In one fluid movement, he jerked the chains up, and I felt them snap, not by force of strength, but by that sweet badwrong pull of his magic that was kept in shades of black and gray and magenta. There was the whisper-roar of his magic, but his mouth stayed shut, not a single word falling from his lips, either in Veranian or the ancient tongue. Morgan could do that. Randall could do that. No one else should have been able to do that, as there were no wizards as old as they.
But for some reason, I could too, though it came in fits and starts.
And now him. This man.
Which meant his power was not a lie.
He stood. The chair scraped loudly along the stone floor.
“Let me at him!” Gary yelled. “I’ll rip his dick off and shove it down his throat so he can tell everyone he fucked his own mouth!”
Tiggy, of course, didn’t let Gary go, but kept a level, cool gaze on Wan.
Wan didn’t pay them any mind.
He turned toward the enchanted glass, that unnerving gaze on me again. I thought about taking a step toward him, but Ryan’s grip on my shoulder tightened, and Randall hadn’t moved from my side. Morgan stood near the door, but he was no longer trying to get inside. And though I only glanced at him for a second, what I saw on his face was something I’d never seen on Morgan of Shadows.
Fear.
Morgan was afraid.
“I can feel you,” Wan said. “Your strength. The power that rolls through you. Tell me, Sam of Wilds, have they made you promises? Has Randall whispered in your ear little secrets about how you’ll be a great wizard one day? Has Morgan put his arm around your shoulders and held you close, telling you that you don’t have to be afraid? Sam. Sam, Sam, Sam.” So quick that I could barely see it happening, he raised his hand and slammed his palm into the glass. It vibrated but did not break. “They’re lying.”
“Who are you?” I asked.
Wan smiled at me, wide and toothy. “I’m the inevitable. The gods don’t deal in partiality, Sam. Did you know that? For every force that fights for good, there is an opposite that pushes against it. And Sam, I am going to push.”
The glass began to crack.
The first was small, minute, the break following along Wan’s middle finger. Then came a second and a third, and then I could hear the glass beginning to break apart.
And before I could think, before I could even come to the decision, I’d already moved forward, standing directly in front of him, the enchanted glass the only thing separating us. Morgan said, “Sam, don’t!” but I couldn’t listen to him. I couldn’t take the chance. I slapped my hand up to the glass, lining it up perfectly with his. There was no other thought in my head but keeping his attention on me and not on my family in the corner behind him, my family shouting out behind me.
Up close now, I could see the differences. I didn’t know if Wan was gone completely or if he was trapped in his own body, screaming to be freed. The skin on his face bulged as if it were trying to make a new shape, shifting and collapsing. His eyes were bright, brighter than Wan’s had ever been. Wan had been a villain, but in the end, he’d been harmless.
This was not a harmless man.
I felt the cracks spreading under my fingertips, and there was green and gold and blue and it was bursting within me, more than I’d ever felt it before. He was pushing, so I did the only thing I could.
I pushed back.
His eyes widened briefly. The smile on his face fell. “I see,” he said. “It’s strong. More than I expected. You are more than I expected. Oh, this is going to be fun.”
“You won’t touch them,” I said through gri
tted teeth. “I won’t let you.”
“Ah, sentimentality,” he said, and the smile came back in full force. It was disconcerting, being this close to it. “I was like that. Until it was taken from me. And once divested from the chains that bound me, I was freer than I’d ever been before. Sam, I am the contradiction. The gods cannot play favorites. I have seen the star dragon. He has shown me the way to bring Verania to its knees. You have a destiny of dragons, but my destiny is you. For I am your contrary, Sam of Wilds. You will stand against me as all tragic heroes do, with your people at your back and mine tilting their faces toward me in benediction. And I will use that to take everything from you. I can promise you that. Then and only then—after everyone you have loved is lost—will I end you. Your cornerstone will be the first. And you will be the last.”
“Monologuing,” I growled. “You’re fucking monologuing. Just like the rest of them. You’re no different than anyone else that’s come before you. You think you’re the first person to threaten me? To threaten my family? You’re not. And I’ve beaten them. Every single one of them. And I will beat you.”
“And that’s where you’re wrong,” he said, leaning forward until his forehead pressed against the glass. “Because there has never been anything like me before. Isn’t that right, little brother?”
I didn’t understand. I didn’t understand because I wasn’t his brother. I never had a brother. It would have—
“There has never been anyone like you before,” a voice said behind me, despondent and weary. “That much is true. It was the very reason we had to do what we did to stop you to begin with.”
My control slipped, just the barest amounts.