“Jared,” she gasped. “The web. Nothing else matters but the web. Everything’s keyed to you.”

“Hush, Lia.”

Her hand flailed. Her fingers found his hair. Curled. Tightened. Yanked hard.

Jared grunted in surprise.

“Hold the web,” Lia said in a voice that had an eerie quality to it.

Jared lowered his forehead until it touched hers. It didn’t matter now. It was too late now. He wouldn’t tell her that. But now, when they only had a few moments left, he would tell her something else.

“I love you, Lia,” he whispered. “I’ll always love you.”

“Remember to say it when it counts,” she replied tartly.

Stung by her tone of voice, Jared raised his head.

And watched gray eyes change to frosty green, watched the illusion of Lia’s face disappear.

He felt something gathering, gathering. Heard a roaring.

“Mother Night,” he whispered.

The link between Garth and Brock had worked so well because Garth’s Birthright Jewel was the same as Brock’s Jewel of rank.

Like Lia’s and Thera’s.

Now he understood the tartness in Lia’s psychic scent when he’d kissed her, why she and Thera had stayed so close to each other, why Lia had tried to avoid physical contact as much as possible.

Thera had linked their psychic scents together to hide the fact that Lia . . .

The roaring grew louder.

Power gathered, gathered, gathered beneath the Red.

Everything keyed to him. Keyed to his blood.

He looked at Krelis and knew the Master of the Guard heard the roaring, too. Felt the power gathering.

He looked at Thera.

She bared her teeth in a smile that was pure malice. “Checkmate.”

“Mother Night!” Jared whimpered. He threw himself on top of Thera, pressed his face against her neck, and closed his eyes.

The inner part of the web was still a strong red color, but the outer threads had faded, the power had retreated.

How much time? Jared wondered as he began sending the Red back into the web. He’d forgotten Lia’s warning about ignoring what he thought was happening and letting himself get drawn into the trap she and Thera had laid for the Hayllians, letting himself get distracted from his task.

Steady. Steady. If he flooded the web with power, he might shatter the minds it was meant to protect. But if he wasn’t in time, his carelessness would cost them the strongest.

The roaring got louder.

Almost had them all. Almost.

Louder.

Steady. Steady. There! He had Randolf. Blaed. Talon!

Unleashed in one wild, raw, uncontrolled blast, Lia’s Gray strength hit his inner barriers hard enough to make him scream before it flowed around him and the psychic web keyed to him.

He heard men scream.

He heard sharp cracks, like tree limbs snapping.

He heard squelchy sounds, like overripe melons being dropped on a hard floor.