“Everyone, get back!” Aeris commanded.
We had barely taken a step when the crack widened with a sickening groan. The floorboards splintered and gave way, revealing a yawning chasm of impenetrable darkness below. Quill teetered on the edge for only a heartbeat.
Then she fell.
My scream caught in my throat as I lunged forward, knowing I was too far away, too slow to reach her in time. But Archer’sarm shot out, slamming across my stomach to stop me while at the same time he threw his power forward. The world slowed, then stopped entirely. He’d frozen time. Again. Without missing a beat, he’d acted. His loyalty knew no damn bounds, but Quill hung suspended in mid-air, her curls frozen in a wild halo around her terrified face.
She looked at me. Those fucking baby blues melting my entire soul as she screamed with an intensity that chilled me to my core. Her fear was my fear. Her terror scraped down the walls of my mind, shutting out everything that should have existed beyond her, Archer, and me.
“We don’t get a hundred years. I can die,” she screamed. “I can die now. Please. Please don’t let me die.”
“You won’t!” I promised.
I couldn’t breathe through the panic clawing at my chest. My legs nearly gave out, and I sagged against Archer’s arm, still braced across my stomach like an iron bar. The Remnants surged around my feet, feeding off my fear, but for once their whispers were drowned out by the thundering of my own heartbeat and the echoes of Quill’s scream bouncing through my skull.
Time, though frozen, stretched like molasses, each second an eternity of agony as I watched her suspended there, my whole world. The sunlight streaming through the door caught her tears, turning them to diamonds against her cheeks, and all I could think was how many times I’d wiped those tears away, how many times I’d promised to keep her safe. Now here she was, about to be swallowed by darkness, and I was useless, utterly fucking useless to stop it. I couldn’t lose her. Not Quill. The mere thought of a world without her in it sent waves of nausea rolling through my stomach, made the edges of my vision go dark. I would tear this house apart with my bare hands, would rip openthe fabric of reality, would challenge every god that had ever existed before I let that pit take her from me.
I whipped my head to Archer with sweat already forming on his brow by holding time. He had no fucking clue what he was doing. Not with this much magic. But I could see the fear there too. The turn of his brows and the shock on his face. I turned to Aeris, desperate for help before Archer had to let go and Quill fell to her death, but he’d struck so hard and fast, his power so vast in this moment, even Aeris had been frozen in time. Everyone had.
Quill’s terror was so palpable it vibrated through the air. Her magic, fueled by primal fear, pulsed outward in waves of raw emotion. It raked through me, stealing my breath and clouding my thoughts with a fog of panic. I could feel her desperation, her certainty that death awaited in the endless darkness below. It consumed me.
Archer’s face was contorted with strain as he fought to maintain his hold on time. His arms trembled, muscles cording beneath his skin. “Paesha,” he gasped. “I can’t… hold it… much longer. Use your magic!” Archer pleaded, his words coming in pained gasps. “The Alastor shadow things. Use those.”
The Remnants circled my arms, eager for release, hungry for destruction. I couldn’t trust them. Couldn’t risk unleashing that chaos, not with Quill so vulnerable and no fucking control.
My skin had gone numb, my nerves rattling so violently beneath the surface, I could hardly think beyond them. I loved that little girl. I’d fought everything, defied everything, to crawl back to her, and I’d lose her in the next minute. “I can’t control them,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “They’ll make it worse.”
“What the hell could possibly be worse than her falling?” Archer yelled over Quill’s screams.
He was right. Nothing else mattered. Not the risk, not the consequences. Only Quill. With a silent prayer to whateverbenevolent forces might be listening, I reached deep within myself, and I fucking let go.
15
Paesha
The Remnants exploded outward in a torrent of shadows and smoke. They twisted and coiled through the air, feeding on Quill’s terror, growing stronger with each passing second. The darkness spread like ink through water, smothering the walls and floor.
I tried to direct them toward Quill, to use them to lift her to safety. But they had a will of their own, fueled by my deepest fears and darkest impulses. Instead of rescuing Quill, they began to tear into the house. Thorne’s house. The place I’d fallen for him. This power was born of only revenge and fury. Nothing else. Built of memories. Uncontrollable. Untamed.
Wallpaper peeled away in long, ragged strips. The floor down the hall buckled and splintered, the wood groaning in protest. The chandelier above shattered, crystals and shards of glass hung suspended in the frozen air.
Archer fell to a knee. I turned to Aeris, hoping she’d break free of his hold on time, but she hadn’t moved. Hadn’t even blinked. And still Quill hung over a mysterious cavern in Thorne’s house, caught in time that was clearly slipping away from Archer’s control.
This is your chance. Our moment of true power.
Let them fall.
Let them hurt.
They all deserve it. Quill will betray you too, in time. They always do.
You’re alone. You’ve always been alone.
Run. Leave them all behind.
The Remnants tore through the house because I had no control over them. They moved, fueled by the monster I’d become. Is this what Alastor felt? This raw, unbridled power coursing through his veins? He’d commanded them so effortlessly when I could barely keep mine from destroying everything in their path.
“Please,” I yelled, trying to command them. I pulled and shoved and threw my will through my mind, desperate. And failing.
