Living through our past lives healed what Dr. Henderson broke, but it did not yet yield what we needed most–new weapons to fend off Malach or knowledge to gain an advantage over the gods.

  We returned to battle while Leif stayed home to train Elsie, and continued to think about the trajectory of our past lives.

  In our first life, Dr. Henderson didn't allow Piercey a path to rising up in that life. The instructors punished him for what I did. They tortured him. That lift really happened. It wasn't simply a dream or a hypothetical. My friend really suffered this way in a past life. It made me feel sick.

  The reminder of the cruelty of those in power who didn't care for others reminded me never to forget what Malach could do to us.

  He and the strange cult wanted war, and so we brought it to them.

  Once again, we met his men on their march to our lands, confronting them at the border of Skia Hellig and the lands beyond.

  His army mixed together those with and without power, just as we now did, allowing our warriors to fight as one great body. I hated to unleash myself upon anyone unable to defend themselves, but no longer could I allow such sentiments to take hold of me, especially now that our enemy possessed a new and devastating weapon.

  Piercey and all those able to help him studied the poison even now as we fought, but while we waited for answers, we needed to assume any weapon might render our energy inert. Nash instructed our warriors never to rely on energy shields, but to return to shield and physical weapons for defense.

  Our warriors converged upon the enemy army in an all-out assault.

  Nash carried me high in the sky so we eclipsed the sun and anyone who cared to aim their weapons would have to look into its brightness to see us.

  I raised my arms and amplified my voice. My words boomed over the battlefield, shaking the tree limbs in the distance. "Flee now if you wish to live."

  With Nash close, I easily sought out the connection of his power, and for the first time in real combat, we melted our mind and energy together.

  Our power poured into one another. Every inch of my skin tingled with the overwhelming sensitivity of such a deep connection. Nash eased away from me and I remained floating in the air.

  We drifted further apart, looking down over the battlefield, and our people who poured all their grief from the attacks against our enemy. Nash and I didn't need to speak anymore than we needed to tell our lungs to draw in breath. As one, we both spoke at the same time, now on opposite ends of the battlefield, still hovering in the air.

  "Leave Skia Hellig." Our voices, strengthened by our combined power, flushed over the battlefield in a gust that whipped the sleeves of tunics and ruffled the feathers of arrows. I felt the vibration deep in my chest. "Never return."

  Our people roared in response and tore at the enemy with their weapons.

  A beam of energy shot for me and I teleported out of the way, gathering my own power into my hands. I felt the heat feel Nash's palms as well. We drove our power for the back of the enemy lines away from our people. My heart twisted with grief at the sound of screaming as our energy broke through energy shields and melted the skin of our enemy.

  More warriors focused their attention on Nash and me, but our commanders reinforced us as we reigned our power down upon the warriors from the sky. Nash and I seamlessly teleported as we shared our powers.

  It felt like cheating to fly above the battle and attack even those without power, but Malach's kingdom and army was far larger than ours. That didn't even consider the other kingdom's partnering with him or the cult.

  So I reigned terror upon them as much as I did my own power. I sensed the fear rising up in the enemy when a warning flooded my heart.

  I sensed the incredible energy before even hearing from one of our commanders.

  Malach was here.

  Why he hadn't revealed himself before now, I didn't know.

  Nash and I teleported to where I sensed the energy and both stopped right in front of him, releasing our connection to one another. I breathed heavily from the energy of all we'd done.

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  Malach's gaze shifted between the two of us. "No one told me of this trick of yours. You've frightened some of my warriors."

  The tips of Nash's swords dug into the ground as he stalked forward, kicking up a cloud of dust on the dry, windy day. Apparently, he wasn't waiting around to talk.

  I didn't move, my glare locked securely on Malach's. I needed to see him move. Nash once taught me the importance of letting the other strike first. My husband lost his patience, though, after this man nearly killed Elsie and me in the attacks.

  Malach's frown slowly twisted in a sneer and he raced forward, past Nash and Wren, directly for me. Both warriors turned to attack from the sides, but Malach didn't even block. Their weapons skimmed as uselessly off his arms as if they assaulted him with blades of grass instead of steel powered by their energy.

  With his strength and size, I expected him to move slowly, such useless logic leftover from the primitive part of my mind that made assumptions power rendered very fallible.

