Lahja’s chest and his eyes drift to me, full of accusation. “Elli, do you have any idea how dangerous and unbalanced he is? He’ll kill us all. He was never meant to walk free. What have you done?”
There are so many things I could say to that, but none of them seem important as I stare at the tiny figure huddled against the elder’s round belly. Her red dress is damp at the hem, and her slippers are sodden. Her rosebud lips are trembling with terror. “I’ve come to take the Saadella,” I say. “She belongs with me.”
“She belongs with the Valtia,” Kauko snarls, his lips peeling back to reveal the blood on his teeth.
“And you plan to use the girl to lure her in,” Oskar says, his voice a blade.
Kauko looks Oskar up and down. “Ice wielder.” He blinks as the temperature in the tunnel drops suddenly. There’s a glimmer of surprise in his gaze, but I swear, I see hunger as well.
“Kauko,” I bark, drawing his attention back to me. “We’ll let you live if you release her.”
Blazing heat courses up my arm, but Sig stays quiet.
Kauko backs up a few more steps. Lahja whimpers. “I don’t know how you convinced all these wielders to follow you, but you’re an impostor,” he says. “You only want her to make a false claim on the throne. You shouldn’t even be involved in this!”
Sig takes another sudden step forward. It feels like my arm is caught in the jaws of a bear, tugging relentlessly at the power I harbor in my hollow chest. “She’s far from an impostor, Tahvo,” he says.
Kauko’s eyes widen, but then he controls his surprise. “I haven’t heard that name in a long time.” His smile becomes a grimace of anger. “Raimo took something that belongs to the priesthood. I’d like it back.”
Power pulses from Sig, and it smells of hatred and a deep, bitter need for vengeance. His pale body glows in the darkness of the tunnel, like he’s lit from within. “Oh, I’ll give it back,” he says in that familiar, shaky voice.
“Sig,” I say, trying to rip my hand from his as I feel his magic drawing from the well inside me.
“Sig,” shouts Oskar as we both feel the heat. But as he reaches for Sig, the fire wielder twists and sends a blast of devastating flame right at Oskar, who’s thrown against the tunnel wall, stunned and smoking.
Sig drags me out of Oskar’s reach, and it’s as if he’s scraping his fingers along the inside of my ribs, scooping up the power and preparing to hurl it at the elder. Only a few minutes ago, I was able to prevent Aleksi from using me as his weapon, but Sig’s hatred and determination are pure. His magic is sharp and cutting, hungry as a wolf—and has no balance to temper it. I pull back with all my might, but I can’t stop him.
Kauko’s mouth drops open as Sig stalks forward with me jerking at his hand, trying to wrench myself away. Lahja shrieks when she sees the fire in Sig’s eyes. She falls to her knees, finally free, as Kauko grits his bloody teeth and raises his hands to defend himself.
It won’t matter. Sig is a volcano. He’s a raging fire. It’s all he is.
And Lahja is helpless as he descends. Her heart pounds in my ears. Her fear crystallizes like a diamond in the center of my chest.
I will not play a part in her death.
I have a will. And I’m not Sig’s weapon to wield.
I stop resisting his pull. With a desperate lunge, I round on him. My left hand remains clamped in his right, but I wrap the three fingers of my right hand over the cuff of Astia on his left arm. We become a circle of flesh and bone.
Right as the magic erupts.
Sig arches as his own fiery power loops through me—and back into him. My mind fills with roaring light. The world goes silent and golden, and the pain singes along every inch of me. The magic moves like lightning, circling through the Fire Suurin and back into me, over and over, heightening, winding tight, until finally it explodes. I’m thrown backward as Sig is torn from my grasp. My back slams into cold rock.
I’m blind. The only thing I can see is white.
“Lahja!” I shriek, clawing at the air as pebbles pelt my belly and face. Is she hurt? Did we kill her?