Death Marked (Death Sworn #2)(75)

Karyn was smiling—or rather, hinting at a smile, as if the two of them were sharing a private joke—but the rest of her face made cold dread swirl in Ileni’s stomach. “Call him.”

“What?”

Karyn lifted both arms above her head and brought them down. Dizziness ran through Ileni’s body, followed by a swift wave of nausea. She didn’t need to reach for the lodestones to know her magic was gone. She didn’t need to, and she didn’t, though it cost every ounce of willpower in her. She focused on Karyn’s face, on the sorceress’s glittering, predatory eyes.

“You won’t get the magic back,” Karyn said. “I’ll never give it back, not unless you prove you’re on our side. Call him.”

“You think he’ll come? Like a dog at my call?” Ileni tried to laugh, but what emerged was a sob. “Don’t underestimate him.”

Karyn’s whole face was as sharp as her fierce, triumphant smile. “If he thinks you’re in danger, he’ll come.”

“No.” As if this refusal would change the fact that she had already betrayed him. Ileni swallowed hard, past the solid block in her throat. “I’ve given you what you need to win this battle. I won’t lure him to his death.”

“Because you love him?” Karyn sneered.

Evin jerked, and despite herself, Ileni glanced at him. Then quickly away.

“I won’t do it,” she said. And she was talking to Evin, as much as to Karyn, when she added, “I’m sorry.”

Karyn laughed.

“No need to be,” she said. “Your answer, while disappointing, is not entirely unexpected. He’s already been told you need saving.”

Understanding rushed over Ileni.

“You know.” She stepped back. “You know Lis is sending messages to the assassins.”

Karyn stroked a finger against her cheek. “Of course I know. She honestly thought she was fooling me.” Her lip curled. “Lis always was a stupid girl.”

Which was how Karyn had known Sorin was the new master. Because she could tell Lis’s messages were going to someone new, even if Lis herself wasn’t skilled enough to realize it. But if Karyn knew, why hadn’t she stopped Lis . . .

Ileni took another step back. Karyn hadn’t stopped Lis because she could use her. To send false messages that Sorin would believe.

I know what Karyn has planned for you, Lis had taunted her.

You’re in danger now, Sorin had said, more than before. Open the portal farther, and I’ll come through to you.

“You told Lis I was here, back when you first brought me, because you wanted Sorin to know.” Ileni forced herself to stop moving. There was nowhere to run, not anymore. “And you told Lis I was in danger. That you planned to torture and kill me. So she would pass it along.”

Karyn laughed. “Oh, yes. Right after talking to you, she flew away from the Academy so she could communicate with your lover. I’d imagine he’s ready to play the hero.”

Ileni didn’t doubt it. She didn’t doubt it even before the air around them wavered, the ripple of power making her whole body vibrate.

“No,” Ileni said. Above the spire, the sky was solid and heavy. She screamed, “Sorin, don’t!”

But he was already there.

He stood atop the Judgment Spire like a bird poised for flight, a powerful and graceful creature, slim and taut against the fierce blue sky. He kicked the wooden dog over the side, and it fell, tumbling through the air and banging against the side of the spire.

Ileni met his gaze across the vastness of the space between them. His eyes were black and fathomless. And there she stood, on a windy plateau, alone with two imperial sorcerers.

Only two. Because Karyn hadn’t dared wait long enough to summon the others. She needed Sorin to think it was Ileni, on her own, opening the portal.

So he wouldn’t suspect there was a trap waiting for him.

Ileni began to laugh, high and wild. Both sorcerers stared at her, but she didn’t care. For a moment, she didn’t even care which side she was on.

Karyn had made a fatal mistake.

Ileni felt the sorceress’s trap being sprung, a surge of magic that twisted and zigzagged across the vast space between the plateau and the spire, headed for Sorin. She didn’t bother to shout a warning. She just watched.

There was nothing to watch, not until the last second. The spell was invisible.

So was the shield Sorin had prepared.

It was all silent menace and still blue sky, and Sorin, motionless, a dark shadow with white-blond hair. Silent as a picture, until the spell hit the shield and the world erupted.

Light flared between them, all around them, so bright Ileni threw her hands over her eyes. When she peeked between her fingers, there was nothing but the light, blazing white, covering Karyn and Sorin and the space between them. Ileni sensed the two sources of light pushing at each other, one trying to overpower the other, but there was no visual sign of a fight. Just the light, vast and burning.

Then it exploded, so bright it wasn’t even a color, and Karyn screamed.

Ileni didn’t turn, not until a thud—and Evin’s horrified gasp—jerked her attention from Sorin. Karyn lay crumpled on the ground, eyes closed, unmoving. She wasn’t dead, but it would take her a while to recover from the backlash.

Ileni wondered how long it would take Karyn to understand her error, in assuming Sorin wouldn’t be prepared for a trap sprung by Ileni.