The searing agony in Ted’s veins slowed with each step, and the weakness that had threatened to overcome him fell away. Not the weight of his abject failure, nor the burden of duty to his rightful Emperor—no, nothing could ever deny that—but that bottomless pit of energy that was Alenia’s poison.

  Nibbles had done his job well. Not that the furry little creature deserved thanks for it. It had done its duty, nothing more.

  Even with the poison gone, each movement required more effort, more pushing past the resistance of his own body. It had to be dawn outside by now, and he still hadn’t slept since Hallowed Falls.

  He leaned harder against Alenia, and stumbled to a halt, as if the poison still held sway. “She wouldn’t want it to go to waste.”

  Alenia pressed her hand against his back, but held short of shoving him forward again. “What?”

  “Her myrellium arrow,” he said, pouring his heartbreak into the words. “She wouldn’t want it to lie back there unused.”

  Silence came back.

  “Please,” he said. “You know how wood elves are.”

  Alenia sighed behind him. “Fine. Wait here. If you move, I’ll put an arrow in your knee.”

  The pressure on Ted’s back vanished, but he heard no footsteps heading away. Not that he would have.

  “Whatever,” he mumbled, triggering the Contingency spell to suppress the collar’s magic.

  The Emperor had to be defied, not obeyed. Cara’s death couldn’t be for nothing.

  Ted grabbed the clasp of the collar and scuffed the floor with his boot, covering that quiet click of the collar unclipping. Heart pounding, he lowered his head such that the collar would hang in place even so, and let his arms hang down again as if defeated.

  Mana flowed back, its power tingling inside him, begging to be used.

  Not yet. Not until he had enough. Alenia wouldn’t go down without a fight.

  “Move it,” she said, shoving him in the back.

  He stumbled forward.

  The collar slipped.

  Shit.

  He spun around and lunged for her throat. She stepped to the side and in. Her calf pressed against his and she struck him in the chest, her arm like a steel bar slamming him to the ground.

  The back of his head banged against stone. Pain swelled, hammering his head. He pushed through, pulled on his mana, cast Firetouch.

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  She pressed her hand over his mouth and smashed his head back against the ground again.

  His ears rang. The spell shattered. Pain seared Ted’s hands, and teal magic rippled across Alenia’s chest. A hidden Absorb.

  Mind Over Body. Tingling power exploded in Ted’s chest, hurtling strength through him. He grabbed her throat and squeezed, pulling her down and rolling so he pinned her to the floor.

  Her hand drew back, a dagger in her palm, its blade coated green. She stabbed it into his side.

  A thud like a punch hit his side. He kept squeezing.

  She gasped for air. Flailed at his arms pathetically, leaving the dagger in place.

  Pain flared through him, tendrils of ice cutting off all feeling. He kept squeezing.

  Her eyes went wide. Another dagger came out.

  He squeezed tighter.

  She raised the dagger, but it slipped from her hand. Clattered against the stone as she went limp. Yet her pulse still pressed against his hand, a distant sensation barely felt at all.

  He roared and kept squeezing.

  She killed Cara. She had to die.

  He froze up. Stared down at the unconscious woman. The Emperor’s Companion. The Emperor’s thrall. The woman closest to the Emperor.

  The assassin who’d told him the Emperor’s weakness.

  He growled and snatched the collar from the floor. He focused in on the segment within the collar that related to its control word, and slammed enough mana into it to break it. Heat still pounding through his veins, he clipped the collar around Alenia’s throat.

  She deserved to die for what she’d done, but perhaps she could be turned against her master.

  He snatched Alenia’s weapons and tossed them aside. Reaching into her pack, he pulled out rope and set about binding her hands tightly behind her back, and then her legs.

  Just as he was tying her ankles together, she jerked back into consciousness, gasping for air and wiggling around.

  He finished the last knot and double checked his work. “Welcome back,” he snarled.

  She glowered up at him. As he’d expected, the collar did nothing to make her compliant, but it did enough, robbing her of her mana and whatever foul magic she had.

  Ted scowled down at her and deactivated Mind Over Body. The strength fled, and his legs buckled. His face hit the floor without even a hint of pain, and he lay there beside her, just as helpless as she.

  The green poison…

  He looked inwards, checking over his stats. There—strength, one. No wonder he couldn’t even lift his hand.

  Yet nor could she. She struggled and squirmed, but the rope held, and the collar kept her magic at bay.

  Second by second, a minute dragged by, then another. Slowly, ever so damned slowly, the pain in his shoulder returned, along with the cold press of stone against his cheek, and the weight of his own body pressing him down against the ground.

  It was slow, but it was progress. More than Alenia could manage, tied as she was. In her struggles, she’d managed nothing more than rolling a few feet away.

  Strength flowed back, and Ted dragged himself to his feet. He stumbled over to Alenia and placed his foot on her chest, pinning her down. “I should kill you for that.”

  Her jaw clenched tight, offering no words of protest.

  He pressed more weight down on her chest. “Nothing to say for yourself?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Good luck,” she said, as if she actually meant it. “I’ll do anything I can to stop you.”

  “I know.” He pulled back and turned away. “I know,” he said again, quieter this time, walking away. She didn’t deserve this fate. None of them did.

  Then he heard her whisper “Ataral”—the code word for the broken collar, no doubt. She repeated the word again and again, each time more insistent and frantic than the last.

  He paused, listening to her struggle. This wouldn’t be her only attempt to escape. And the moment she got free, she’d have no choice but to come after him.

  Ted gritted his teeth. How had it come to this? He turned and marched back toward his captive. She had to be dealt with properly. And then…

  Then he had to deal with the Emperor himself.