A familiar and warm feeling took over. For a brief moment, I could almost imagine that Fox was beside me, so overpowering was his presence. I pushed with all my might and tore Druj’s grip from my thoughts. I felt her stunned surprise as her presence faded from my mind, replaced by the warmth of my brother’s. The backlash was horrible. Druj flung herself away with a short scream, crumpling onto the ground.

The akvan reared up and screeched. No longer under anyone’s control, it thrashed across the shoreline, its head shaking in agony.

Kalen had already collapsed, gasping into the sand. Altaecia staggered forward. Her uninjured hand was tracing another symbol. The Wind rune appeared around Likh.

“I am sorry, my dear,” Altaecia said sadly. “But we do what needs to be done.” She raised her arm.

The blow never came. Her hand dropped uselessly to her side as she stared down at her chest, where my knife had run her through.

Blood bubbled from her mouth, and my mentor fell. Weeping, I removed the dagger from her body, sinking to my knees before her. She had been responsible for so many atrocities. She had poisoned me, doomed Likh, caused so much death… Still, I couldn’t stop crying.

Altaecia made a soft wheezing sound and turned her face toward me, an eternity of regret etched onto those well-loved features. “Oh, my dear,” she sighed, and died.

I wept, huge, wrenching sobs that shook me to the core, a sudden grief that I had not felt since Polaire’s death. Except Althy didn’t deserve my tears. She didn’t deserve anything.

And yet…

Likh continued to sleep, her face pale but still human. When Altaecia had died, the remaining tatters of the Blight rune surrounding her had died along with the older asha. Druj collapsed, unmoving, and I prayed she was dead.

I felt weak, drained of energy. It had taken everything I had to break free from her control, and even more to kill Altaecia.

“Tea.” Kalen crawled toward me.

“Y-you’re hurt,” I stammered.

“I’ll live. Likh and Khalad—”

“They’re breathing, at least.” But Likh’s heartsglass was palpitating wildly, silver blending into yellow and brown and red.

So complete was our focus that there was no sound but our beating hearts. Neither of us was aware of the akvan until it was upon us, when it was almost too late. The akvan’s deadly tusks sang through the air and I only had time to see its roughened mouth and teeth coming at us before everything became a blur.

Kalen was faster. He rolled over, placing himself between me and the akvan’s yellowed incisors.