“You do not know me anymore,” I snapped. “I am not the sister who fought for you in the Deep. I am not her. She is dead.”

“Then there is only one thing to do.” She stood and brushed her skirts off. “I suppose you are flying with your Pegasus to the other rulers since the armbands and the Traveling room do not work.”

I stood and nodded. “Yes, I will leave immediately.”

“Then I will need to change my clothes.” She strode from me. “I will meet you outside the Spiral in an hour.”

Oh no, this was not happening. “You aren’t coming with me, and even if you were, an hour is too long.”

She spun, her eyes flashing. “Am I your queen? Or did you change your vows to serve and obey me when I was handed the throne?”

Lips pressed tightly, I forced myself to nod. “You are my queen.”

“Then I will go with you to visit my fellow rulers. You need my help, Lark. That much is evident. It will make a good cover for you that you are there to be my Ender as you have been in the past.”

I snorted. “I am strong enough.”

“It is not your strength I question, sister, but your heart.”

Her words were like an arrow piercing my chest. She strode across the sand and up the stairs.

Peta let her go by and then she mewed softly at me, but I barely heard her.

Bella thought she could change the past; that she could draw me out from the dark places I’d receded into. I did not want to hurt her, but I knew disappointment was coming for her if she continued to believe she could save the part of me that was dead and gone.

Moving slowly, I climbed the steps, holding my hands out for Peta. She leapt up to me and curled herself around my neck. “Peta, how can I make her see that it is better to be this way? To be hard and not weak? That weakness is what has brought me to the brink of death time and again. It’s what landed me in the oubliette both times. Hesitation.”

She purred softly, the sound vibrating along my skin. “It is good to be strong, Lark, to know your weaknesses and conquer them. But to be hard is a dangerous thing; hard can be broken and shattered. Let her come with you. I think it’s a good thing to have her at your side.”

I made my way up the stairs, lost in my thoughts, so much so that I didn’t notice Red until he hovered in front of my face, his feathers brushing against my cheeks.

Startled, I stepped back, my hand going for my spear. The ground shuddered and the Spiral groaned like a wounded animal.

“Peta, go to Bella. Make sure she’s safe.” Peta bolted up the stairs, shifting into her leopard form between leaps.

Red hovered in front of me, and I held my arm out for him to land. His talons dug into my forearm and I put a hand on his back. His entire body trembled. “What is it?”

“Lark, your father is out of control, the madness has seized him completely. You have to end this. You are the only one with the training to do it.”

Not stop him, but to end this.

I had to be an Ender for the Rim and take my father’s life.

CHAPTER 8

bolted through the Spiral. Red launched into the air, leading me out the main doors.

“He’s attacking people and no one will stop him. They’re afraid because he was the king.” The panic in Red’s voice was obvious.

“Red, you know—”

“I do. And you must. He wouldn’t want this.” A tear slipped from the hawk, sparkled in the air and fell to the ground as we ran.

Outside the Spiral was total chaos as I slid to a stop at the edge of the main thoroughfare. Bodies were scattered everywhere and at the foot of the Spiral stood Bella, facing our father, Peta in front of her.

From where I stood I could see the tears stream down her face as she held a hand out to him. He snarled and batted her hand away. Lines of power, deep green and violently aggressive, spiraled up his arms. I was too far away.

The ground erupted under her, sending her flying backward against the Spiral with a thud that rebounded in the air.

“No!”

He twisted and glared at me. I sprinted toward him, spinning my spear out and around as I ran. Bella’s eyes met mine from where she lay, and she nodded. “Do it, Ender Larkspur.”

Except I knew it wouldn’t be that easy. Basileus hadn’t been king based solely on his family line. He was the most powerful Earth Elemental our world had seen.

Until me.

“Peta, I can’t engage him with power; we’d destroy the Rim.”

“I know.”

I looked up. “Red, can you help?” A familiar turning on their charge was not possible, I knew that. So did he.

He dropped to my shoulder and his claws dug in tightly. “Yes. He would not want this, Lark. For all he’s done, very little has been within his control.” He paused. “Set him free.”

Three words and the tears welled in my eyes.

“Peta,” I choked on her name, “hamstring him.”

Red clung to my shoulder, swaying. He bowed his head, and tucked it against my cheek, his feathers silken. “I bond myself to you, Larkspur.”

His words were unexpected in the middle of the chaos and I jerked as a connection formed between us, swift as a rushing wind, the feel of feathers inside my head a strange sensation.

With a cry, he launched into the air and circled us.

Shaking, I spun my spear, and faced my father for what I knew in my heart would be the last time. “Basileus, for the crime of attacking our queen, you are sentenced to death.” If I could get close enough to him, I could put a hand on him. I could stop this before it went any further.