The Croven had their own archers, Perry saw. Six men with bows trained on them. None of them more than thirty feet away. Would this be the way he died? It would be a fitting death. How many men had he just killed with his bow?

A heavily built man stepped forward. His mask wasn’t made of bone and skin but silver. It shone, reflecting the Aether as he lifted his head to the wind in a way Perry knew well.

“Lay down where you are, Blood Lord.”

His voice was loud and deep. A voice for ceremony. In any other situation, Perry might’ve appreciated that this man assumed him a Blood Lord. Now he only saw the sad truth in it. That he should hear himself addressed this way for the first and last time together.

“I will not,” Perry said.

Silver Mask kept silent for a long moment. Then he called one of the archers. “Strike him through the leg. Muscle only. Don’t pierce the arteries.”

Perry had come close to dying several times. But at those words, he knew this was his time. It wasn’t fear that struck him, but a crushing disappointment at all the things he hadn’t done. At all the things he knew he could do.

The archer raised his bow, his eyes steady, aiming through the Croven mask.

“No!” Aria stepped around Perry.

“Get back, Aria.” He said this, but when she took his hand, he accepted it. She moved to his side, somehow understanding that he needed her. Needed Roar there too. With the two of them, he could stand there and wait for an arrow to strike him down.

The archer hesitated, seeing their joined hands.

“Perry . . . ,” Roar said hoarsely, behind them. “Get down.”

The charge of the Aether burned in the back of Perry’s nose. It buzzed over his skin, grating and alive. A stir ran through the Croven. They lifted their masks, yelling in terror as they saw Cinder.

He strode through the Croven. Shirtless, his veins created glowing lines over his skin. He came forward, searching with his Aether blue eyes. The Croven darted out of his way with a sudden eruption from the bells.

“Cinder,” Perry said.

The boy’s eyes found him and held for a moment. Then he turned his back to Perry and raised his palms. Perry felt an updraft like the intake before a scream. He grabbed Aria by the waist and leaped over the stone outcropping, landing on Roar, as Cinder lit the night with liquid fire.

Searing flashes rolled past as the Aether let out its horrid shriek, drowning the Croven’s screams. Perry pressed his eyes closed against the burning streaks. He covered Roar and Aria as best he could, his fingers gripping the earth like they might be carried off.