If there was ever a time in her life where Everna felt well and truly outmatched, it was then.

The grip on her wrist was like iron, firm and biting and threatening to shatter the delicate bones buried not all that deep beneath her skin. Godwin’s nails dug into the soft flesh on the underside of her wrist as he hauled her forward, her shoulder burning as it shifted in its socket. Without thinking, she swung at his face. Godwin leaned back, laughing.

"Quite the feisty little thing, isn't she?" he asked, turning back to her mother, who had dropped the illusion now. The edges of his cloak shifted, and the hilt of her sword came into view, the emerald set into the cross-guard gleaming beneath the torchlight. It was well within reach, if she could get her hand there in time.

"How did you know?" her mother asked, slipping a dagger from beneath her sleeve. Her eyes darted about the room, lingering on each of the agents for not more than a second before returning to Godwin.

"I see you've forgotten about the scrying torches," he said, chuckling. His grip on Everna's wrist tightened, and she winced. "Though it has been, what? Thirty-some years since you last set foot in here? Age must be dulling your mind, Fiadh. Or, perhaps motherhood has made you soft."

The agents rose from their kneeling position, an array of weapons appearing from beneath the drapes of their robes. Wil slipped his hands free of his shackles as Arden nocked an arrow. Everna swallowed a fresh wave of panic. A fight was inevitable, but she'd hoped not to be caught directly in the middle of it.

And that's exactly where she was — smack in the middle of a soon-to-be bloodbath without a weapon in hand.

For a long moment, no one moved, the air still with anticipation. Shroud remained at the ready, awaiting Godwin's signal. Her mother bounced on the balls of her feet, her fingers drumming against the hilt of her weapon. Mayor Ashburn drew his bow. She caught Wil's eye from across the hall, and the look he gave in response sent a jolt of guilt through her.

How many weeks had he and the others spent trying to keep her safe, only for her to turn around and barrel head first into Shroud's clutches — and all for the sake of her own pride? Hellbent on seeing it all end as soon as possible, she ignored the better judgment of those who were far more experienced. They knew what they were up against, but she insisted she was ready for something she wasn't.

She was a complete and utter fool for thinking she had a chance.

"Let her go, Godwin," her mother said, spinning her dagger in her hand, "and I might just let you live. Long enough for the noose, that is."

"I see where your daughter gets her arrogance from.” Godwin twisted Everna’s arm to the side and she bit back a hiss of pain. Her mother's face darkened, her eyes wild with murderous intent. "Did you truly think I wouldn't call in Enforcers once I realized you were interfering?"

A wicked grin split her mother's face. "Still that afraid of me, are you?"

"Wary," he corrected, "though you were as predictable as expected. The only reason this wench survived as long as she has is because I kept my agents at bay. Our master wants her dead or converted — whatever it takes to get her out of our hair. But I knew if I made just enough of a ruckus after the damned Courts failed me, it'd draw you out of your hole. What I hadn't expected was the good mayor to survive, though. It doesn't matter now. I have all of you right where I want you."

Arden loosed his arrow.

Godwin ducked as it streaked towards him, the tip of the arrowhead skimming his ear. Everna turned and lunged for her sword. Her fingers closed around the hilt, the familiar warmth of the enchantment a blessed relief as it washed over her. She wrenched it free of the scabbard and immediately swung it at the hand holding her. He cursed and snatched his hand away just as the edge of the blade skimmed across it. Much like the skin of an apple, his glove and a thick layer of skin peeled away from the back of his hand.

Everna bolted behind the nearest column as the chamber fell into the bedlam of battle. Spells flew through the air: motes of fire, bolts of white and green and purple, and crackling lightning. Arrows splintered against walls. A statue on the far side of the wall burst into a shower of dust and marble chips. Her mother advanced towards Godwin only to be stopped short by an agent emerging from the shadows before her.

Godwin spun on his heels, his hand dripping blood, and tore after Everna. She skirted around the column, back pressed against the marble. He made a grab for her and she dodged. Cursing, he went around to the other side and she followed.

