I admit, I assumed you’d lose and make this easy, but you just had to go and be clever, didn’t you?”

She takes a slow step towards him, her fists still clenched. “You can’t make me destroy it.”

“Then he dies,” Herric says, gesturing to me.

“Then I won’t do it! You know that.”

He shrugs again. “I think . . . I’ll call you on that bluff.”

He licks the tip of his finger and holds it up as though he’s testing for the direction of the wind. “The odds feel like they’re blowing in my favor.”

Lor snarls, and I can feel her magic responding to mine. It rises to the surface, threatening to burst from her fingers.

Lor, stay calm. You can’t let him see your magic yet.

She rolls her neck and flexes her fingers, and I feel her power sink lower, simmering just under her skin instead of boiling over.

Good girl.

“Make him bleed,” Herric says, and a dagger is placed against my throat.

“I’ll destroy you!” Lor screams.

“How?” Herric gestures. “You’re in my domain without your magic. You are nothing unless I decide to free you.”