The coast of the Rust District was a jagged scar of iron and salty water.

  Elara and Fraucher stood on an elevated platform of rusted grating that groaned over the abyss.

  Below, the sea thundered, slamming into the pillars with a violence that sent tremors through Elara’s shins.

  Jasper and Shawn(Frauchers mates) stood behind Fraucher with smirks of practiced boredom.

  Kaelen loomed in the back, his massive hands trembling-not with fear for himself, but for the girl about to break.

  "It’s almost dawn," Fraucher remarked, turning his face toward the horizon.

  The sky was a bleeding wound of yellow and orange.

  "The sun looks beautiful, doesn't it?"

  It was a moment of fake peace.

  Elara didn't look at the sky.

  She looked at him.

  "Cut the bullshit," Elara’s voice was a low, jagged rasp.

  "Just so we’re clear, I never intended on hurting anyone," Fraucher said, his voice rising in an aristocratic screech. "I admit I went a bit rogue to overthrow that camp, but that was no reason for that puny girl to throw mud at me! I mean, how dare a peasant disgrace my dignity?"

  The air went still.

  Only the rhythmic thud-thud of the waves remained.

  Elara stared at him, and for a second, she didn't see a man.

  She saw a monster wearing a human face.

  "All of you... every single one of you... you’re rotten to the core, aren't you."

  Elara’s hand white-knuckled the hilt of her sword.

  Her face shifted.

  The girl who shared soup with Mia was gone.

  In her place was a mask of raw, unadulterated clarity.

  Her eyes widened, the pupils shrinking into pinpricks.

  "I will make sure... to annihilate... every one of you from the face of this planet."

  Fraucher froze. For a heartbeat, his arrogance flickered.

  He saw it-the look of a person who had truly reached their limit.

  To cover it, he let out a loud, hysterical laugh.

  "A scary woman, aren't you?" His smile vanished. "I won't be holding back. I’ll make sure to send pain to every fiber of your body. Even if you grovel and beg... I won't stop until I’ve stripped you naked and dragged you to the very pub you embarrassed me in."

  He ripped a pouch from his belt.

  Earth-colored marbles spilled out, but they didn't hit the deck.

  They hovered, vibrating with a high-pitched hum as Fraucher’s eyes ignited.

  "Mortis mastery," Elara spat, dropping into a low stance. "Your magic only lets you control one object at a time. It's a defect."

  "Perhaps, for the weak," Fraucher countered. "But if the objects are small enough... " he grinned "I can control more than one."

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  Whoosh! Three marbles shot forward like sniper rounds.

  Elara didn't flinch.

  She swiped her palm through the air.

  Then..a massive wall of water erupted-a shimmering shield of liquid glass from the sea.

  The marbles hit with muffled thuds, their momentum swallowed by the brine.

  Fraucher’s eyes went wide. "AH! The runaway daughter of Lady Vespera! The fool who left her title to live among the scum! I believe...I found the loser."

  He formed a spinning ring of marble'a lethal frisbee that whistled as it flanked her water wall.

  Elara threw up another barrier, but the ring spun faster, drilling through the liquid.

  SLOOSH! The ring punched through and slammed into Elara’s ribs.

  She was thrown backward, her body arching as she plummeted into the freezing, dark sea.

  "A Thalassa can only control what's around them," Fraucher smirked, raising his marbles high. "Say hello to my little friend!"

  The marbles dove into the water at terminal velocity.

  BOOM.

  Impact plumes of white foam sprayed the air.

  Fraucher waited for the red stain.

  He waited. But nothing surfaced.

  He tried to recall his marbles.

  He tugged at the psychic tether, his face straining, the veins in his neck bulging.

  But inside the water..Elara was the center of a storm.

  She had seized the sea around the stones, increasing its viscosity until it was as thick as cooling lead.

  She breached the surface, her face unreadable, water streaming down her skin like tears of ice.

  She didn't gloat. She looked at him with the eyes of an executioner.

  "Don't think the water is harmless Fraucher" she whispered. "You're gonna need a bigger boat."

  She raised her hand.

  A massive sphere of seawater erupted, perfectly encasing Fraucher’s head.

  He lunged upward, clawing at his face, his fingers passing through the liquid as he tried to grab a sphere that had no solid form.

  He collapsed, thrashing on the iron, his muffled screams bubbling inside the orb.

  "Wait! Wait!" Jasper and Shawn rushed forward, frantic. "We admit defeat! Let him go!"

  "He hasn't apologized yet," Elara replied, her voice as cold as the depths.

  "Killing him would anger Lord Valerius!" Shawn screamed.

  Elara’s eyes didn't flicker. "At the door of death, everyone apologizes. I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse. Cut off his finger. And I'll let him go."

  "What! Are you—"

  "You can choose which one, but you better hurry."

  The panic was electric.

  Jasper pinned Fraucher’s hand while Shawn drew a jagged blade.

  In a blur of steel and bone, they took the pinky.

  Whilst Fraucher let out a silent, underwater wail of agony.

  Elara dropped the sphere.

  Fraucher hit the deck, spewing salt water, his chest heaving in violent hitches.

  Elara propelled herself back onto the platform, landing with a heavy, wet thud.

  "Now get out of my sight, before I change my mind."

  Jasper reached for the finger.

  "Leave it!" Elara commanded. "It's either your heads or that finger."

  Jasper backed away, trembling.

  They dragged the broken Fraucher away who was probably shouting out words that were best not said.

  Elara watched them go, then kicked the finger into the sea.

  She turned to Kaelen.

  The giant was a statue of shock.

  Elara walked toward him slowly, her movements heavy with exhaustion.

  The "devil" inside Elara was gone, replaced by the weight of the inevitable.

  "Elara... since when could you use magic?"

  "A couple of weeks," she said, her voice hollow.

  "That control... it was abnormal," Kaelen whispered.

  "C'mon, Kaelen," Elara replied, looking at the distant palace.

  "I’m Lady Vespera’s daughter. It's in my blood." She paused, her eyes hardening.

  "Besides... a new problem has emerged. The royal family knows who I am now. Frankly Kaelen, I don't give a damn. But things are about to get complicated."