The column shook as a mote of fire exploded above her head. Shrieking, she ducked beneath the flames and bolted for the next column. Godwin gave chase.

It seemed to last an eternity, Godwin hounding after her as she ducked and bobbed and weaved between the columns and through the clamor. She barely had time to snatch her dagger off the floor before a small barrage of fire motes sent her scrambling for cover. Wil shoved her out of the way of an arrow. Her mother blocked a blade coming at her from behind. Mayor Ashburn shot an agent seconds before they hit her with a spell.

Rational thought fled as absolute terror stilled the air in her lungs. These weren't drunken revelers but trained agents of a vile organization — raving lunatics flinging more magic and weapons than the academy duels and tavern brawls combined. If she survived this fight, it would be only because they wanted her to.

That realization brought tears to her eyes as she scrambled behind the metal chair, narrowly avoiding a brilliant bolt of glittering white aimed at her. It struck the woven metal and dissolved into a shimmering fog. An arrow caught in the gaps, the tip stopping just inches from her face.

Golden Lady help her, she was going to need all the luck she could get.

The longer the fight dragged on, the more agents seemed to appear. They flooded in from the hall, blocking the only exit. Her mother tore through the throat of one and vaulted over the falling body as a mote of sickly green sailed past her head. An agent broke away from the chaos and made for her, only to be taken down by a well-placed arrow from Arden. Somewhere off to her right, another arrow flew. It caught the mayor in the shoulder and sent him stumbling for cover behind a marbled column.

Above the din of battle, she heard Godwin give an order that further sent her into hysterics. "To hell with it, just kill the lot of them!"

A streak of light caught her eye — another brilliant mote of fire barreling towards her. She scrambled behind the nearest pillar as a resounding boom tore through the room. Fire shot past her, the heat smothering. As quickly as it arrived, it vanished. Sweat slicked her skin, which was red and angry but not blistered.

Not a few seconds later, Godwin rounded the pillar, a sword of pure shadow materializing in his hand. "I'd say it's impressive you survived this long, if you weren't running about and cowering like a trembling rat."

For the first time in her life, she had no comeback. There was no snarky retort waiting on the tip of her tongue. Mute with terror, she could only raise her sword with trembling hands as he brought his down in a wide, overhead arc. His sword slammed into hers with such force her teeth rattled. Her shoulder screamed in protest as her arms buckled.

She stumbled back as he swung again. The blade caught her in the thigh; the edge breaking through enough of the protective enchantment to leave a thin cut along her skin. It burned with a horrid cold not of winter — the same, unsettling magic that permeated the air of the chamber.

A kick to the stomach sent her careening onto her rear, gasping and hacking. Pain flared along her ribs, and each breath was fire in her lungs. When she coughed again, blood spilled from her mouth.

Godwin advanced on her, a second kick aimed for her side. She rolled beneath the brute force of it, tumbling down the narrow steps of the dais. An arrow streaked towards him, but he batted it away with his sword. A second glanced off his armor. Arden's curse cut above the chaos only to fade into a pained groan as a black-robed agent stuck him in the side with a dagger.

Another swing of Godwin's sword caught Everna in the face, tearing through her left eye. The pain was beyond words — a horrible and all-encompassing agony that set every fiber of her being alight. Worse than the pain in her ribs, it stole the air from her lungs, her screams nothing but strangled gasps. Blood trailed down her face, seeping through her fingers as she clutched her eye. Tears blurred what remained of her vision.

She tried to push herself off the ground, only to flounder. Her forehead hit the stone floor, her breath escaping through her clenched teeth in sharp bursts. Somewhere off to her right, she heard her mother call her name.

The edge of Godwin’s boots appeared beside her head. "Perhaps Windhollow emboldened you too much. You killed one Enforcer, a fluke, and thought you were actually capable of something. What a pity. I was going to let you live, but it's much more entertaining to watch you scramble for your life."

