Page 120 of Sharpest Court

And this time, he wouldn’t let me get away.

Raw desperation speared through my terror, solidifying the next flare of my specter. The power knocked against him—a single, heavy shove. But that wasn’t the reason he buckled, sending us both tumbling again.

The reason was Perla, who had kicked the back of his knee hard enough to send the king to the ground. Who now glared at him with all the withering hatred she’d forever concealed, her hair whipping around her dirt-stained face, making her appear like a wild, avenging goddess.

“You did this,” she growled, pushing herself up with her palms.

I fought to catch my breath as the world throbbed like an inflamed wound around me, raw heat beating the air in waves. Finbar was easing himself up, too, blood trickling from his ear. His wide, horrified gaze was trained on the beach below. Though I couldn’t see the sands from my position, I could taste the chaos in our surroundings.

Because the Aarai Cliff was collapsing in a fiery blaze, streaking the night sky with a terrifying light.

And yet nothing seemed as terrifying as the way Erik chuckled now, rising to his feet. His palms were scratched from the fall, and a little scrape marked his forehead. But as the only member of our group prepared for the explosion, he wasn’t in the same heavy-breathing distress as the rest of us. He appeared radiant, backlit by the glow of destruction.

“Ah, there she is.” He smirked down at Perla, adjusting his shirtsleeve. “I was wondering when the little viper would show her true face.”

Perla held his stare, chin lifted. Then her hand whipped toward Finbar’s belt, yanking his knife free. In one fluid motion, she launched to her feet and, roaring with anger, swiped the blade at the king of Daradon.

True shock widened Erik’s eyes a moment before he caught her wrist, yielding a single step backward. A red line slashed his shirt from where the blade had met his shoulder. But the wound couldn’t have been deep, because Erik quickly regained his balance.

“Careful, viper. Your time is running out.” He nodded to the oath band, shackling her wrist an inch above his grip. Fear flashed in her eyes, and his smile deepened. “Though I could save you a good deal of anticipation and spill your blood right now, if you’d like.” He twisted her arm until she released the blade, a cry breaking from her throat.

The sound hardened me.

For so long, I had seen the king of Daradon as power incarnate. Yet truly, he was no more than a brute of a man who would happily wring pain out of a young woman just to hear her scream.

My specter clenched inside me with the sensation of a tightening fist. Then, aiming for the place I’d stabbed him all those weeks ago—the tender spot at his back—I released it.

The power smacked against him, hard. I glimpsed his flash of surprise as he staggered, rocks grinding under his boots. I slipped another tendril under his heel before it met the ground.

And then the king tumbled off the edge of the cliff.

I didn’t wait to see if he landed in the water or in the foliage. If he’d cracked his skull against the rocks or had gotten up the moment after he’d fallen.

I was already pushing myself to my feet and grabbing Perla by the arm. With a quick check on the compass in my pocket, I said, “We need to get to Lye.”

Neither of us spared Finbar a second glance before we raced down the cliff, a hot wind whipping our hair. My thighs burned from the downhill scramble; my blouse clung to my damp skin; my cheek stung from where I must’ve scraped it on the rocks. Still, I barreled ahead, scrambling to understand Erik’s motives for this explosion.

He had believed he’d already possessed me and the compass, and he must have made a plan to obtain the Unbreakable Blade. He’d said it himself: He wanted for nothing. So why had he caused this destruction?

As we cut across the rocks, bypassing the commotion on the beach, I knew that question would have to wait, as would the stomach-tumbling question of whether he’d already retrieved the blade himself. Now only one purpose thrust me toward the cave where Lye would be waiting with the copied key to Perla’s oath band.

Because Erik was right. Perla was running out of time.

She darted ahead of me for the last stretch, her hair streaming as she rounded into the cave—

Then stopped dead.

I halted beside her, panting heavily. My heart sank.

“Are we in the right place?” Perla’s voice bordered on hysterical, and my chest squeezed at the sound. She’d planned on surfacing here once she’d completed the dive. She already knew this was the right place.

Yet Lye wasn’t here. The water remained still, its starlit surface showing no hint of him ever having arrived.

I couldn’t allow myself to unravel the harrowing truth of this moment. The truth that nothing but death or capture would have stopped him from coming.

Which meant something had gone very wrong.

Instead, I grabbed Perla’s wrist and tugged her toward the beach.