The Fragile Threads of Power

Alucard, Kell, and Rhy descend to the dungeon to speak to Tes. When they arrive at the cell, it is empty, and the guard tells them the queen took Tes with her.

They find Nadiya chained to the table in her workshop and free her. Alucard realizes that she seems unbothered by what happened and correctly guesses that she is using Tes as bait. She agrees and casts a map spell to see where Tes has gone. Rhy is angry and chastises Nadiya for risking Tes’s life. She retorts that it is a necessary risk and that Rhy is foolish for pretending like his life is not worth more than other people’s lives. He is the king, and this is part of the realities of kingship.

Kell returns, saying that he can’t find Lila. Alucard realizes that it is a moonless night, and she must have gone to find the Hand. Nadiya finishes her spell and reveals that Tes is at the Emery estate. She accuses Alucard of taking the golden chains that allow magicians to borrow each other’s powers, but he denies it, and they both realize the chains have been stolen.

Tes awakes at the Emery estate when Bex and Calin splash her with water. They appear nervous, and she realizes why when she sees Berras. Bex explains that they don’t have the persalis but that Tes can build one. She tries to refuse but Berras force-feeds her poison and explains that she has an hour to live, but if she finishes the persalis, then Bex and Calin will give her the antidote.

Lila finds her way to the library, and Berras enters, though she does not realize who he is. He tells her he knows her identity and hoped that she would come. She tries to use her magic, but the room is warded, and she cannot access her powers. She and Berras then engage in a sword fight, but he slams her head on the desk and knocks her out.

Alucard and Kell race to the address where the Veil is meeting. The doorman tries to deny them entry, but Kell threatens him at knifepoint. He lets them in.

Lila awakes and can see nothing. She panics initially but realizes she is blindfolded. Berras takes off her blindfold and tells her that he has an informant at the Veil, keeping watch for her, the Antari prince, or his brother. She realizes from his comment that he is Alucard’s brother. She knocks her chair over and tries to free herself but realizes her hands are bound with a gold chain and that she can’t reach her magic. He explains that with the queen’s invention, he has access to her Antari power. She tells him that she won’t help him, but he uses bone magic to break her ribs and torture her. While he is doing so, he grabs the ring she shares with Kell and asks her what it is. She doesn’t answer but instead whispers the spell that will let Kell know her location.

Alucard and Kell wander the Veil party but can’t find Lila. Kell’s ring alerts him that she is in danger, so he uses magic to transport them to her. When they arrive, Alucard recognizes it immediately—they are at his childhood home, the Emery estate.

Tes works frantically, knowing that she does not have enough time to fix the persalis. She asks Bex and Calin to give her the antidote so that she has a better chance of finishing it, pointing out that they will also be punished if she fails. They are briefly tempted, but then they hear Berras coming, and she realizes that they are too afraid to defy him. Berras sends Bex downstairs and then leaves to join her, leaving Tes alone with Calin. As she works, Tes realizes there is a solution: She can make a doorway that opens to the place between worlds, or nowhere.

Alucard stands inside the estate, feeling as if he is trapped in his past. When Berras appears, he wonders for a moment if his brother is a ghost. He nods at Kell to find Lila and stays to fight his brother, knowing that this is his battle.

Berras and Alucard begin to fight with magic, and Alucard realizes that Berras is using the chains to borrow Lila’s Antari powers. He holds his own for a while, but then Berras throws him through a wall.

Bex arrives where Lila is held and tells Lila that she is going to kill her, not because she has a grudge against the crown but because it is a paycheck. She is busy talking and doesn’t see Kell arrive. He fights her and wins, killing her with a sword. He frees Lila, but she refuses to let him heal her.

Tes tells Calin she has finished the persalis. He wants to test it and opens it to throw the antidote inside. When it doesn’t reappear, he realizes that she has tried to fool him. She shoves him and he stumbles against the doorway, which sucks him into the void. Everything in the room starts slowly sliding towards the void as well. Tes tries and fails to close it and then loses consciousness.

Alucard finds himself in his father’s study, and he and Berras continue their fight. Berras tells him that he has forgotten what it means to be an Emery and that he is a disgrace to the family line. Alucard ignores him. Even though Berras has borrowed immense power, he is inexperienced in wielding it. Alucard has a lifetime of practice with multiple elements, so he is able to overpower Berras. He decides that it is time to kill his brother and “end the Emery line, once and for all” (599).

