What are you doing? Thoughts raced through Koda’s mind with each spell he slung at Raine. She’s your friend! Your best friend, not your enemy!

  “She stands between you and your destiny. She is the enemy to our cause, Koda…” Tezhok’s gruff voice rang in the elf’s head.

  Koda entangled Raine’s feet with a lurching vine arm. “Raine, please give up! I can’t hurt you—I don’t want to hurt you!”

  Raine sliced the vine with a quick swipe of wind. She thrust her hands backwards and with a crack of thunder, lightning exploded from her palms. Raine shot at him as fast as a comet and with the force of a warhammer, collided her knee under Koda’s chin.

  The elven king somersaulted ten times before his back slammed to the ground.

  Koda groaned as he stirred to his knees. A thin stretch of blood dripped from his fattened lip to the floor. Slowly he crawled to his feet, but his leg buckled and crashed to his knees.

  A sharp tug to his hair braid, forced him upright.

  “Raine—yowch!” he cried as the purple mage yanked him onto his back.

  She wasted very little time, placing the weight of her knee against his cheek. Then she formed an ice dagger in her hand and poised it over the vernal mage.

  “You don’t get it, Koda,” she spat, hot tears rolling down her eyes. “You are my friend and I will go lengths through Dahlemar’s realm to protect my friends! Even if I have to drag your unconscious body away from this place.

  “She mocks your power, Mage King!” hissed Tezhok.

  Koda clawed at Raine’s thigh as blood and saliva seeped through his teeth.

  “She doesn’t take you seriously. This is your chance to show her—to show everyone you won’t be controlled!”

  I can’t hurt…

  “Because you are so weak…”

  I can’t hurt…

  “Always such a child…” Tezhok continued his cruel taunting in Koda’s ear.

  I won’t…

  “Destroy her…”

  I-I-

  “Show them all…”

  I…

  “Make them remember you!” finished Tezhok.

  Koda’s tender eyes turned hard. His flesh turned to a crimson red as vapor drifted from his hands. Koda’s eyes glowed with renewed energy and vigor as the Magi coursed through his body.

  “Damn it!” Raine cursed and threw away her dagger. She pressed her fingers against Koda’s forehead and with a wave of blue magic encased her friend in a tomb of ice. Raine rose to her feet, wiping her brow with her sleeve.

  “How could Mateo see anything in you?” Tezhok whispered.

  Shut up.

  “Even with both silver magic and the Magi, you were defeated by Trent and now her.”

  Shut up.

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  “You might as well have died in that Estinian prison.”

  Shut up!

  “Elucard should have slain you instead of your father…”

  Shut… up…

  “That way you wouldn’t have grown up to be such a disappointment to him—”

  Fractures erupted across Koda’s frozen body. Splinters of ice shot out as the Magi obliterated Koda’s ice tomb. A sphere of bright energy hovered off the floor and slowly dissipated until only Koda remained.

  His legs staggered and his body swayed. Stumbling forward, he fell to his knees. He lifted his head up to find Raine’s smoldering body before him

  Koda’s eyes went dim. Oh Ruens, what have I done?

  “You did well, Koda. That is what you’ve done,” Tezhok chuckled.

  Koda ignored the black wolf and crawled to Raine’s side. Carefully he cradled her head in his lap. Using his other hand he channeled a tether of Magi from his soul to hers.

  Please, Alanna, not her. Not yet!.

  Koda’s hand shivered in panic and his breath turned into short gasps. His heart pounded through his chest. What if he was too weak to share any Magi? What if her body couldn’t reciprocate his Magi?

  Come on! Work!

  Koda shifted to sight to detect the Magi flowing through her battered body. But she was dark. No life or light stirred in her.

  “You have exerted too much of your Magi, Koda. You do not have enough to bring her back to life.” Tezhok’s somber tone sunk deep in Koda’s soul.

  What is the point of such power if I can’t use it to save my friend?

  Tezhok did not answer back.

  A dim light surrounded Raine’s body. Koda’s eyes widened and he clutched her weak form. Slowly her burns and broken bones healed. The color came back to her cheeks and her eyes lit up. First with flecks of Magi, but soon back to her normal rosy eyes.

  Koda flashed on his auravision once more. The Magi pumped through Raine like a hurricane.

  How? Koda wondered.

  “A gift, Koda. Consider it a gift,” chuckled Tezhok.

  “Ko… da…” Raine croaked. “Don’t… go…”

  Koda clenched Raine in his arms tightly as tears swelled in his eyes. “Raine, you’re alive! Thank the celestial heavens you are alive!”

  Raine stayed silent, as if taking control of the fog in her head. Finally she spoke up, although slowly. “I-I died?”

  “It wasn’t my—you—you forced my hand…” Koda stammered, stumbling over his excuses.

  Raine’s eyes widened in fear, now understanding the situation. “You—you killed me?!”

  “Just stop fighting me, Raine. You won’t get hurt if you just leave me be,” said Koda. He tried his best to rationalize the situation, but even in his head he knew he couldn’t. Still, what else could he say? She did fight him. She did stand in his way. She did force him… to… to… kill her.

  Raine scrambled to her feet, keeping herself far away from the new monster that stood before her. “You aren’t Koda! You aren’t him!” she shouted in anguish. “You’re different! Something cold—something empty!”

  Koda rose to his feet and let out a deep, defeated sigh. He shook his head and glowered at Raine. She was never going to understand him. He was best just cutting ties from every insignificant soul in his life and concentrating on those that did understand him. Sable, Calsoon, Strife, Tezhok, and Mateo.

  “You see now? Even after you gave her life?” Tezhok’s voice echoed in his head. “She rejects you.”

  Koda shuffled closer to Raine and just like his hands, his entire body quivered. “Please, Raine, please understand,” he tried again.

  “She only wanted you when you were weak. Docile. Easy to mold.”

  “Koda, I want nothing to do with you,” Raine said. Her voice shook with each syllable

  “To manipulate you as Tashna did. As Athar and your other former noblemen did. As…” Tezhok continued.

  Koda’s face tightened as hard as his fists. “Just say it!”

  “You and I are through.” Her words cut like a knife, but it was not hers he waited for.

  “As Elucard did,” Tezhok finished with a vile cackle.

  Koda’s body no longer trembled. His emotions no longer held on Raine’s every word. The beating of his chest simmered to a calm pulse. His head bowed, but his eyes continued to remain on Raine.

  “Go,” he whispered.

  Raine curled her lip and shook her head. “You’re unbelievable, Koda. I spent six months by your side and you just abandoned us for a taste of power?”

  Koda’s glare intensified.

  Raine moved toward the exit of the school, but halted and turned back to Koda. “You could have been one of the greats, Koda, but I suppose being a spoiled child is all you’ll ever amount to.”