Eidan’s purple and gold silk tent sat behind a long patch of black ground. Claire kept her gaze straight ahead, her expression set, as she tried not to slip on the difficult terrain.

“After you, Lady Claire,” Wallis sneered as he opened the tent flap to let her enter.

She stiffened, a cold fist squeezing about her heart. She’d assumed the alarm had been sounded by a servant and that Eidan was only interested in her as the leader of a band of magical brethren spies who had infiltrated the camp. She hadn’t imagined he’d know her real identity. How could he? If Bron had said something, why hadn’t Eidan acted earlier?

She ducked to enter the tent and let her boots sink into the animal skin that covered the floor, as Wallis’s soldiers blocked the entrance behind her. That didn’t matter. She could blast a fire ball through the tent and make a run for it. With a grin, she straightened. She’d go down fighting, even if without the others she couldn’t create the spell to destroy the Rift.

Eidan sat on a fold-out leather chair, garbed in his usual plain black. Behind him, Marcus stood with his arms folded, a mixture of pity and smugness underlying his stern expression.

Claire stared at her brother, hardly able to believe it. She would have told anyone Marcus wasn’t capable of such betrayal and yet there was the evidence of her own eyes to contend with. It was lucky Claire’s hands were tied, or she’d have punched her brother hard. As it was, she seriously considered setting his hair on fire, and what’s more she reckoned any salamanders watching would cheer her on. “You,” she managed through choking rage. “You gave me your word.” To her dismay, tears brimmed.

“I told you, Sis,” Marcus said sadly, stepping out from behind Eidan to stand by his side. “You picked the losing team. I have to look out for you. It’s what our parents would want. I’d agonised over telling Eidan ever since we met in Kelnariat but when word came from the baggage train of magical brethren using spells, I knew it was you, and I knew I needed to act.”

“You idiot!” Claire yelled. “You’ve ruined everything. Don’t you realise my friends will die?”

“They deserve it,” Marcus said.

“Like you, they’re criminals,” Eidan added.

Claire tried to keep her expression calm. “What do you mean? I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Drop the innocent act, Lady Claire,” Eidan said scornfully. “You destroyed a cart, injured some servitors and tried to kill my soldiers carrying out their lawful duty.”

“I didn’t want to hurt anyone,” she said. “We were trying to close the Rift before Kelnarium is destroyed. I lost control because of your friend, the Beast. As to your men, we only attacked them because they were attacking us. Let me and my friends go, and your world has a future.” Telling the truth might be futile, but she had to try. “I don’t know what you believe, Eidan, but this is your last chance to save yourself and everyone else.”

Marcus shrugged helplessly. “She was like this in the capital. No matter what I said, she was convinced all she’s been told is true.”

Eidan glanced between Marcus and Claire, then clicked his fingers, and the soldiers, led by Wallis, left, only two soldiers staying behind to guard the entrance to the tent.

With the odds a little more even, Claire felt better. Now that things had come to a head, she was weightless, fearless. “What will you do to me?” she asked Eidan.

“You leave me no choice but to kill you. My apologies, Marcus, but your sister will ruin everything unless she’s dispatched.”

“What?” Marcus’s eyes widened and his face went white. “That’s not the bargain you and I made.”

Claire wanted to shake him. Why had she never noticed in Shale how stupid her brother could be?

Eidan brushed a weary hand over his beard. “In other circumstances … but no matter. It must be done. I thought you were like me and that you’d understand that to be a great leader sacrifices must be made. If Kelnarium is to modernise like you and I planned, your sister must go.”

“But you said you’d try to get her on side,” Marcus protested, hurrying around Eidan and crossing the tent to stand beside Claire. “Can’t you keep her tied up and captive until the Beast is ready and then he can send us both back? She’s already admitted she can’t touch the Rift without her friends, and you’re going to kill them.”

Eidan frowned. “Our friend won’t be happy if we do as you suggest, and I can’t have it turning on my people. Not only that, but it also won’t take you to your world unless Lady Claire is dead.” He shrugged at Claire. “For some reason, it really hates you.”

Marcus’s cheeks paled. “You never told me.”

“Because I suspected you would react this way.”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Can you blame me?” He began to untie Claire’s bonds. “I won’t stand by and watch my sister die.”

“The Beast hasn’t told you everything anyway,” Claire said. “It’s told you it can get you home in a big explosion, right?”

“Yeah,” Marcus muttered as with one final tug the rope dropped from Claire’s wrist.

“The Beast cares about its own survival,” Claire went on as she rubbed at her wrists. “It’s an extension of the Rift and knows that if my friends and I close it, it dies. It’s manipulating both of you. The explosion it describes is the one that will destroy your world, Eidan, just as Gwenivere foretold. Do you really want to be responsible for that?”

“You’re lying,” Eidan said coldly. “I have spoken to the Beast myself and know what it intends, unlike someone who relies on the garbled nonsense of magical folk.”

Marcus stepped back from Claire, looking doubtfully from her to his mentor, clearly unable to decide who to believe.

