“I asked you a question.”
“B-back at the vehicles,” the mercenary stammered. “Command unit, in the back. It’s — it’s too big to carry, they had to — ”
I released him and let him slump to the wet ground, where he lay moaning. The power was still singing through me, demanding more, demanding that I ride this wave of fire to its natural conclusion and burn away everything that threatened the people I loved. It would be so easy. Gregory’s mercenaries, his drilling equipment, his entire operation — I could feel it all through my connection to the ley line, could sense exactly where to strike to make it all stop.
But somewhere beneath the fire, I was still Sidney Lowell, still the woman who had chosen to offer Sonya Rosenthal a chance at redemption instead of the vengeance she deserved. I was still the guardian who had sworn to protect, not destroy.
I let the power go.
It drained out of me in a rush, leaving me hollow and shaking, my knees buckling as the normal laws of physics reasserted themselves. Ben caught me before I could hit the ground, his arms wrapping around me with a strength that seemed impossible given how depleted he’d been moments before. His scars were blazing silver-blue against my gold, our bioelectric fields tangling together in a feedback loop that steadied us both.
“Sidney.” His voice was raw with concern. “Sidney, are you okay?”
I wasn’t sure how to answer that question. The display of power had cost me something — I could feel it, a hollow space inside where the fire had burned too bright — but I was alive, and my family was alive, and the mercenaries were scattered across the clearing in various states of unconsciousness.
“My dad,” I said instead of answering. “Is he — ”
“Emily and Priya are working on him.” Ben helped me stumble toward the rocky outcrop where the others had taken shelter. “They’ve slowed the bleeding, but he needs real medical attention. Soon.”
I knelt beside my father, ignoring the way my legs threatened to give out beneath me. His eyes were closed now, his breathing shallow, but his hand found mine when I took it, his grip surprisingly strong for a man who’d lost so much blood.
“That was…impressive.” His voice was thin, but I heard the smile in it. “Didn’t know you had that in you, Sid.”
“Neither did I.” I squeezed his fingers, felt the coolness of his skin, the irregular rhythm of his pulse beneath the surface. “Just hold on, okay? We’re going to get you out of here.”
“Been holding on for seventeen years.” He coughed, and a fleck of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth — not a good sign, not good at all. “Waiting for…for the right moment to come back.”
“Dad — ”
“I know I did it wrong.” His dark eyes opened, finding mine with an intensity that made me ache for him. “Left when I should have stayed. Watched from the shadows when I should have been in the light. Made excuses…for cowardice.”
“You weren’t a coward.” The words escaped my lips before I could stop them, before I could examine whether I actually believed them. “You were trying to protect us.”
“I was protecting myself.” His voice was fading, his grip on my hand weakening. “From having to watch you face things I couldn’t fight. From feeling helpless. That’s not…that’s not the same thing.”
I thought about all the years of anger, all the nights I’d lain awake wondering why my father didn’t love me enough to stay. All those canceled checks in my grandmother’s files, the surveillance network he’d built, the way he’d engineered Ben’s arrival in Silver Hollow to give me the ally he couldn’t be himself. And now he’d taken a bullet for my mother, making that sacrifice without hesitation when the moment demanded it.
“I forgive you.”
The words surprised me as much as they seemed to surprise him. His eyes widened slightly, and for a moment I saw something break in his expression — a wall coming down, a defense he’d maintained for so long that he’d probably forgotten it was there.
“Sidney….”
“I forgive you,” I said again, and this time the words felt solid, felt real, felt like something I actually meant. “For leaving. For the silence. For all of it. You made mistakes, but you also spent seventeen years trying to make up for them in the only way you knew how. And tonight, you saved my mother’s life.” I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his forehead, tasting salt and rain and the metallic edge of blood. “That has to count for something.”
He didn’t say anything. Maybe he couldn’t. But his fingers tightened around mine, and I felt how the world had changed during the past couple of minutes. It wasn’t absolution, but the beginning of it. The first steps on a road we might actually be able to walk together.
If we both survived the night.
“We need to move,” my grandmother said gently. She’d been watching our exchange, her sharp gray eyes soft with the kind of emotion she rarely allowed herself to show. “The mercenaries won’t stay down forever, and Finn needs surgery. Real surgery, not field medicine.”
She was right. I forced myself to my feet, swaying slightly as exhaustion and power-depletion competed for dominance in my nervous system. Ben steadied me again, his presence a constant warmth at my side, and I let myself lean into him for just a moment before straightening.
“The portal site,” I said. “It’s our only option. If I can reach the ley line there, maybe I can — ”
“You can’t do anything else tonight.” My grandmother’s voice was firm. “Sidney, I felt what you just channeled. That kind of power leaves damage. If you try to access the network again before you’ve recovered….”
“Then I’ll deal with those consequences when they come.” I met her gaze, saw the fear and pride warring in her expression. “But I won’t let my father die because I was too cautious to take a risk. Not after everything he just did.”