Page 82 of The Blood Rites

I draw Mana from the depths of my being and let it rise. Every nerve ignites as light floods through me, until I feel too full to contain it.

At the edge of my vision, I see Kael running towards me.

Not away.

Towards me.

I raise my palm and summon a wall of light in his path. He meets it and stops. He slams both fists against it, determined to break through.

“Stop this Luceris!” he roars. “You cannot save everyone.”

I turn to him. My pleading eyes meet his in a mirror of pain, each of us begging the other to bend.

“Do you trust me?” I ask, voice calm.

He hesitates.

“I shouldn’t... but yes.”

“Then I’m going to need both my hands,” I say.

I lower the wall, and Kael pauses. For a moment, I think he might grab me by the wrist and drag me away. Instead, he marches to my side and squeezes my hand once, tightly, before turning to face Atheron on the ridge.

Nyxen and Vaelis are both up there now, fighting.

“Whatever happens, protect Marissa. She is just a child.”

“What do you mean?” Kael asks.

“Exactly what I said—”

I raise both hands.

The wave is already upon us, roiling and undulating as it bears down on its quarry.

The number on the Mother Shard remains at two.

Alaris and Fen must have escaped to safety—and Rask too, somehow.

I flare my shield, pulling on every fibre of Mana I have, and build a wall of golden light, a curtain of protection, wide at the base and narrowing as it arcs over our heads. It has to be enough.

The wave descends with living fury, silver-blue swallowing the world.

Gold and blue consume the sky as the weight of the trial barrels down on me.

I brace with everything I have left.

At first it holds. The golden barrier vibrates, flickering, threatening to tear under the relentless hammering of the water. The noise is an unbearable howl that rends my skull and rattles my teeth.

My jaw aches from clenching, my arms shake with the effort of maintaining the shield, and every muscle in my body feels ready to snap.

Kael’s voice is right in my ear. "Look at me."

His hand finds the back of my neck. "Hold."

“Help me!” I shriek, the words spilling out of me.

He does, and I feel it—the cold coil of his Mana unfurling. Kael weaves his shadows into the light, trying to form a second skin, but the water eats it, swallowing the darkness like it is nothing.