ambushed me before the count had even finished.
“Shouldn’t have looked away,” he taunted, twisting my arms behind me with magic-enhanced strength.
If he hadn’t gotten cocky from all our mock duels, that might have worked.
If I were still playing nice, that might have worked.
Instead, I flared my own magical strength, broke his grip, and slammed a disorientation spell at him. In the background, I heard, “Combatant Wraith Woods is out of the duel.”
Acubens staggered away, giving me a moment to breathe. Thank goodness he’d been too focused on me to go after Darshan, who’d completed the three closest points of the pentagon and was venturing behind Arcturus to place the fourth and fifth. At this distance, I couldn’t protect him easily against attack.
Attack. I frantically pumped magic back into my shield as a new burst of higher magic slammed against it. Arcturus was turning to face me, back on the offensive.
“You’ve been hiding your strength, Redbriar.” He sent spears of light arcing my way with a sweep of his hand.
I was too busy chanting a defense to reply. Now that I didn’t need to defend Darshan too, I could tighten up my shield, add to it. This time, I reflected Arcturus’s assault, sending the spears back toward him—
But they dissolved into nothing the moment they got close. I’d barely seen him move his hands.
He stepped toward me. That was bad. I couldn’t let him get out of the magic circle. I shoved a barrier spell toward him, but he spoke a word and flung it aside. He was getting closer. I had to risk an offensive.
I dropped my shield, pulled together my strength, and shouted a new spell, hurling a bright flare of magic at Arcturus. This time, he was forced to take a step back as he deflected it off a shield spell.
But in the same motion, he counterattacked, a new flood of blazing light pouring toward me.
I threw up a new shield, barely in time. He didn’t care. He just kept going, pushing at my shield with his raw, endless power. I felt the heat and pressure of his magic come perilously close to my face, as vast and bottomless as magma. My skin and eyes stung with it, threatening tears.
My shield creaked under the assault, held together with willpower and my fast-draining strength. I was spending too much magic, more magic than I could afford. I ached from it to my bones. How much longer could I last?
Arcturus stared at me through the roil of light, his eyes pale as lightning. “I can keep going for as long as I need,” he said softly. “You’re better than I expected, but I’ve been preparing my entire life to face Priam Redbriar. And you’re not Priam Redbriar. You’re just the inferior replacement I’m forced to content myself with. Even your destruction feels like… a necessary formality.”
I said nothing, staring doggedly back.
“Enough games,” said Arcturus, finally. “It’s time to end this.” His magic crushed down like a vice.
I stared, almost mesmerized, as the magic closed in, burning away my faltering defenses. The surface where Arcturus’s magic boiled against my own crept closer to my outstretched fingertips. Closer. Dimly, I felt its heat.
I’d managed to distract Arcturus for this long. I’d kept myself from looking for Darshan, from giving him away with my eyes.
“Cly!” he cried out, from behind Arcturus.
The heat disappeared. Arcturus whirled, flinging a whip-crack of magic that snapped Darshan’s chin back, dropping him to the ground.
But it was too late. Darshan had put down the last segment of the magic circle.
Arcturus made a ragged sound. I remembered how gut-wrenching the Circle of Reversal had been on me; how much worse was it for Arcturus? The fire faded from his eyes. He swayed, crumpled to his knees, curled in on himself.
But he refused to lie down. His gaze shot around, finding the unobtrusive little stickers that had been beneath his notice. His hands clawed at the floorboards, seeking purchase, shaking with the strain.
He began to haul himself forward, painfully, toward the edge of the circle.
I couldn’t go in the circle myself without getting affected badly too. I raised my hands instead, aiming a blast of magic toward him, hoping to knock him down.
My shot went wide as Acubens slammed into me.
Shadows wreathed him now, the same shadows I’d seen that time in the nearly disastrous practice duel. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” he said, his eyes glittering. “I was putting on my party clothes.”
Acubens had underestimated me earlier; I wasn’t