Taking advantage of Marcus’s indecision, Eidan strolled over to Claire, placing his fingers under her chin so she was forced to stare into his eyes. His breath was warm on her face, making her shudder. “The Beast is my friend. It showed me in dreams you’d survived the attack on your grandfather and that you were on your way to Kelnariat with the Maellwyns. Without its knowledge, I would never have known that you lived. You’re trying to put a gulf between us. When Gwenivere first approached me with her latest prophecy, the Beast told me not to trust her, that she was looking for a way to show me up as weak, so I’d lose the capital. She and her kind have always been jealous of my power. I pretended to support her to the hilt, but already I’d made plans …”

Marcus looked troubled. “A creature that demands my sister’s blood doesn’t sound super trustworthy to me. If there’s even the smallest possibility Claire’s correct, we’ve made a terrible mistake.”

“Especially,” Claire snapped as she stepped back out of the range of Eidan’s touch, “when I know you fabricated the story of Dorran bandits ravaging the countryside and small towns. One of your servitor’s saw our uniforms in your chambers in Kelnariat. It was your men attacking your own people, wasn’t it, to set magical users up? Why? They were your friends.”

Eidan’s expression was suddenly as petulant as any naughty schoolkid’s. “They never liked me. It was all an act.”

Marcus looked at Claire, teeth bruising his lip. “Wait. What’s this about Eidan’s men attacking ordinary citizens?’ He switched his gaze to Kelnarium’s leader. “I thought the reason we weren’t asking the magical brethren for help was because they don’t have Kelnarium’s best interests at heart and they’d make me do terrible magical works in their name.” Without taking his eyes off his mentor, he spoke to his sister. “Are you saying that was a lie too, Claire?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Claire burst out, feeling like a lit fuse about to run out. By the Saura, how could Eidan and Marcus both have everything so wrong?

She made herself take a deep breath, running over everything Eidan had just said, the ghost of understanding beckoning. She remembered Gwenivere saying something about Eidan testing to be a Dream Mage and how lucky it had been he’d gotten over his teen grudge when he’d failed to make the grade to learn magic. What if he never had? “You never forgave her, did you?” Claire whispered, staring straight into his eyes.

Eidan’s eyes narrowed, and he stepped back like she’d hit him. “I should have been their leader. I’d have overtaken Gwenivere in a few years, but she saw my power and was afraid. Too threatened to train me, she sent me away.”

“No,” Claire said. “You had the barest glimmer; dangerous to you and others if trained.”

“Wrong,” he screamed, saliva hitting her cheeks. “My grandparents knew. They told me I was my great-uncle, the former leader of the Dream Mages, reborn, and I knew it was the truth. They never lived down the shame I brought them. They spent their remaining days faded and bitter, their family dreams destroyed, and it was all Gwenivere’s fault.”

Claire calmly wiped the back of her hand across her face and shook her head in disbelief. “For ages I thought someone had put you up to persecuting us; Wallis or Heath or someone else, but you did it all yourself, and for such petty reasons. I bet the Beast didn’t have to spend long persuading you Gwenivere’s vision was false. You believed it easily because you wanted it to be so.”

“I detest magic with every fibre of my being,” Eidan spat, pounding a fist against the palm of his other hand. “I’ve dreamt of revenge on Gwenivere, your grandfather, the rest of them who all laughed at me, for years and then the Beast came to me and said it could help me create a world where magic was stamped out, a world like the one you and Marcus are from. I agreed right away and look at how our alliance has paid off.” He laughed. “Take Bron. Once I knew you were on your way to Kelnariat, I enlisted his services immediately, knowing he couldn’t bear to see Alaya threatened. He thought I’d be a pushover when he sent me his letter saying he hadn’t understood the true danger Kelnarium was in. He was deeply shocked when I tortured him to get the information I needed, but he didn’t know he’d been tricked by Gwenivere and all the others. I stand by the Beast. Kelnarium dies if I let magical renegades dictate government.”

“And you’re fine that the Beast told you to murder me.”

“Yes,” Eidan said, but he couldn’t meet her eyes.

Marcus rushed forward before Claire could stop him. “But you told me these magical brethren were out to destabilise the Council. That’s why we attacked them. Are you saying it was all a front so you could get back at them?”

Eidan grinned. “I figured I could have a bit of fun before I stamped them out for good.” He rubbed his hands together. “My grandparents died before I could show them how wrong they were to give up on me.” He paused at Marcus’s growing look of horror. “Look, boy, I like you, but I’m no fool. I knew you’d baulk if I told you everything.”

Marcus stepped backwards, tugging at Claire by her cloak. “I’ve made a big mistake.”

“You haven’t, Marcus. Trust me. I’m your friend,” Eidan protested. “Together, you and I can make Kelnarium great like your world. It’s a shame about your sister, but, well,” he shrugged. “These things happen.”

Marcus stared at Eidan like he’d never seen him before. “But she’s my sister. I can’t let you kill her in front of me. And you’re a terrible friend, keeping secrets from me like you have. You should have told me the truth. If I’d known I would never have encouraged you to go along with the Beast’s plan.” He turned to Claire. “Time to leave, Sis.”

“I like you, Marcus, but you’re getting in my way.” Eidan’s fingers reached under his cloak as he stepped closer to Claire. He withdrew them to show a gleaming, bronze blade in his hand. “Time to say goodbye. I won’t have you ruining my plans when I’m so close to success.”