“You useless beast!” Cray’s bloodied hand pressed against the seeping wound on his forehead. Matted hair clung to the side of his face, wet and slick with blood. He positioned himself behind the wind shifter, allowing it to serve as a living barrier between him and his attackers. “Don’t just stand there, you fool. Protect your master!”

  “Daana,” Rali shouted over Cray’s frothing rage, “whatever you’re doing, keep at it!”

  It was the first positive thing Rali had said to her all day. Which was nice, but also rather conflicting considering Daana wasn’t doing anything at all. She and the wind shifter were caught in a standoff, sizing one another up and down, waiting for the other to make the first move. They both knew the moment the fae weaponized their magic against her would be the same moment Daana would bleed their power dry, as she’d done before.

  Wordlessly, the wind shifter’s silvery gaze locked eyes with her. Daana shivered. Her skin goose-pimpled as the fae’s power washed over her. Its potency filled her chest, squeezing the breath from her lungs. Panic set in. What in chaos was she doing? This wasn’t a mere witch, this was a fae. One of the most powerful beings in the world enslaved to the whim of a madman. She wasn’t equipped to take on a wind shifter!

  Quiet your thoughts, little spell-thief, and listen. We do not have much time.

  Daana’s eyes widened as an unfamiliar voice entangled within her thoughts. She turned her head, slowly, feeling as if every muscle in her neck was made of stone. Time stood still around her. The mist hung like a cloud of swirling cotton in the air. Cray stood frozen in place with his mouth open but unmoving. Rali’s form was only paces away from him. Her shortsword was drawn and there was a mask of grim determination etched across her dirtied face.

  Daana squinted harder, realizing they weren’t completely frozen. Both were moving at a miniscule pace, nearly imperceptible to the naked eye.

  The strange voice echoed within her head once more. Run.

  Daana’s gaze moved back to the wind shifter, taken aback. She was unable to speak. Her tongue was heavy and unmoving, like a bag of wet sand.

  He will order me to kill you, and I must obey. Only one of us will walk away.

  Daana saw something unexpected in the fae’s grim expression. Swallowing her words, she channeled her thoughts into a reply. You’re afraid of me.

  I see what you are, little spell thief. I feel what powers belong to you and what powers do not. You are not alone in that body. You carry an old magic that grows stronger with every spell you take. The fae’s silvery gaze stared back at her unblinkingly, pleading with Daana to see reason. You do not possess the strength to defeat me on your own. To fight would require embracing the darkness.

  Dread swelled within her, amplifying to the suffocating tightness. Daana had no reason to believe the fae and yet, deep down, she knew their words to be true. The darkness had awakened. Its ravenous hunger steadily gnawed away at her control.

  I fear not what you are, little spell-thief, but what you will become. Spare not just yourself, but the world. No good will come of this.

  The fae was giving her the chance to escape with her life. Hot tears trickled from Daana’s frozen eyes. No good will come if I walk away, either.

  Forget what you think you know! Today, there will be no winners. No victories. The fae’s singsong voice was shrill with panic. Hurry now! Cray’s witches draw near. They will not show you the same mercy.

  The fae’s spell was waning. Daana saw movement begin to pick up around her. The cloaking mist swirled and churned in sluggish circles slightly faster than before. They were almost out of time.

  It was a tempting offer, one made out of genuine concern, and not just mere desperation. Daana sensed the fae was being genuine. Even after suffering unspeakable atrocities at the hands of mortal-kind, it still did not want to see the world plunge into darkness. But that’s what would happen if Daana tucked her tail between her legs and ran. Cray would chase down Oralia and retrieve the powerstone. Everything else would fall soon after.

  Daana’s only hope was to stop him. Here. Now. Even if it cost her everything.

  Their minds were intertwined. The fae saw Daana’s reasoning and understood, finally, why she could not flee. Its expression saddened. The elf that walks away from this will no longer be you, child. The darkness will take control. You will live the rest of your years as a prisoner to the whims of another. That is not a fate I wish upon anyone.

  Then after I kill Cray, Daana said, blinking the tears from her eyes and as she steeled herself for the inevitable, make sure I don’t walk away either.

  Time unfroze.

  Rali barrelled forward in Cray’s direction with her sword drawn. The elf placed both hands against his bloodied forehead and willed a telepathic spell in her direction, causing Rali to miss her next step. The dwarf crumpled to the ground, screaming.

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  Cray’s manic stare swiveled around and settled on the motionless fae. “Useless mongrel!” he snarled. “Do the only thing you are good for! Attack! Kill them!”

  The wind shifter flinched away from its master.

  “What are you waiting—” The remainder of Cray’s sentence died on his quivering tongue the moment his gaze settled on Daana. With his focus caught between Rali and the wind shifter, he hadn’t given her much more than a passing glance. Confusion flooded his twisted expression as he struggled to place why she looked familiar to him.

  He arrived at the conclusion, eventually. Recognition glimmered within his gray eyes. “Daana, my dear, how good it is to see you alive and well.” The niceties bled from Cray’s tone when his attention returned to the wind shifter. “I see your conundrum now. You cannot use magic because you know this one will weaponize it against you.”

  The fae flinched again, expecting the worst.

  “Your solution is simple, then. Don’t use magic.” Cray sent them spilling forward with a brutal kick. “Tear her to pieces. That’s an order!”

