She pictured it, the two of them riding through the night, leaving everything behind. Away from the mages, the duty, the sacrifice. A hidden place in the world somewhere, a little house. Long, quiet years. Growing old together, peacefully…
Her throat closed up at the thought, so suddenly and viciously it hurt. The call in her mind increased to a roar, reminding her of her purpose. No, it would never be like that. But damn it all, she wanted a future –any future– with him so badly, so desperately that her entire being wanted to claw it into existence. To think it might all end tomorrow, before it had even truly begun… She wasn’t ready to die; she had only just started to live. She couldn’t bear it.
But… what if she didn’t have to? She abruptly raised herself on one elbow. Felix looked at her in confusion.
“Why would we wait? We can go right now.” Isolde’s heart was racing. The call from the Nexus became so loud her ears were ringing, as if the presence there knew what she intended.
Felix’s mouth fell open. “You… what? Are you serious? You want to leave?”
She laughed again. “No! I mean, go to the Nexus! Why would I wait for that mage to try to execute some dreadful plan at my expense? He’ll never expect it; he is much too confident in his superiority and my naivety. If we go right now, I’ll have all night to figure out what to do, how to undo this binding, and once it’s done, there won’t be anything he can do about it.”
“Rightnow?You know how long I have dreamed of being naked in an actual bed with you, woman?”
She swatted at him. “I’m serious, Felix.”
“So am I! This is extremely tragic.”
She made a show of rolling her eyes. “Come with me. We can end it all before it begins.”
He groaned. “Alright, alright. Not quite what I had in mind for the rest of the night, but fine.” He sat up and stretched. “You want to get the others?”
“I would, but I don’t want to risk being seen…” She bit her lip.
Felix grinned at her. “Just the two of us to handle some kind of all-powerful magical god-creature, then?”
She nodded, her heart racing, a vortex of magic building up inside her.
His grin widened. “Let’s do it.”
34
The last leytouched
Felix stood pressed into the crevice between carved stone pillars, his arm around Isolde’s waist, drawing her in close enough for both of them to be hidden from view. Two mercenaries sat beside a low-burning brazier ahead, talking in quiet voices. They were blocking the way up to the next tier of the structure, the way that led to the eerily glowing arch.
Both guards were armed and armoured, but looked sleepy. One kept rubbing his eyes; the other yawned in exaggerated fashion. Night watches had not been required until Isolde arrived at the Nexus, Felix guessed. These men were used to a decent night’s sleep. He could approach them from the side; it would be quiet enough.
“Wait here,” Felix murmured into Isolde’s ear as he unsheathed his dagger. “I’ll go deal with them.”
“What? No!” she hissed, grabbing onto his arm.
He smiled, touched by her concern. “I’ll be quick. Don’t worry about me.”
“I’m not worried aboutyou!”
“Oh? What then?” He tilted his head at her questioningly.
“They have done nothing to us,” she whispered. “What if they have families?”
“What if they’re evil bastards, Isa? Who cares? They’re in our way.”
“You can’t just kill people because they’rein your way!”
“Of course I can. Do you want to go up those stairs or not?”
She pressed her lips together and glared, then considered the unsuspecting guards up ahead. “Let me try one thing. If it doesn’t work, you can kill them, I suppose.”
Felix grinned. Then the power coiled around her, shifting the air, like something very large taking a deep breath. She made a subtle pushing motion with her hand, and a mighty gust of wind swept across the plaza. Small objects scattered, a stack of wooden crates fell over, and the brazier toppled and conveniently spilled hot coals all over a flapping piece of canvas.