  I'd never seen someone get past Nash like that. It stunned him as well. He pursued, but I knew Malach would reach me first.

  I raised my palms and drew energy into each, recognizing that I needed to throw more at him than I expected. He reared his fist back and I shot the two balls of power at his center.

  My energy exploded against his chest moments before he drove through the attack to slam his fist into my face. I no longer needed to rely upon full shields to protect myself. I steeled myself against his attack rather than teleporting or dodging because I wanted to feel his strength. I wanted to experience what he could throw at me.

  I suspected he'd done the same when he let my energy slam into his chest.

  Still, pain bit into my temple and a thin trail of blood started down the side of my face. I saw no evidence of any injury on my enemy.

  Malach twisted and caught both of Nash's blades with his bare hands.

  "My chest stings, Eclipse." Though I couldn't see Malach's face, I heard the grin in his voice. The excitement. "What incredible power."

  Horror flooded me at the sight of Malach stopping Nash's blades like that. I lunged forward with my blade swinging ahead of me. It bounced off his back. My sword vibrated in my hand. I felt like I'd struck a mountain.

  Nash flew up in the air, spinning on his way up, the dusty air gathering loosely about him. On his final spin, he lobbed an arc of his acidic power at Malach. The man knocked swatted it away with his hand.

  Close-ranged combat didn't work against this beast of a man. If Nash's swords failed against him, then what attack within arm's reach would be worth remaining so close to him? That punch alone might kill one of my friends with less power than me and I was confident he held back.

  My awareness reached for Nash and called for him. He opened himself up to me and the warmth of his presence flooded my entire body.

  I raised in the air, mirroring his stance. We needed no words or thoughts. On our shared instinct, we drew upon our combined energy in our palms. Malach twisted to look at me with a grin as Nash and both unleashed our energy upon him at the same time.

  He raised his forearms to block the attack, grunting and laughing at the same time as the force of our power shoved him a step back.

  "Incredible," Malach cried. "Absolutely incredible."

  The energy fizzled, leaving his skin reddened, but unbroken.

  I didn't need to look at Nash to sense the worry that filled him just as it did to me. Wren advanced for Malach, but Nash and I shouted as one.

  "No!"

  She skidded to a stop as our enemy's gaze found her. The grin morphed into something viscous and hungry.

  I teleported to Malach between him and Wren. Nash appeared beside me at the same time. We grabbed his arms and took him far away from our people.

  Malach stumbled away from us and raised his eyes to see the towering mountains in the near distance. "Where are we?"

  "The other side of the world," I said. "Where you can't touch my people."

  "Will you abandon me here? That's an intriguing idea."

  "We're going to kill you here," Nash said.

  Wanting to conserve energy, we allowed our connection to break and the coldness of him leaving wrapped around me.

  I didn't need to see anything else. Malach was far stronger than I anticipated and I feared that my attacks might continue to simply bounce off his body. His defense was impenetrable and he hadn't even started attacking yet.

  No time to waste.

  I gathered my energy into the tips of my pointer fingers and focused upon making it as dense as possible.

  The heavy pinpoint of energy glowed with the deepest shade of crimson, pulsing with far more power than I ever summoned for this attack before. This time when I aimed, no fear flickered inside that I might lose control. I hoped desperately I did.

  Where a burn spread along my body before, now a chill filled in the void left by the escaping power. My pointer fingers blazed with the fire. I looked into Malach's eyes and shot directly for his heart. No way he'd manage to dodge at this distance when my shot traveled so rapidly.

  Excitement and hope flared inside of me as my fingers chilled from the release of the power. The crimson ball pierced his shield, immediately dissolving it, and slammed into his chest. I held my breath, waiting to see the damage, wondering if he'd even utter a last word or just die instantly before my eyes.

  Except the dense ball of energy merely thudded against his chest and spun in place against him. The faint smell of singed leather and skin filled the air as it burned against him.

  My heart sank into my stomach. Impossible. Absolutely impossible.

  A high pitched giggle drifted from behind me. Still connected with Nash, I sensed the source even though I didn't take my eyes off of Malach.

  Wavy auburn hair crept out from beneath a dark hood, lying over thick robes. Cleo stalked for us with a bounce in her step.