Standing in my darkest riding outfit, I waited in the empty main dining room.

I had spent the night hoping Elex might show up, but the only thing I received was a note from him, saying he was sorry and the last tremor had opened tremendous possibilities.

I’d been crushed.

But maybe Lunella was right. Maybe Elex wasn’t the one for me.

I fidgeted with the pommel of the sword on my hip. My father’s sword. I had all three of his—the fencing foil, the demonstration rapier, and the fighting sword.

Since I’d moved in, I’d wanted to hang the foil and the rapier. I hadn’t imagined I would be digging out the fighting sword first.

It was beautiful, with black and silver steel swirled on the blade. Folded thousands of times, for millions of layers, the straight blade had been honed to an edge on both sides and polished to a gleam.

The handle was wrapped in supple leather, and a single blood ruby was framed in the pommel at the end. The quillons on the cross guard also had small rubies in them.

From my father, from his father, and from his mother before that, the sword was nearly a thousand years old. Still as strong as the day it came out of the forge. A work of art—art I could kill with.

Rilen and Roran appeared from the shadows and moved toward me, each dressed in black from head to toe.

They stood on either side of me as Master Dorian entered through the door of the dining room.

Twisting his lip, he shook his head at the twins.

“Always have to be dramatic?”

“We’re protecting her from you,” Roran said. “Your temper has been off the charts, dear mate. She has no power.”

“So forgive us if we’re being dramatic, but she’s the Breaker of the Spine, and she needs to be protected.” Rilen nodded at his brother.

“Noble but useless. Let’s go. We need to see this if what you say is true.” Master Dorian motioned to the exit.

Rilen headed out but stopped right next to Dorian. “Keep your temper in check. We will defend her.”

Snorting, Master Dorian pointed him out of the room and motioned for me to follow at the same time.

With a deep sigh, I headed for the door behind Rilen. Roran and Master Dorian followed immediately behind us.

Four horses were waiting for us in the stables, and we quietly mounted up. We turned in a direction I didn’t expect. Out of the city, out toward the farms and forests surrounding the city.

We rode for nearly two hours at a not-quite-a-trot pace, and I figured we had covered two and a half leagues. It was all in silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.

Finally, Rilen pointed us off to the right, to a small road with a sign that said Dumorae. I knew it was a small town where the keeper for the nearby forest lived.

But we didn’t go all the way to the village.

Rilen turned left and pushed through a small thicket of what looked like blackberry bushes. It wasn’t when one brushed my hand.

They were silk. False leaves. Fake cover.

This was a secret trail.

A small glimmer of light lit the trail ahead of us, distinctly looking like something Rilen conjured. It was enough to light the way and low enough to the ground not to attract attention.

The horses continued for about ten minutes when Rilen brought us up. He hopped off and motioned for us to do the same.

Once again, on the left, was a false patch of foliage, this one of fern and rhododendron. We led the horses in and tied them to a tree.

Another path led away from the horses, and the light once again hugged the ground and showed us the way.

“Can you tell me what’s going on?” I whispered.

Roran spoke quietly from behind. “We found a splinter group of the rebels in the city. They’re far more subtle than the one who tried to kidnap you at the dance.”

Master Dorian’s voice carried from behind Roran. “I have not been here yet myself, but the twins tell me this is a viper’s nest.”

“So that’s why the sword?”

“Your sword, yes,” Roran said. “We will only call ours if we need them. You don’t have enough power to do that, and no one has shown you. Best to have it on you.”

Yet another jab to my powerlessness.

I let it go. None of the three of them had scowled at me since we’d left the temple dorm. I took the trade-off.

In the distance, I could see the flicker of a campfire, and a few moments later, the crackle of wood and a lot of male laughter.

Rilen extinguished his light, and I knew we had to watch our step. Even though they were loud, we didn’t want to startle them.

Whoever they were.

Minutes later, we were crouched in the bushes around the clearing, just out of sight of the men around the fire. I studied the camp, and there was nothing unusual about it. It was just a camp of men meeting in the woods. They could have been hunting or hiking or searching for some supposed lost treasure.

They laughed and chatted, and two or three left the circle, heading away on a different path.

That’s when his voice cut the air.

“Well, gentlemen, as fun as this outing has been, I’m afraid I have to go back again.”

Elex.

The man with his back to us stood, and I recognized his coat.

