Runebinder (The Runebinder Chronicles #1)(50)

He readjusted the quilt and began to turn from the window when something shifted in the corner of his vision.

A shadow darted between the trees.

Tenn opened to Earth. Blood thundered in his ears as he searched...and found it. He’d hoped it was an animal—maybe a deer or a raccoon.

It wasn’t.

It was humanoid. Broken and bent.

“Kravens!” he yelled.

Jarrett woke in an instant. Tenn leaped over to the bed and threw on his clothes. Jarrett was right behind him.

Tenn wanted to scream as they thundered through the house, rousing the twins and trying to get their hazy brains into action. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not like this. Not this soon. He just wanted one night with Jarrett. One goddamned night of calm and warmth before the blood had to fall again. Tenn grabbed his staff from the hall and raced up the stairs to the roof. Blood pounded in his ears. He wanted to scream. He wanted to make the Howls pay for ruining the last few hours of perfection. Outside, the screams of the Dark Lady’s horde pierced the pastoral night.

“How many?” Dreya asked.

They stood on a rooftop balcony, one of those stargazing platforms no one ever really used. The frozen air made their breath come out in tiny clouds. All four of them were open to their Spheres. Tenn knew perfectly well that she could sense that they were surrounded. She was just trying to make conversation while they waited for the enemy to attack. The fact that the beasts were just out there biding their time made Tenn’s hair stand on end. The Howls were waiting, moonlight making their gray, twisted bodies even more ghastly. Howls didn’t wait. Not unless they were under strict order.

“Hundreds,” Jarrett said. “We’re surrounded.”

Tenn’s dream filtered into his thoughts, a terrible déjà vu. “It’s almost like you want to be found...” Matthias’s warning chilled its way up Tenn’s already frozen spine, sending a new wave of shivers across his skin.

He’ll never give up, Tenn thought. He looked to his companions. He’ll never give up, and you’ll all suffer for it.

“Why aren’t they attacking?” Jarrett asked.

“Because it’s not an attack,” Tenn said. “It’s a safeguard.”

The Howls stared up at the rooftop like grotesque marble statues. He could smell the rot of their flesh even from here.

“He doesn’t want us to flee,” Tenn continued. The others didn’t ask who he was talking about. They knew. “He’s coming back for me.”

As if to accentuate the point, the kravens below them began to part. Someone else moved out there, a darker shadow in the silvered landscape coming steadily toward them.

“And so we meet again,” Matthias called. It echoed through the air, amplified by magic. Tenn could see the Spheres burning in Matthias’s body, glowing brighter the closer he got. Other flickers of power manifested around them. Each one sent another wave of dread through him. The Spheres of the encroaching necromancers burned like gas lamps in the shadows. Dozens of them.

“As you can see,” Matthias said, “we have you completely surrounded. There will be no easy escape like last time.”

His feet crunched up the snowy drive, until he was only a few yards away from the SUV.

“Stop right there,” Jarrett said. He pushed a bit of power through the air and a gust of snow kicked up around Matthias, sending him back a few steps. Matthias chuckled. The laugh was colder than ice.

“You have guts,” the man said. Tenn could see him clearly now: just as dapper as ever. Just as deadly. “And soon, my minions will feast on them.”

“What do you want?” Jarrett asked, clearly trying to bide time and figure out an escape.

“I think you know what I want,” Matthias said. “Hand over the boy and I’ll make sure they kill you quickly. You defied me when I was prepared to let you live. I do not like being defied. This is my final mercy.”

“Fuck your mercy,” Jarrett hissed. “You aren’t getting him.”

Tenn put a hand on Jarrett’s shoulder. His stomach was twisting double time. “Jarrett, don’t. I’m going. This ends tonight.”

Jarrett turned his fury on him and pushed off his hand. Air burned in his throat, and Tenn knew the guy he fell for was gone for the moment, replaced by a machine of cold calculation and ferocity.

“Like hell you will. I’m not letting you go. Not without a fight.”

“If you two are done with your lovers’ quarrel,” Matthias said, “I believe Tenn and I have some unfinished business.”

Resolve settled itself into Tenn’s bones. If he went down there, maybe the others could escape. Maybe he could distract Matthias long enough to leave that window open. He looked at Jarrett and felt tears burn in the back of his eyes. He wouldn’t let Jarrett die for him. Not today.

Jarrett took his hand.

“We fight together,” Jarrett whispered. He wasn’t looking at Tenn. He was looking at the twins.

“I wouldn’t recommend—” Matthias began, but the scream of a storm cut him short.

The world erupted in white.

Power swirled from the twins, snow raging in an instantaneous blizzard, the moon blacked out in a breath.

“We have to get out of here,” Jarrett yelled through the roar of snow. The house stood in the eye of the storm, the sky above them clear of clouds. It was only a matter of seconds before the necromancers would launch a counterattack, before Matthias regained his bearings and brought hell raining down on them.