“No!” I wrapped my Bane around Hedy and sent her sprinting to the king. Hedy screamed, a wild contrast to the determined sprint of her body. Mattias opened his mouth, but I sent Hedy into a dive, hand outstretched. She clamped her hand over the king’s mouth. Shock slapped his face. When she released him, he gaped like a beached trout. Silenced by her Bane.

He drew his sword in a flash of fury and sliced it across her chest. She fell to the ground with a ragged gasp and curled into a ball.

“No!” Sven and I cried at the same time.

The woodsfolk converged on Sven and Kees, lifting their swords as one.

King Mattias raised his own sword above Hedy. “Stop!” I sent my Bane to Mattias but found it wouldn’t obey. It wouldn’t stop his arm from descending. He was my king.

“Kees!” Sven hollered.

Kees slapped his hands together above his head in a single deafening clap. Every sword, dagger, and arrow vanished from the hand of its wielder. Hands still moved to strike, the people not yet aware of their weaponless state.

That was Kees’s Talent.

Sven barreled through the masses to get to Hedy. He yanked her to her feet. “Get up!”

She clutched a hand over her chest where blood bloomed, but it didn’t seem deep enough to cripple her. Kees slung her free arm over his shoulder.

The woodsfolk recovered from their shock, but they didn’t need weapons to complete Mattias’s command. Purple mist oozed from their skin as Bane after Bane came into play. Someone struck Kees in the chest, leaving behind a scorched fist imprint. Tiny flames stuck to Kees’s clothes and he hurried to stamp them out.

Another militair picked up a stick, cracked it in half over his knee, and then lifted two shining blades—transformed in his very hands. He went after Sven.

Sven wore his rebellion like an armor that no weapon could penetrate. He punched and rolled and kicked his own woodsfolk in the face if it meant interrupting the use of their Bane. This . . . this was his finale.

Sven whirled and grabbed me by the back of the coat. He hauled me toward the exit. “Give me your wish. Now!”

I gave him my Bane instead. Threw his hands off me. Sent him to the ground in a fetal position. Finally I was the one in a position of power. “Never. Touch. Me. Again.”

The desire to crush him rose within me. To break every bone until each was turned to dust. I could do it with a single mental command. He’d cost me Bastiaan. My freedom. My very Talent.

He’d deserve it.

But so would I. The thought came unbidden. Unwelcome. True. I’d taken lives. Created countless wishes for Oma to sell to greedy merchants. I’d used Sven for my own gain.