Page 59 of The Prince's Fealty

Ada swallowed thickly. Because he’d been planning this for years, hadn’t he? He really did intend to kill his own granddaughter and daughter, all in the right order, in the hopes that the Fealty would fall to him.

Twenty-five years of peace, and apparently, nothing had changed.

“Where’s my brother?” she demanded.

“Torex is dead.” His supreme satisfaction made her want to hit him—or run him through with a sword. For Tor, for Nostex’s wife, for Fernila. For all of them.

He actually laughed when she manifested her avatar. Before her magic could attack him, his own avatar appeared, its sword catching that of Ada’s avatar and pushing it back.

Ada gritted her teeth as they began to fight, trying to ignore the flare of pain that danced through her body. It was immediately apparent that she was outclassed. She was rusty. The last time she’d manifested her avatar to fight rather than amuse Hena and Par was years ago. And she was Extraordinary, not a ruler who possessed the Fealty of an entire realm the way Nostex did.

He didn’t even have the grace to look hard-pressed, his avatar smashing into hers as he said, sounding mildly annoyed, “Yomil proved not to be as useful as I’d hoped, but he at least managed to get that right.”

Tor had saved Cala, Ada supposed, and they knew the truth that he wasn’t involved—as if anyone would have thought he’d killed his own niece!

Glaring at Nostex, she demanded, “Where’s Var?”

“He’s been… detained.” Nostex still sounded smug, and Ada wanted to knock the expression off his face. “Once his shields give out, he’ll drown.” He smiled, a brutal, frightening thing. “So I have a few things to take care of first.”

And then he proved that he’d just been playing with her before, the blows from his avatar coming swift and brutal, reverberating in her core. As she pushed more magic into the avatar, the pain from her bond flared brighter. Eventually, she simply couldn’t maintain the magic, and her avatar dissipated into nothing, a little magic returning to her, too much of it destroyed.

It wasn’t until Nostex started in on the shield protecting her that Ada fully recognized the terrible situation they were in. He was using them to further drain Var. She couldn’t feel the impact of the blows, not the way she would if the shield were hers, but she’d just experienced the force that he was capable of.

Her brother should have the most magic out of anyone, since he had the Fealty of the entirety of the United Realms, but Ada didn’t know exactly how that was quantified. And she knew deep in her bones that while Var loved them all and desperately wanted to protect them, he wouldn’t want to drain other people to do it, not like Nostex.

Besides, Fernila’s father was right here, and maintaining magic from a distance was much harder, something that most Extraordinary didn’t even attempt.

Whose magic would last longer?

Ada drew a few deep breaths and then in the instant between one barrage and the next, she erected her own shield over Var’s.

The next blow that fell hit her shield squarely, echoing deep inside her, shivering up her spine. It had been a long time since she’d trained with her brothers, and no attack had ever been like this.

She clenched her hands into fists and braced herself, like that would really help—and that was when she caught sight of Thurnil just standing there by the food table.

He was Illustrious and was no match for Nostex when it came to magic, but surely he could be doing something, like run for help as he’d done when she’d been attacked.

She frowned. When she’d been attacked by the guard with the knife, he’d seemed so worried, uncharacteristically so. But now he’d learned that she was on the list of people Nostex was going to kill, and he seemed… indifferent.

Nostex saw where her gaze went, and he actually let his attack fall for a moment as he smiled at her. It had a trace of the old humor in it, and that somehow made it even worse than the totally empty smiles.

He looked like he could keep up the barrage forever, and she was trying to hide how hard she was breathing. Her hands were clenched into fists as much to hide the trembling as because she was angry. Fear was subsuming all the anger, even as she tried to cling to the latter.

“I’m afraid you’ll have no luck there, Princess. Thurnil agreed to bring you to me for a very specific reason.”

Ada sucked in a breath, turning her gaze to her husband… who’d uncharacteristically volunteered to help her. He’d tried to keep her safe… only when things weren’t going according to plan?

Thurnil was glaring at her, a much more recognizable expression now. And then he turned to Nostex, his expression turning more petulant.

“You promised that you could sever the bond without it killing me.”

Ah. Of course. Of course he’d been lured in with a promise of safely breaking the bond. Of course he’d made an agreement with this traitor rather than just telling her and Var that he wanted to be released.

“You fool,” Ada gritted out. “No one can guarantee that, not even the High King.”

Var could probably do it. Ithopefullywouldn’t kill them. But picking apart a magical bond could have disastrous consequences, and everyone knew it.

Except, apparently, her traitorous husband, who’d so uncharacteristically agreed to escort her here… and then made sure that none of the guards King Stronex had insisted she bring were anywhere nearby.