What the hell was Elex doing out here?

“You managed how many days this time?” another asked.

“Three full days. Donovan’s timing that morning was perfect,” he said.

“How do you manage it?” one on the left chuckled. “I’m not encouraging you, but she is a gorgeous creature, and I would be inside that every waking minute.”

“It’s not easy,” Elex chuckled. “But why do you think I have brandy and the Vampire’s Draught? She thinks I keep it for night terrors.”

All the men around the fire chuckled.

I was shocked they hadn’t heard my heart breaking.

“You’ve really managed to keep from fucking her all this time?”

Elex’s head bobbed. “It hasn’t been easy. She’s a naïve, sexy little thing with a pussy to die for. But the cause is greater and having her trapped like this is for a good cause.”

“She won’t find another cock to ride?”

He chuckled. “No. Too honest, too loyal. She didn’t even have a male in her life for the past forty years. She’s got high standards.”

“Sounds more like she has a tight cunt, not sharing like that.”

Grabbing a bag on the floor, Elex hiked it up on his shoulder. “She does have it on lockdown. But, gentlemen, I must return and make new excuses to her. I also have to find out how she stopped this last tremor.”

The four remaining men around the campfire made grunts of farewell and watched as Elex disappeared down the other path leading away from the clearing.

“Do you think he can keep this up?” The question came from a tall man on the other side.

“I think he can, as long as we keep him plied with that Vampire Draught.” The stocky man who answered poked the fire a bit. “I’m hoping he can detain her and keep her away from anything that might lend her power next time. It’s time for the S’Kir to fall and our vampire brethren to return.”

Rilen and Roran unfolded themselves from the bushes and stepped into the light on either side of the clearing.

I hadn’t even realized they’d moved.

The four men in the center yelped in surprise. Leaping up, they pulled swords from their waists and headed toward the brother they could see.

The two of them circled, leading the men around. They had wicked grins on their faces, and I could see magic swirling around them.

“Who are you?” one of the campers demanded, moving his sword to a strike position.

In perfect sync, they answered, “We are the Masters Rilen and Roran Wolf of the Temple of the North. You have threatened the lives and livelihood of the people of S’Kir. Your treachery will not go unpunished.”

“Fuck,” the tall man ground out.

“You have no weapons. You think your magic can beat us?” the stocky man asked.

Snapping their hands out to the sides, a brilliantly polished sword appeared for each of them. The magic bowed around them, and the swords flashed to a tinted color.

Both of them, while mostly white, carried a hint of red magic.

Anger.

“Your treachery will not go unpunished,” Rilen repeated.

“Do you think we were raised to the robes because of our good looks?” Roran was always irreverent.

“The Spine needs to fall!” the tall one screamed.

“The Spine will fall, when the Breaker is ready.” Master Dorian had joined them in the clearing. “You are no one to determine what that time is. Only she breaks the Spine. Only she determines when that time is.”

“You talk like you know more than anyone else about this,” the stocky one said. “You could never know more about this than our Lost God.”

Tossing his head back, Master Dorian laughed. “And yet you stand there, drenched in hypocrisy, telling me that you know when the Spine should fall.”

“The Breaker is a naïve fool, who doesn’t know what’s good for her.”

I was done with other people speaking for me.

Walking out of the bush, I pulled out my sword and held it at my side, in a neutral position. “I am the only one who knows when the Spine is ready to break. And I am the only one who will break the Spine.”

“Oh, shit.” This from one of the men who hadn’t said anything to that point as they stepped back away from me.

Master Dorian held up a hand, palm open. “It was not our wish that anyone would die from the end of the Spine. But you have made this a war, and in war, people die.”

He closed his fist.

The twins moved like lightning in high summer.

The steel they carried flowed through the air and beheaded two of the men by the fire before they even registered the swords had moved.

The other two tried to scramble away, down the path.

I hurled myself into their path and held the sword at attack ready. “No.”

Just enough time for Roran and Rilen to each take a head.

The bodies fell toward each other and paused as they collided. A moment later, they fell back, almost seeming to chase the heads that were rolling away.

For a few moments, the wind rustled the changing leaves on the trees. The fire crackled merrily. The scratch of small animals could be heard in the underbrush.

My legs gave out.

I was still holding the sword in a defensive position.

And my heart had cracked and shattered.