“Better this than to pretend I don’t have it at all.” He lifted his foot and brought it down. The earth rippled below Thrana’s feet.

And then he was there, in front of me, slashing with his sword. Thrana darted away, though not quick enough. His blade scored both my thigh and her side. She grunted but gave no other sign of her pain. We’d both heal quickly, but perhaps not quickly enough. Ragan was already striking at us again, not giving Thrana time to bite back.

We couldn’t hold him off for ever. And I needed to do more than hold him off. Even now, the serpent was crashing into the palace courtyard, reaching into corners to devour Urame’s citizens and the archers atop the walls. Its body curled around the walls. We were going to lose this battle. I was going to lose the Empire.

My heart clenched. Either way I’d lose it. If I revealed myself as Alanga, these people would reject me. If I didn’t do anything, these people would die. But I’d worked so hard for this position, for the ability to make a difference. I thought again of the bloody crane sitting at the corner of my desk. Of a little girl’s smile and a blacksmith’s strong, kind hands. Of the oath I’d asked Jovis to take – to be a servant of the citizens. Each person that was dying had families, people that cared about them.

It couldn’t be about me and what I’d worked for.

I let the thrumming loose. It filled my body, a vibration that shook my bones, made my flesh feel more alive. I gathered the water around me, forming it into ropes that I whipped at Ragan, striking at the sensitive skin of his face. I used more of it to form a wall of water between me and the monk.

The damned man laughed again as he ducked away from my attacks. I threw the wall of water at him. With a wave of his hand, he moved it to the side. It splashed over constructs and soldiers instead, left them sputtering. But in that brief moment, I’d felt his will brush against mine. Somehow I knew: my will was as strong as his.

I could fight him. I could do this.

I slid from Thrana’s back, tucking the engraving tool back into my sash. Power coursed through me, waiting to be used. I needed to move Ragan from my path quickly. I gathered the rain around me into two more waves as he advanced with his sword raised.