I wasn’t lying. I wasn’t trying to fake my way into victory. Not this time. And yet, nor was I relinquishing to my powers and seeing the future.
No, this was just a prediction. One from the heart. For I now understood.
Maybe it was how soft my words were, maybe it was the particular look in my eyes, but the Lonely King bucked back. He did not, however, let go of my collar. He just pulled me with him, the tips of my shoes trailing across the water soaked floor.
The ring crackled behind us, energized by our approach.
“It’ll work,” he hissed between bared teeth. “It has no option but to. I have studied too long, amassed too much magic for it to fail.”
“All you’ve done is waste your life,” I said weakly. “The more you seek magic’s power, the more it takes that power from you. That equation can never change. You’re just feeding your own demise.”
Rage split the Lonely King’s face, cracking his lips up until I swore they’d tear from his face.
He shoved the knife forward. But it did not plunge all the way through my chest. Instead, it stopped, the tip a mere millimeter in my flesh. Enough to draw blood. Enough to send pain spiraling through my body. But not enough to kill me.
Yet.
That would come in approximately—
“Ten seconds,” the Lonely King breathed as he stared at the watch on his wrist. He cut his gaze back to me, and I could see how red-rimmed and wild his eyes had become.
The fireflies suddenly swarmed in my vision, begging me to call on them.
9 seconds….
I wouldn’t call on them.
8 seconds….
I wouldn’t fall into McCane’s trap.
7 seconds….
The Lonely King repositioned the knife until the tip was pressed into the skin just above the center of my heart.
6 seconds….
No matter what happened, I would not let that bastard McCane use me.
5….
No matter what happened.
4….
The Lonely King’s expression changed, hope flickering in his gaze. But it was a treacherous hope. A broken wish that would never be fulfilled.
3 seconds….
I gritted my teeth against the pain I knew would come.
2 seconds….
It was… over. This was it.
1 second.
The Lonely King plunged the knife in. But it did not reach my heart.
At the last moment, a scream split the air, and something sailed into the Lonely King, knocking him and his knife away from my chest.
I staggered back just in time to see Max spring from the open door, a ball of magic lancing from his hand and slamming into the Lonely King once more.
Max. Max!
I staggered back, blood slipping down from the flesh-wound in my chest.
The Lonely King pounced to his feet, the sacred knife still in his hand. It was dripping with blood – my blood. The knife was glowing, sparking, the hilt alight with powerful flame.
With a hiss of horror and pent up rage, the Lonely King bolted towards me.
His time was running out.
He had to kill me within the next minute, or his spell would be broken.
I jerked backward, the move so violent, I fell to my knees.
I didn’t stay down. Nor did I run. Instead, I pivoted on my hip and kicked at the Lonely King.
I managed to get his ankle as he sailed towards me. It was enough to knock him off guard, to send him slipping to the side. But he changed direction at the last moment and threw himself at me. He landed on me, knocking the wind out of my lungs. The shock was almost enough to numb me, almost enough to stop my hands. But I yanked them up just in time, catching his as he tried to bring the blade down and shove it through my chest.
I managed to hold him for a split second. But I couldn’t hold him forever.
The knife inched down towards my chest, slipping into the same wound he’d created moments before, more blood spilling out and staining my torn shirt.
Before the Lonely King could overcome my measly strength and plunge the knife through my chest, Max screamed. He reached us, skidded down to his knees, and wrapped his arms around the Lonely King’s torso, trying to pull him back.
The knife was pulled from my torso, but even Max couldn’t cut all the way through the Lonely King’s considerable strength and pull him off me completely.
A battle ensued. For my life.
I kept my sweaty, blood-soaked hands wrapped around the Lonely King’s fingers as I struggled against his considerable strength. Max grunted, his boots skidding over the wet pavement, his shoulder muscles bulging. Magic gushed off him, but it couldn’t stifle the magic spilling off the Lonely King.
The rain kept pouring down, pounding into the roof, spilling through the holes, dashing against us as we struggled. It drove into Max’s magic, making it hiss and spit.
The seconds kept ticking down, and as they did, the time gate grew brighter. The pounding hum that shook through the room grew more violent, too. It pounded through the floor, vibrating into my water-and-blood-soaked back.
I didn’t know how much time I had left. I had no idea what would happen if the seconds ran out and the Lonely King failed to slice through my heart. All that mattered were my hands around his, Max’s arm locked around his neck – all that mattered was holding the Lonely King back.
As the seconds ticked by, the Lonely King’s eyes pulsed wide, the whites as bright as diamonds as his pupils hardened to a point. More and more magic arced off him until it looked as if he were consumed by a yellow halo. I’d never seen
