But I don’t need to know what to do. I let go, let my instincts take over, since so far they seem to have a better idea of how to keep me alive than I do.

Immediately, I feel more aware of everything around me. Magic rushes through me like a river, eroding away doubt and rational thought. It tingles beneath my skin, blazing through the raised fingers of the burns that cover my arms.

My hands cross in an x in front of my chest, then swoop apart.

A strong gust of wind weaves between my attacker’s feet as his sword pulls free from its sheath. He tumbles to the ground. I press my advantage, kicking the sword out of his hand and over the edge of the cliff.

Behind me, I hear the crack of Olani’s staff.

My attacker rises again and charges for me with his bare hands.

I don’t want to kill him. I can’t even bring myself to crush the lost spiders that find their way inside the Destiny.

Then again, I don’t want to get pummeled off the edge of the cliff, either.

I’m not as quick as Isolde. He gets a good hit in, square on my cheek, and I can’t stop myself from crying out as the bruising sensation bites all the way through my face. Somehow, I taste pain.

No, wait—that’s blood.

But the man isn’t expecting me to crumple instantly, which is what I do.

It only takes him a moment to recover from the surprise and raise his boot to stomp on me, but I’ve already rolled out of the way.

My jaw throbs with uncomfortable warmth.

Olani looks as calm as if she was enjoying a lively game of cards as she fights off two of our attackers at the same time. They’ve been forced to go strictly on the defensive, and it doesn’t look like they’ll last much longer.

“Seelie!”

Aris twists Isolde’s injured arm, and a feral shriek of pain rings out in the clear morning air. I’ve never heard that specific note of panic in my sister’s voice before.

Let’s see what this magic can really do.

It burns through me—literally, dancing through the mark on my outstretched left hand and bursting from my fingertips. Excitement leaps through my veins, a kind of sick thrill that I’ve never experienced before and don’t expect.

I don’t see it spark or catch. One moment, the man is pulling back to attack me, and the next, he’s on fire.

Fire, it turns out, makes an excellent distraction. I have to assume the man isn’t being paid anywhere near enough to burn to death, and as soon as the flames start spreading up his sleeve, he completely forgets me in his frantic scramble to put himself out.

I push past him, closer to the fighting. Just in time to see a streak of light miss my sister by less than an inch.

But she can’t dodge the spell and the enchanter at the same time. She cries out in pain as Aris kicks her in the stomach.