  A blanket of blue-black smoke cloaked the fae’s movements as its broken body lifted from the ground. Magic rippled through the air. Behind the veil of dark smoke, the fae’s spiny shadow shifted into something larger, sleeker, and undoubtedly more deadly. A giant striped cat materialized from the gloom, armed with wicked claws and saber-toothed fangs. The tiger approached Daana with its head down, muscles rippling beneath a matted pelt of black and orange fur.

  Shit. Daana backed away, choking on her fear. Magic-stealing powers wouldn’t do her any good against claws and teeth. One swipe of its paw was all it would take to reduce her to a pile of bloody ribbons.

  The tiger charged. Its slinky body dipped low to the ground and then sprang, sailing high through the air in a black and orange blur of teeth and claws. The fae’s panicked voice erupted within Daana’s head. Now, little spell-thief!

  Daana ducked behind her shield and screamed the first thing that came to mind. “Stay back!”

  It wasn’t a spell, and yet, the surrounding magic responded all the same. Daana’s abilities reached into the aether and pulled, ripping magic from the approaching fae. Stolen power flooded her veins. Her fingertips crackled and popped, lighting her bones aflame. A spray of magic burst forth from her hands in a surge of blinding light. The spell knocked the tiger aside effortlessly. The black and orange beast flipped and tumbled across the road, splashing through puddles and mud, until its careening body slammed to a painful stop.

  Daana peered over the top of her shield, taken aback. She wanted to hurt Cray, not the wind shifter, but the fae was bound to protect its master. She had to drain one to get to the other. Everything about this was wrong. Particularly the part where it felt just the tiniest bit right. The insatiable hunger that had long lay dormant in Daana’s veins demanded more.

  The tiger rose unsteadily onto all fours and growled, urging her to do it again.

  Stolen magic rippled down Daana’s arms and pooled within her hands. Cold heat scorched her fingertips. Daana did not have to speak. All she had to do was think it and the power obeyed instinctively, without protest. Hands trembling, she lifted her sword and pointed it at the approaching beast. “I’m sorry.”

  Shimmering strands of incandescent light lifted from the shapeshifter’s form and poured into Daana. The darkness beneath her skin lapped up the influx of power as eagerly as a ravenous dog. Still, the brazen fae approached. It didn’t fight the pull, it gave willingly. Dropping the sword from her grip, Daana extended her fingers and drew in. Blazing blue light lit the air as the fae’s magic became her own. Daana clenched her fingers into a fist and flung her arm wide, sweeping the fae aside, clearing the path to Cray.

  Rali was still on the ground, clutching her head as tears streamed down her reddened face. Cray hovered nearby, just out of reach. He was bent over with his forefingers pressed against his temples, actively tearing Rali’s mind apart from the inside.

  Daana lifted her palm in Cray’s direction and pulled.

  This time, when the spine-tingling sting of unfamiliar magic filled her chest, she was ready for it. The icy chill spread from her fingers, up her arms, and down her spine. Unconsciously, Daana drew air deep into her lungs, allowing the magic to wash over her, before releasing her breath. The breath that seeped between her teeth was colder than the air around her.

  Cray’s eyes snapped open with a yelp. He looked at Rali, confused, and then to Daana. The confusion on his face turned to annoyance. “Since when were you ever this competent?”

  “It’s been so long since we’ve seen one another, Mister Cray.” Daana saw the tiger slinking towards her from the corner of her eye. She pretended not to notice. Her cold breath puffed billows of ice into the air. “I’m afraid I’ve changed some since my academy days.”

  “Yes, my dear. I can certainly see that.” Cray did his best not to openly stare at the tiger moving in from behind. He spoke with his hands, ensuring Daana’s attention was on him. “Speaking of which, would it be uncouth of me to point out that you’re glowing?”

  Daana glanced at her hands. The brown skin on her fingertips had taken on a most unusual hue. It wasn’t merely one color, but many. A swirling amalgamation of stolen magic from both Cray and the wind shifter. The change was already in full swing. It wouldn’t be long before all semblance of control slipped from her feeble hands. She had to make her sacrifice count.

  Eyes still locked on Cray, Daana advanced. Her feet moved beneath her, and yet she barely felt each step. Her body was no longer her own. She felt the darkness swallowing her. Soon, she would be nothing more than a passenger, forced to watch through the window of her eyes as the world burned.

  Cray’s eyes went wide with panic. “Daana, no! Please, we can—”

  Daana extended her hand in his direction. His power pulled at her fingertips, teasing her with its tantalizing allure. She didn’t snap it from her host's body as she’d done before. There wasn’t any need. Daana twitched her fingers and Cray’s power obeyed, condensing into a ball of light within his skull. She willed his magic smaller, tighter, until it grew molten hot.

  Rali’s panicked voice added to the swirl of screams, shouting something about reinforcements.

  Daana didn’t understand what Rali meant. But it didn’t matter. In a mere matter of seconds, Cray would be dead, and so would she. She balled her hand into a fist, fingernails digging deep into her palm, and willed Cray’s powers to burn brighter. And then the unthinkable happened. Beastly shapes sprang from the surrounding shadows onto her. Teeth and claws ripped at Daana’s flesh, forcing her to drop the spell.

  The last thing Daana saw was Cray’s haggard face, white with fear and fury, before the roiling shadows swallowed her whole.