re


    It happened in a matter of seconds.


    In one moment, Tatianna was smiling at re, and in the next, the ground rumbled and an overge bat dove right for them—right for Tatianna.


    “Tati!” re screamed. But before she could move to shield her love, Trystan was there, throwing himself between Tati and the beast’s ws. He let out a startled grunt as the beast wrapped him in its great talons and lifted him from the ground.


    “No! Oh gods, what is that!” Evie cried, rushing for the animal hovering just above them.


    re watched the enormous bat p around, Trystan gripped in its wed feet like a field mouse, yelling with an authority she’d seen him use on the interns.


    “Put me down at once. Or you will face the wrath of The Viin’s magic,” Trystan threatened, sounding far too formal even in his warnings. He’d used the same tone of voice when they were growing up and he found re rifling through his journals. It had been intimidating then. Now, it just seemedical to make threats while floating above the ground like a mouse caught by a hawk.


    “Trystan, your magic! The death kind? It would be splendid right now,” re said frantically, feeling a creeping of ice-cold fear slicing her as the creature squeezed Trystan tighter.


    Dark mist unfurled from his fingertips, and re froze, watching the magic her mother so feared spill out into the world, clearly visible to all their eyes for the first time. And she was struck by the startling realization that the idea of something was far more frightening than the real thing, for his magic didn’t look so menacing before them. In fact—


    It went nowhere near the bat. Instead, it flitted downward, wrapping around Evie’s ankles yfully.


    “No,” Evie whispered, gently trying to push the magic back up to Trystan. “Go help him!” The magic didn’t adhere to her order. It merely started bouncing as it danced around Evie, the scar on her back glowing against the dark-gray mist gliding over it, poking rainbow beams through it.


    “Trystan?” re asked carefully,pletely stupefied by the magic’s defiance and, further, its sentience. Like a child testing its boundaries.


    “I’m trying. It won’t listen!” he gritted out, angling his head toward Evie and ordering her, “Sage, get away from me now!”


    Evie flinched but hurried to the other side of the clearing. Tatianna, who’d been gripping re’s arm in a stress-induced panic, paused at the harsh order and blinked up at Trystan in astonishment. Even the bat paused, appearing almost…amused?


    re should’ve never left her cottage. Nothing good came from venturing away from the confines of one’s couch.


    Tatianna shook her head at Trystan, who, despite the circumstances, appeared oddly at ease in the bat’s ws. “Gods, Trystan, you and your horrific delivery.” She turned to re. “Didn’t he used to be better at this? The girls in our vige found him charming, didn’t they?”


    Kingsley held up two signs. Did they?


    Something about the calm way they spoke seemed to soften the bat’s ire—it stopped pping its wings as aggressively and hovered in the air, and re released a sigh of relief. At least Trystan wasn’t in imminent danger.


    re licked her lips, her thin shoes dampening as she shifted on the soft ground. Distraction—that was their ploy to rescue Trystan. “We took a poll about it that one summer. Some said he was quiet and mysterious, and others said they felt like he was probably hiding dead rabbits in our gardening shed.”


    “I beg your pardon. You took a fucking poll?” Trystan asked, outraged, thrashing in the creature’s ws.


    Tatianna tapped a manicured hand against her cheek, angling her head as she watched the animal that seemed far less threatening than it did seconds ago. Was the batughing now? “If it helps, I didn’t choose either. I wrote in a third option.”


    Evie looked delighted by this development, if not a little vindicated. re was beginning to like the young woman a great deal.


    “What was the write-in?” Evie asked eagerly.


    “I said he had a heart as soft as mush but every time he attempted to flirt he identally said something insulting.”


    Evie looked re’s brother up and down. “You flirt with me a great deal, then, sir.”


    Trystan gaped at her and made an inhuman sound.


    But amidst their calm conversation, the animal pped higher, squeezing Trystan tighter. “No!” re cried. “Stop, please!”


    But Evie was already before the animal, holding her hands up in a silent plea. “Stop.” The animal flew lower, swiping out a wing and knocking Evie aside.


    “Sage! Damn it. Don’te closer,” Trystan boomed.


    Evie crawled to her feet, brushing off her trousers, looking more disgruntled than hurt as she nted her hands on her hips. The death magic still swirled through parts of her hair, twining around her curls. “Excuse me!” The bat froze, angling itsrge head down at her. “I’m not leaving until you put him down. And you can pick me up in exchange if you want!” Evie folded her hands together in front of her, blinking up sincerely. “Please?”


    The bat flew just a touch lower, dropping Trystan without ceremony. re watched as her brothernded on the ground with a hard thud, only having the wind knocked out of him for a moment before he was scrambling to Evie, throwing her behind him before the bat could take hold.


    But the batnded peacefully, as big as a small house. Its furry brown head ducked low to reveal a sh of movement in the trees beyond the cove.


    Alexander held up a sign, panic in his golden eyes.


    Trap.


    And then they were ambushed.