Kell and Lila enter the study to see Alucard about to kill Berras, and Lila intervenes. She does not want Alucard to bear the burden of his brother’s death. Berras taunts them, saying that there are more people allied against the throne than he alone. A cadre of palace guards arrive, and Alucard orders them to arrest his brother as the leader of the Hand.

Lila and Kell follow a noise upstairs to find Tes and the doorway. Tes rouses enough to tell them that she didn’t help Berras and then falls unconscious. Bex tries to kill Lila, and Lila throws her through the doorway. She attempts to seal it but can’t. Kell tells her to put on the ring and use his powers as well as hers to seal the doorway before they are all sucked into the void. She manages to do so, but when the door is sealed, Kell begins to scream in agony.

In White London, Serak tells Kosika that he urgently needs to show her something. He takes her to an alley, where there is a shimmering doorway. They worry that this is a sign that the walls between worlds are weakening. She dismisses him and speaks to Holland, who tells her that nothing manmade can last forever.

Tes wakes up in Kell’s room in the palace, watched by Lila. Lila asks her why she didn’t help Berras. Tes retorts that people would have been hurt, and she doesn’t want to be anyone’s tool. Lila is satisfied with the answer and tells her she is calling in a favor.

In Rhy’s rooms, Kell is drugged and sleeping. Rhy explains to Tes that every time he wakes up, he begins screaming. Tes can see the damaged magic around him but worries about healing him because she can see that Kell and Rhy are tethered. Rhy tells her that it is a risk he is willing to take and that they need her to heal his brother. Tes agrees and starts to work.

In White London, Kosika is unable to focus on anything but the crack between worlds and the imminent danger to her people. She can’t see Holland and worries that she has been abandoned. Using a spell that he taught her, she opens a doorway to the Silver Woods, where Holland is waiting. He tells Kosika he has always been with her but does not want her to feel forced into obedience to him. He explains that he is bound to her: He can only go where she goes and see what she sees. He asks her to take him to Black London. She is reluctant, but they travel there. Holland explains to her that the world is empty—Osaron’s fire has finally gone out. He believes that they can rekindle a flame in Black London and bring power to their world again. He kneels to Kosika and calls her his queen, and she agrees that they will do this together.

Kell wakes up in the palace with Ren and her rabbit climbing on his bed. Rhy is overjoyed and sends Ren out so he can tell Kell what happened. He explains that Tes was able to heal him and asks Kell to try to light a candle with magic. Kell is afraid but tries and realizes that his magic is back.

Lila finds the queen in her workshop and uses the chains on her to temporarily steal her power. Lila threatens Nadiya until Nadiya reassures her that the chains were stolen and that she did not willingly give them to Berras. Lila tells Nadiya that she doesn’t trust her, and if Nadiya ever creates something like that again, Lila will kill her.

Alucard descends into the dungeon and says his goodbyes to Berras. He asks Berras if things would have been different if they had grown up in a kinder house, but Berras sneers at him, calling him a disgrace. Alucard leaves Berras behind, explaining that he is going upstairs to his chosen family. He does not look back at his brother as he leaves.

On the Grey Barron, Tes is Lila’s prisoner. Tes worries what her fate will be when they arrive at their destination, the Ferase Stras. When they arrive at the floating market, they meet Maris. Lila tells Maris that she does not have the persalis but that Tes is an improvement. Tes interrupts and tells Maris that she is not an object to be used or manipulated. To her surprise, Maris agrees and offers her an apprenticeship. Maris adds that she has never held anyone on board against her will and that the choice is Tes’s alone.

Tes agrees to stay, and she sets about fixing Maris’ wards, which guard against magical intrusion, as the Grey Barron sails away.

In prison, Ezril comes to visit Berras. She tells him that he was too hasty and made a mess of their plans. He asks her to release him, and she refuses, turning to leave. He threatens her and says that he will tell everyone who his co-conspirators are. She responds by using a sliver of the stone wall to cut his throat, killing him. Then, she goes back upstairs to meet with the king.