Her throat was raw with screaming, and tears of helpless fury ran down her cheeks. She lunged toward Marcus, a single thought consuming her mind.
Kill him.
Nothing else mattered anymore. Nothing else would ever matter again.
She managed to slam her body into his, knocking him to the ground. Her arms were still bound behind her, but she found strength she didn’t know existed and pushed her knee into his throat until he choked and gurgled, desperately pushing back against her.
Rough hands pulled her from Marcus. More Cleaners. Without thinking, she fought against them, kicking them away as best she could until one of them delivered a sharp blow into the side of her head. White lights exploded in her eyes followed by blooming dark shadows. The Cleaners slammed her down, forcing her to her knees.
Marcus got back to his feet and rubbed his throat. He shook his head, pulling his lips into a mirthless smile, a thin gash across his face. “Stop fighting, Miss Warden. This is what you were always meant to do. This is your destiny,” he said, his voice hoarse after her attack, having lost its usual silky oiliness.
“You should kill me now,” she said, her voice like ice. Her grief had coalesced into perfect clarity. “This is your opportunity. If you don’t take it, I will come back and kill every one of you. I will burn this place to the ground.” Her rage-filled gaze shifted to Jason. “I will destroy you.”
“Kill you?” Marcus said with a laugh. “Why would I kill you when you’ve been my greatest ally and my sharpest weapon? Without you, none of this would be possible.”
He moved closer to her and leaned down, sliding his fingers below her chin, tilting her face up, and forcing her to look into his eyes. As soon as their eyes met, she slammed her head forward into his and felt his nose give way beneath her forehead.
“Damn the Source!” Marcus swore, blood dripping from his nose. His fist slammed into the side of her face, so fast and hard that it felt like it might dislodge her eye.
“Restrain her properly!” he yelled.
For the first time, Jason moved, gliding into life. With long, graceful strides, he made his way to her. The Cleaners who had been holding her down yielded immediately to him. Jason’s fingers tightened around her wrist, his familiar heat bleeding into her cold skin. Allyra jerked away from him.
“Don’t you dare touch me!” she hissed.
His lips curled into an arrogant smile. “But weren’t you begging me to do just that last night?”
She struggled blindly against him, but his hands were tight around her wrists, and he held firm.
Marcus had recovered enough of his lost dignity to laugh at Jason’s words. At the sound of it, she felt her strength fade further, as if layers of it were being stripped away by sandpaper, leaving her raw and exposed.
“You’re angry,” Marcus said. “That’s understandable, but that’s because you don’t truly understand your role in this. You’re special, Allyra, special to me.
“When the Five created the Veil, they cut the Revenants from this world and all the delicious power held within it. But even the power of the Veil wasn’t strong enough to keep the strongest Revenants from crossing it. The most powerful of us eventually found a way to cross. But the Gifted were always here to stop us, and we were too few to ever truly fight.
“Now, I could’ve stayed hidden in the shadows. Been content with consuming the energy of a few weak Gifted here and there—but really, what kind of life is that? No, I wanted more.”
Allyra clenched her jaw but stayed quiet. She glanced at Alex—he was still and completely motionless. Yet, she couldn’t help the ember of hope that continued to burn within her.
The Ancient that was Marcus was still speaking. “The only way I could access all the power I wanted was to destroy the Veil. But it was a circular problem—the Veil protected the Source while the Source powered the Veil. And the Source was hidden in the Between where Gifts and power held no sway—it seemed impossible.
“Impossible, until I broke a History Master who had been sent away due to his strange ideas. You see, he believed that the Living Weapons were more than just powerful weapons. He believed them to be keys—keys to open the Veil.”
Marcus turned to her and gave her a condescending smile. “Yes, I can see you’re starting to realize the truth. After all, you wouldn’t have been able to enter this room without those tigers tattooed on your wrist.
“The Living Weapons were the keys I needed to strip away the protection of the Veil, but they were things of legend, forgotten except for a few hidden whispers. I searched for them, and years passed, and I almost gave up hope. That is, until the Cairns brothers were born.”
Marcus glanced at Alex’s body, his lips curved up in a cruel smile. “Alexander Patrick Cairns was first—the Dragons came to him when he was only twelve. And later, the Tigers you now wear, came to Alexander’s older brother Thomas. It was through the Cairns family I received confirmation that the Living Weapons were real. And when not bonded to a Gifted person, they took on the form of actual weapons, passed from generation to generation through the oldest Gifted families.
“I learnt that if a Living Weapon was bonded with a person, it would be impossible to extract it by force. However, should the person die, the Living Weapon would revert back into its weapon form, ready for the taking.
“Two of the Living Weapons were now within my grasp, I just had to kill the Cairns brothers. I couldn’t lose the opportunity to take them. So, I
