Malice

find magic. Control it. My power is Vila. Strong enough to build Malterre. To create an entire race even the Etherians could not crush.
Cobbling together what little confidence I have, I focus on the writhing shadows, reaching my magic out to find theirs. It connects almost instantly. But instead of another cord or a beating heart, I feel a wall of black stone like those of this tower. Slimy and ancient and impenetrable. Protections, I realize, put in place to guard the enchantment.
But they will not stand against me.
With everything I have, I push against the walls of power. The shadows groan and creak, as if they are made of rusted iron. Kal winces, his body tightening. The enchantment gives way another inch beneath the pressure of my magic. Then another. My limbs begin to shake, sweat pouring down my neck and soaking the back of my dress. But I will not give in. I will sever these chains. The groaning intensifies, like nails against glass. The scent of ice and frosted stone that I know is the enchantment’s magic burns in my lungs. I’m getting closer. The protections are so thin now. Beneath them, I can feel the brittle heart of the enchantment thrumming. All I need do is—
The sound hits before the pain. It’s a whip-crack in the thick, misty air. I am thrown backward, my concentration broken. My back finds the opposite wall of the tower and my spine and skull connect with stone. My vision blares white. All I can think or see or feel is white. And then red. And then pain. Then nothing.
—
The moon is sinking when I finally come to. Callow nips at my elbows. Walks her taloned feet across my stomach, clucking like a worried hen. I’m crumpled in a shaft of chalky winter moonlight. My head is filled with molten lead. Embers smolder behind my eyelids. Every fiber of my body screams, like it’s been cut to pieces and hastily sewn back together. And not well. There’s a taste of ash and blood in my mouth. The lingering scent of charred wood. My tongue is sore. My teeth feel loose.
As soon as I am able, I drag myself out of the light and into Kal’s embrace. His mercifully cool fingers stroke my hair and knead the angry muscles of my neck and shoulders.
“I should not have let you do that,” he says over and over. “I am a selfish fool. You could have died.” His voice breaks. “It would have been my fault.”
I open my mouth to croak out a reply. But he pulls me closer.
“I want you to go, Alyce.” He lifts me up so that I’m eye level. “You have the gold. The means. The cleverness. The harbor is not far from here. Hire a boat and leave while you can.”
His reason is so tempting, especially now, when I’m spent and broken. But then a shadow slinks around Kal’s wrist, like a shackle. Like Narcisse’s shackle. A wind gusts in through the hole in the wall and billows my skirts. Somewhere, a rotting piece of this crumbling tower falls.
“You’ll die if I leave you here.”
He doesn’t argue. Just runs his knuckles down the side of my face, pain and regret warring behind his eyes. “You will die if you stay.”
“I’m not dead yet.” Ignoring the hundred hammers in my head, I drag myself to stand. “And I won’t let you die, either. Just a little longer. More training. That’s all I need.”
Until then I just have to hope the Briar King doesn’t issue another commission. And that I can keep the Fae lord’s ruthless, gilded gaze off my back.
Dragon’s teeth, this is a mess. I prod at a tender spot just above my ankle, discovering a developing bruise already the color and shape of an eggplant.
“Alyce,” Kal says, so quietly it’s almost lost beneath the cresting waves. “Just promise me one thing.”
“Anything.”
His shadows spread like wings behind his back. “Do not leave without saying goodbye.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
It takes a long time to trudge back through Briar after that. My power is almost completely wasted, resulting in a weak Shift that is quickly slipping out of my control. Streaks of charcoal smudge the horizon as I reach Lavender House.
But when I arrive at my Lair I find I am not alone.
“Alyce?”
Callow screeches and flaps her wings, her feathers rough against the side of my face. I wheel around, dropping my sack as panic slices through the last, threadbare strings of my Shift. A hooded figure emerges from the wall of garden hedges, eyes bright even in the dimness of the morning. Eyes I’d know anywhere.
“Aurora? What in Briar—”
She hurries closer, glancing about to check for others. “I came to see you, but your servant was out and your door was locked.”
“And so you waited all night?” How long had I been gone? Four hours? Six?
She shrugs, as if freezing to death in the bushes was the most natural thing in the world to do. “I wanted to make sure you were all right.”
“I’m not,” I grumble, unlocking the door and kicking the sack inside.
“Let me help you.” She’s dragging the damn thing in before I can stop her, grunting with the effort. “What do you have in here?”
But she gets her answer when part of the fabric snags on a nail in the doorway and splits. Several coins spill out. Aurora’s brows draw together. She wriggles open the strings and gapes. Even in this gloomy dawn, the contents gild her cheeks.
“Alyce,” she breathes. “Where did you get all this? And where were you going with it? This is enough to…to—” Her lips fall open. “Were you going to leave Briar? Leave me?”
Dragon’s fucking teeth. She may as well have skewered me and roasted my traitorous body over my own hearth. And I’m too much of a coward to answer, instead busying myself with transferring Callow to her perch. Anything to keep from looking at