“Snap out of what?” Tolek stomped on a glass bauble that had spilled through the broken window, tilting his head curiously at it. I’d seen him make that same motion so many fucking times, but this had malice at the edge. It curled through my stomach, making me sick.
Dax had cornered Barrett similarly in a different area of the square, getting him and Tolek away from each other. Rebelpaced circles around them, whining. The Engrossian general had to be suffering the same pain we were. The same fucking desperation to get them back and kill Thorn in exchange.
“You’re stronger than him, Tol,” I said. Both Cypherion and I held our weapons up reluctantly. Tolek had his sword angled at the floor, dragging through the shattered glass, one hand in his pocket as if we were casually talking. “Don’t let him do this to you.”
“I am not letting him do anything,” Tolek responded with a rough chuckle.
“You are,” Cypherion countered. “But this isn’t you. Don’t let heartlessness win. Don’t become the man your father wanted to make you.”
Backing Tolek further into the shadows of the mossy corner, I added, “Don’t let this fucking Angel control you and force that future on you. You’ve fought too damn hard to get out of that.”
“I am nothing,” Tolek spat, sneering.
“That’s not true!” I argued. “You’re our best friend. You’re one of the smartest people I know—one of the fucking bravest. You don’t let any challenge stop you, so why are you letting him now?”
Tolek had always been shadowed by his father’s cruel words and greedy intentions for their family, but he’d been strong enough to shine through. Now, as Thorn drove Tolek’s true self away and wielded his worst emotions, he was shoving him back into a place he’d clawed his way out of.
“He’s right,” Cypherion added. “You don’t live with cruelty, Tol. You’re the opposite. One of the warmest people we know. The one we go to when we need advice or a laugh.”
“You’re our brother!” Desperation cracked my fucking voice.
“That may be true, but I am useless unless I amthis. I am—” His words cut off, his head tilting again as he listened tosomething I couldn’t hear. His attention swiveled to the right, gaze lifting. “Her.”
I followed his sightline.
“That’s Ophelia,” I blurted out, hope inflating foolishly in my chest.
She stood atop a roof, scanning the battle below. There was something wrong with one of her wings, and a glowing sword made of light simmered in one hand, but her gaze was pure fire as she studied the city, then she whirled away from the ledge, toward whoever was up there with her.
“Ophelia,” Tolek repeated. And for a fucking second, it was his voice again.
But just as quickly, hostility overtook his expression, his brows pinching in and his normally smirking lips turning down. Tolek tossed his sword in the air, flipping it and tightening his grip.
Lifting the weapon as if he’d cut his way through his closest friends, he growled, “Iwant her.”
Before the horror of those twisted, spiteful words fully sank through my bones, Tolek lunged.
His sword cleaved the air between Cypherion and me. We dodged, raising our weapons to catch his next blows as he swiveled around us. His fighting was shockingly sloppy under Thorn’s control. Cypherion and I exchanged a glance, and ducking low, we charged. We each slammed into one of Tolek’s shoulders, pivoting to shove him back into the corner. His head snapped against the wall, and he hissed.
I wrestled his sword from his hand, tossing it aside. The metal clanged against the wooden crates full of empty liquor bottles as I slammed his wrist beside his head.
“You don’t want her,” Cypherion corrected. He pinched Tolek’s cheeks in one hand, forcing his attention toward him. Cyph’s knuckles were split open as if he’d thrown a number ofpunches tonight, but I knew from the iron grip he had on Tol that he was trying not to make our friend the recipient of the next one. “You don’t want her like that.”
“You love her,” I said.
Cypherion added, “You love her, and she loves you.”
“Almost disgustingly so,” I finished.
Tolek shook his head, kicking out. “I want her,” he swore, more viciously this time. His hair stood on end, his eyes wide and wild.
“I know you do,” I gave in. “You always fucking will, but later.”
Later, once we got out of this battle and fixed his mind. Then he could have her.
The ground shuddered, and I glanced over my shoulder as Vale slid off Dynaxtar’s back, but I kept my hold on Tolek.
“Malakai!” Vale called, and if I hadn’t been surprised enough that she was saying my name and not Cypherion’s, the frenzy wavering in her tone would have done it.