Everna clenched her jaw so hard her teeth felt as if they might crack and forced herself upright. Her eye hurt horribly, her head fuzzy and her vision spinning. It couldn't end like this. She was so close to seeing this through. Shroud's Taskmaster was right in front of her and she could do nothing but sit there, dazed with pain, while the battle raged around her.

Maybe she had gotten too confident. Bitter reality came in many forms, she realized. Sometimes it was a horrible hair cut; sometimes it was a sword to the face. This whole situation was well and truly beyond her in every conceivable way, and she was a complete fool for believing she had even a sliver of a chance.

Her mother was right. Trying to be the hero never ended well.

The ringing clash of swords echoed in her ears. Through the blurriness clouding her good eye, she glimpsed Cian's face as he struggled to hold Godwin at bay. Blood poured from a wound in his side, the armor torn and burnt at the edges. A large gash crawled along his right cheek, splitting his lips, and stopping at his chin.

He stood over her, the sword clutched in his hands — her sword, she realized — was the only thing keeping Godwin's blade from tearing into her neck as intended. With a violent burst of writhing shadows, her mother, bloody and burnt and bruised, appeared behind Godwin. As if sensing her appearance, he shoved down hard on Cian's sword, sending him staggering over Everna, and spun to block the dagger aimed at the back of his head. Her mother grunted, careening hard to the left as their blades met. Before she could recover, Godwin repositioned his grip on the sword and slammed the pommel into her temple.

Then, as her mother stumbled to the floor, he drove his sword straight through her stomach.

Her sharp cry of pain severed a cord deep within Everna.

Godwin turned back to her, grinning and brandished his bloody blade in her face. A violent burst of rage tore through her, and with a strained snarl, she wrenched her sword from Cian's hand and shot out from beneath him. She slammed into his leg as she went, knocking him off his feet completely. Godwin startled and scrambled to raise his sword.

She crashed into the end of it; the tip pierced straight through the protective enchantment of her armor and plunged into her side. His eyes bulged, his face white with terror. She pushed her way through it, too caught up in the daze of fury to feel the pain — to feel anything but her insatiable bloodlust — and brought her sword up. As the hilt connected with her stomach, she rammed the tip of her blade into his jugular.

The blade cleaved through his throat with almost no effort at all, but as her mother said, Godwin was no ordinary agent. Even with his head hanging by little more than a scrap of skin, he did not die immediately. His dark irises bled red for but a moment, and with it, she felt a sudden surge of vile magic. A sinister grin split his face, and as he fell, he wrenched his blade through her side.

It ripped through her, bursting from the sides of her leathers with a spray of blood. Everna staggered, a sudden numbness washing over her, and her legs gave out. Cian caught her, barely, as Godwin's body crumpled to a lifeless heap at her feet. Both of their quickly pooled beneath them.

Everna couldn't quite comprehend what followed.

All at once, the battle reached a fever pitch. The doors to the hall slammed open, and a sea of the Crown's Guard, headed by her father and Corden, flooded into the chamber. Shroud panicked, agents vanishing into shadow and flickering out of existenc while those incapable of magic scrambled to evade the sudden onslaught. A chorus of terrified cries and barked orders reverberated off the stone floors and marbled pillars, the sound distant and muffled in her ears. Explosions racked the room, loosened and cracked bits of stone tumbling from the ceiling.

Her vision swam, darkened spots dancing across her eye. She no longer felt the pain, only a slight ache in her side, a strange emptiness where the sword pierced through her. It took a moment for her to realize she wasn't leaning against Cian, but lying on her back.

He hovered over her, pale as a ghost — his eyes wide and mouth slightly ajar. Then, with shaking hands, he yanked his cloak off his shoulders and pressed it into her side, his weight bearing down on her. For a moment he disappeared, darkness covering her vision, before a sharp slap at her cheek brought him into her sight once more. Leah now hovered over her, her face stricken, a trembling hand reaching for her head.

This time, when the darkness took hold, the repeated tapping on her cheek wasn't enough to rouse her.

Wounded

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