With Julius so distracted, it was her time to strike. Thankfully, Tharin was still unconscious and out of the equation.

She whispered to herself, ‘Levitas.’

The grimoire lifted into the air, and it was back in her hands once more. Her magic was the colour of the night; tiny flecks of gold lived within the mist. She assumed the change in her powers was likely because of her Blood Magic.

Julius growled, and Bethan raised her arm again; she listened for Julius’s blood travelling through his body until she could hear his beating heart.

‘Don’t even try,’ Julius murmured.

But Bethan didn’t listen. She decided to try something different; the sound of his blood changed from swirling to bubbling. Julius made a gargling noise, and Bethan dared to smile in triumph.

That was the power missing from her entire life. Why it had stayed dormant for so long baffled her to no end, but nevertheless, she was powerful, and that was all that mattered.

Sunni entered the fray and whispered an enchantment that made the floor shake beneath; she fell to the ground. She dropped the grimoire when she caught herself. She got back up, ready to strike again, when she heard—

Kellan groaned, and she turned to find him, but Elnora blocked her view.

Elnora.

Her friend.

Her friend, who stood in front of her hand, wrapped around a vile filled with a familiar-looking liquid.

Her stomach twisted. And tears lined her eyes; she shook her head.

‘Don’t do this to me,’ Bethan pleaded.

Julius pulled her hair, and Elnora grabbed her chin and opened her mouth. She was forced to look up at the blinding, dangling lights. The potion sank down her throat and filled her mouth to the point where she would choke if she didn’t swallow.

It wasn’t like the other potion.

It tasted bitter and metallic. Not the sweet taste she was used to.

She cried.

It wasn’t going to make her forget. It was going to kill her.

‘It will be okay,’ Elnora whispered to her.

But Bethan felt drowsy already.

Dozens of footsteps droned in her ears.

Julius was yelling behind her. Yelling orders. And a group of around ten Stratos guards in their battle armour so rarely seen poured into the room.

‘The fae,’ Julius barked. ‘Look what he’s done.’

‘No,’ Bethan said.

She thought she yelled it, but her throat was so sore it came out as a whisper on the wind. No one heard her.

‘Look at that dagger. It’s Aegean steel, the same one that killed Lenovik.’

Julius is a good actor.

The way he took control while looking saddened. ‘Our High Councillor, he’s dead.’

The guards seized Kellan immediately and dragged him. Bethan saw him wince from the pain. She wanted to run to him. Everything was happening all at once, and when she moved, it felt so much slower than real-time. She stepped forward but lost balance.