He should be punished.
“I see my little technique has taken your breath away.” Harlan chuckled to himself. “If I do nothing, they’ll find you just like that. No signs of injury, no signs of foul play at all. Poor Jace, his monstrous core must have finally killed him. That might be easiest.”
My serpents worked at the trap just outside of Harlan’s view. One by one, they plucked force aspects from the inquisitor’s construct and loaded them into my aura. I held my tongue, though, and my breath. I wanted the priest to think I was helpless and dying.
“You’ve caused so much suffering, Jace,” Harlan said with a stern frown. “Your foolish rebellion has disrupted the Grand Design. You’ve wounded the oracles who light our path with their words of wisdom. Even the Empyrean Flame has gone silent, because of you. For what you’ve done, your passing will be marked by pain and destruction. Your clan and all your little friends will know that you died for your hubris.”
With every word the priest said, my serpents removed another force aspect from his construct. The last of them had been transferred to my aura, leaving the trap too weak to hold me in place.
It was almost time to strike.
“Let’s end this,” Harlan said. “Whatever you are, Jace, you will no longer be a thorn in my side. I will pluck you out and cast you down.”
Harlan closed his eyes and pulled sacred energy deep into his lungs. His channels glowed with inner strength, and his aura flooded with aspects of fire and wind. The trap had only been meant to hold me still while Harlan launched the killing blow. He was going to burn me alive.
The priest unleashed the technique he’d prepared. A gust of hot wind blew through the hole and swirled through my room. It grew more intense by the second, and flame aspects flooded toward my aura. Harlan’s attack was brutal and devastating. The instant it touched my flesh, it would burn me to ash.
“No,” I said, cool and calm.
Two of my serpents pushed me back onto my feet, while the others lashed out to spear dangerous aspects before they invaded my aura. The wind whipped my hair and the edges of my robes, but the fire vanished. My serpents worked with methodical precision, almost of their own accord, and dismantled the attack before it could touch me.
Harlan had taken his shot, and it had fallen far, far short of his target.
Now it was my turn.
I crossed the room to the portal in the blink of an eye. My serpents darted forward with the speed of striking scorpions, their spiked tips rushing for Harlan’s face.
The priest’s eyes shot wide. He threw his hands up to cover his face from my attack and cried out in alarm. Other voices shouted a warning to the priest, far too late to do him any good. Techniques flashed from behind Harlan as his allies tried to save him.
For a moment, I considered killing him. It would have been so easy.
It would also have marked me for a monster. The priest was a horrible person, and he’d schemed and plotted to do great harm. But he didn’t deserve to be murdered for that. Far better to let him survive, waiting for justice to come for him.
But that didn’t mean I couldn’t leave him with a little gift to show him who he was messing with.
“You’ve made a terrible mistake.” My voice sounded distant, as if I were hearing it from a recording. “You should not have attacked me.”
My serpents struck with perfect accuracy. Their tips plucked the force aspects from my aura and embedded them deep into Harlan’s. The priest’s knees buckled under the sudden and unexpected pressure, and he clawed at the throat of his robes. He hadn’t expected his trap to be turned against him, and panic made it impossible for him to think his way out.
“I didn’t do any of this,” I snapped. “You turned away from the Flame. You abandoned your role as guardians of its plan for humanity.”
Harlan’s eyes were so wide I could see myself reflected in his gaping pupils. The voices behind him were an incomprehensible din, distorted by the portal. That was all right. I didn’t care if they could hear me. My words were for Harlan. He could tell them what I’d said.
“You attacked me,” I continued. “You plotted to kill my friends. You failed.”
The last of the force aspects had pushed Harlan onto his back. The portal had swiveled to keep him in focus, and I held his gaze.
“I want you to remember this moment.” My voice shook with emotion I could no longer restrain. “I want the instant when you realized you were no longer safe burned into your memory. If you ever come for me again, Brother Harlan, or you send someone to attack me or anyone I know, I’ll come for you.”
I let the pressure build. Harlan’s cheeks were the color of ripe cherries, and blood vessels burst in the corners of his eyes, staining the whites pink. The priest was dying.
What was it he’d said to me? All I had to do was nothing.
“Leave us alone,” I commanded. I left the pressure on Harlan for another moment, then ripped the force aspects out of his aura.
Breath rushed back into his lungs in a painful whoop, and Harlan clutched his throat with both hands. His eyes were still wide, tears of blood leaking from them.
“You’ll never—”
“You’re wrong,” I said. “I will. And you don’t know it yet, Harlan, but you’ll see that I was right to. When all this is over, when you realize you’ve lost, you’ll see what I did. And you’ll know who beat you. For now, leave me alone. Stay far away from the School. Because if I get even a whiff of your interference...”
I dropped another force aspect into Harlan’s aura. It wasn’t much, just enough
