Page 164 of Sharpest Court

My teeth gnashed as I hit the floor.

The door burst open and humid air gushed out of the room. Footsteps pounded toward me.

I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine.

I didn’t realize I was forming the words aloud until my sob cut them off.

I know how to break you, Erik had said. But he hadn’t needed to after all. Because at last, I could feel myself breaking. Coming apart with every gasp as the sheer force of my grief overcame me.

I couldn’t save Marge or Imogen. I couldn’t save Garret or my father.

So how had I ever expected to save the Wielders of my kingdom?

Knees joined the soaked tiles before me. Another, warmer towel swallowed my shoulders. But the face that blurred in my vision didn’t belong to Perla. It belonged to Keil.

Another wave of heartache racked me, the pain mingling with anger. Because I didn’t want him to see this rawest, most anguished part of me. To see all the guilt I’d been carrying for so long, finally crushing me under its weight.

“I’m fine,” I heaved out again, my specter flaring with the words. “I don’t need you!”

The power lashed off my back, glass bottles smashing to the tiles behind me.

I trembled, sobbing, waiting for him to walk away for good. To leave me to my blazing misery, because I’d hurt him far too many times and this time would be my last.

Instead, his palms curved gently around my damp cheeks. He didn’t force my gaze toward his; he just murmured, “Look at me.” And I did, my tears streaking the image of his face.

“You can let go, Alissa.” His words were soft but somehow solid, unwavering in their conviction. “For one hour, one day—for however long you need. You can put down your sword, and I will pick it up until you’re ready to fight again. And I know you’ll do the same for me. Because that is how this works.” His thumbs grazed my cheeks, brushing my tears as they fell. He didn’t need to clarify what this was. I already knew. Deep down, I’d known for some time. “I am not saying that you need me,” he continued, his gaze heavy on my own. “I am saying that you have me anyway.”

My tears fell for a different reason now, a different fear settling deep inside me. The fear of acknowledging that I was no longer on the precipice; I had already fallen. Of knowing that no matter how much I tried to push Keil away—to keep him beyond the range of destruction around me—he was already, somehow, mine.

“I’ve got you, Alissa.” He gathered me close, his voice rumbling against me. “I’ve got you.”

He spoke the words into my hair, punctuating them with the soft embrace of his specter. The ripples lapped over my shoulders, and my power reached out to meet his touch—our thrumming waves going fluid against one another until the rhythms slowed and synchronized.

We didn’t need to say the words aloud. They shimmered in the air between us like a spectral haze, unseeable to anyone but ourselves.

As my acute despair dulled into a quieter, more enduring pain, my mind settled enough to hold the mass of tonight’s events.

Remember what Hunters do.

Slowly, my initial doubt hardened into certainty. I finally understood what Mara had meant.

And I knew what had to be done.

47

The imperial palace had opened its doors, and chaos reigned inside: wounded refugees, courtiers dressed in black for last night’s abandoned memorial, staff trying to wrangle them all.

Even amid the heaviness of death, gossip hissed up to the vaulted ceilings, the word Hunter piercing through the hum. Many were only here to catch a glimpse of Mara before her execution tonight.

An execution I had to delay.

Because the pieces were coming together to create an image I could no longer deny. Mara’s shock when we’d first crossed paths; the multiple searches across both continents, despite the Hunters knowing where I was; the fact that I didn’t recognize the names of their leads.

Remember what Hunters do.

The Hunters of Daradon don’t set fires and almost get themselves killed in the process, I’d said to the others earlier, all of us huddled in the morning room to form a battle plan. They do one thing, and they do it well. They Hunt.

But now I finally realized: They had never been Hunting me.