‘‘I’m fine, really,’’ she said. ‘‘You can leave anytime.’’

‘‘And if the nahwal comes back, they’d have to come get me to climb inside your head and kick the bastard out again, which would take time you wouldn’t have.’’ He folded his arms across his chest, and she worked very hard not to notice the slide of muscle beneath the soft material of his shirt.

Forcing herself to focus on what he’d said rather than how he looked—and since when did that matter to her?—she said, ‘‘You wouldn’t be here unless you wanted to be, so ergo, you want to talk to me about something. So spill it, old man, and get out of my room so I can rest.’’

He scowled. ‘‘I’m only eight years older than you, for gods’ sake.’’

Damned if he wasn’t right, she realized as she did the math. He’d been married and a father at the time of the massacre, but he’d started young. ‘‘What do you want?’’ she persisted, knowing there had to be something.

He shoved a glass of juice across the nightstand in her direction, nearly dumping it on her. ‘‘Drink your OJ. You’ll need the energy.’’

‘‘For what, exactly?’’

‘‘I want you to go back into the barrier.’’

‘‘Wait.’’ She held up both hands, sloshing the OJ. ‘‘Whoa. I thought the point was to keep me away from the nahwal. Now you want me to go back in?’’

‘‘I’ll go with you.’’ He paused. ‘‘We need more information. ’’

Her skin chilled. ‘‘You can’t use the three-question spell until the actual equinox.’’

‘‘I know. That’s why I need you. The nahwal has marked you. It will come if you call, answer if you ask.’’

‘‘Maybe.’’ She paused. It didn’t take a flying leap of intuition to guess where this was going, what he wanted her to do. ‘‘But you need to get something through your thick skull right now. I don’t want to lead the Nightkeepers. I don’t even want to be here. Maybe instead of charging into the barrier, you should be asking yourself why you’re having so much trouble accepting Strike as leader.’’

‘‘Because he hasn’t accepted it himself,’’ said the older Nightkeeper—though he was right, damn it, that he wasn’t that much older than her.

Before, she’d been a teenager and he an adult. Now they were both adults, which gave her the guts to say, ‘‘You don’t have the right to make that call. The kingship passes from father to son unless the line is broken. It hasn’t been broken. Strike is our father’s son. He is king, whether he likes it or not.’’

‘‘He doesn’t want it.’’

‘‘Neither do I.’’ She leveled a finger at him. ‘‘So why put me in the same position and think anything’s going to be different?’’

‘‘Because you’re different.’’

‘‘That’s right. He stayed in the program. I didn’t.’’ Anna gave up all pretense at resting and sat up, pulling the bedclothes up around her in a protective tepee, even though she was wearing light cotton pj’s beneath. ‘‘Don’t depend on me. I’m not the one you want.’’

When he didn’t say a damn thing, she froze. ‘‘That’s it, isn’t it? You want an alliance. Me running the show, with you as my mate. Me for the bloodline, you for the leadership.’’

Shock and betrayal tangled with something darker, more tempting. It might even work, she had to admit inwardly. Jox and the winikin would never support Red-Boar in a bid for power, but they might support her, support the bloodline.

He met her stare for stare. ‘‘You had feelings for me once.’’

She snorted. ‘‘I was sixteen. You were the only guy I knew who was taller than me. Besides, you were mourning Cassie and the boys. That made you safe.’’

Pain flickered across his normally impassive features. After a moment, he said, ‘‘Do you know how long it’s been since I heard that name? Since anyone mentioned them aloud?’’

‘‘This won’t bring them back. Going against succession won’t fix anything.’’

‘‘If your father had listened to Gray-Smoke and Two-Hawk . . .’’ He trailed off after naming the king’s closest advisers, who had normally taken opposite sides in any debate, but had been united in begging him to ignore the visions and wait for the end-time before leading the Nightkeepers to battle.

‘‘That doesn’t mean Strike is wrong now,’’ she said, but wasn’t entirely sure she believed it herself.

His look said he’d caught the hesitation. ‘‘Two jaguar rulers. Two sets of visions that go against tradition, against the prophecies and the writs. How can you not see the parallels?’’

‘‘I see them.’’ She frowned, wanting to support her brother’s born role but not willing to blindly follow tenets she’d learned as a child and walked away from as an adult. ‘‘I’m just not convinced history is always destined to repeat itself.’’

‘‘ ‘What has happened before will happen again,’ ’’ he quoted.

She waved him off. ‘‘Too easy. The world isn’t built on aphorisms and it doesn’t march to the beat of thousand-year -old prophecies. Think about it . . . Godkeeper issue aside, who would you rather have leading the charge, you and me or the rightful king and his mate?’’

‘‘His human mate, you mean?’’

‘‘She’s it for him,’’ Anna said softly. ‘‘Don’t you remember what that felt like?’’ The words brought a faint pang, because she’d found it with Dick, though she couldn’t say for sure they had it anymore.

‘‘Fine. Great.’’ Red-Boar turned his scarred palms to the sky. ‘‘Which just puts us in an even crappier position, because when it comes down to it, he’s going to choose the woman over the gods. We need to stop him from doing something really stupid.’’

‘‘Or you could trust him to make the right decision.’’

‘‘Look where trusting your father got me.’’

And she really couldn’t argue that. He and so many others had trusted Scarred-Jaguar to know what was right, and they’d died for it. Red-Boar might have survived the battle, but everything important that was inside him had been killed that night.

‘‘I won’t lead,’’ she said finally. ‘‘I’m sorry.’’

He sat for a moment in silence, then nodded and stood. ‘‘I’ll let you rest.’’

She waited until he reached the door before she said softly, ‘‘Hey.’’

‘‘Yeah?’’ He looked back, his expression inscrutable.

‘‘Don’t do anything stupid.’’

‘‘Define ‘stupid.’ ’’

The trace of arrogance in his voice reminded her of the brash young warrior all the girls had sighed over, even after he’d married and become a father. More, she remembered how that had changed him, made him a man, even in her childhood perception. ‘‘Before you do anything, ask yourself whether you’ll be proud to own your actions in front of Cassie and the boys when you finally reach the sky.’’

Her only answer was the slam of the door at his back.

Leah slept poorly and woke the morning of the equinox feeling strung-out and twitchy.

It wasn’t just her conversation with Jox that had her on edge, though it hadn’t exactly been fun to have her lover’s defacto father tell her to do the world a favor and kill herself. There was something in the air, itching beneath her skin and making her jumpy. Restless.

Twelve hours and counting.

She opened her eyes to find Strike awake, propped up on one elbow, staring at her as though he was trying to memorize her and commit every last moment they were together to long-term storage in his brain. Or maybe that was what she was feeling.

‘‘We should talk,’’ she said, her voice raspy with morning huskiness.

‘‘Let’s not.’’ He leaned into her and covered her mouth with his, and though she knew it was a stall, she also knew it might be one of the last times they were together.

Opening her mouth to his kiss, she buried her fingers in his thick hair, hooked a leg over his hip, and offered herself to the moment, to the man she wished she could claim as her own. They strained together, touching, tasting, and the heat built as it always did when they were together. Only this time there was an edge of desperation— theirs, the god’s, she didn’t know. But she knew the end was near; she tasted it in the bold possessiveness of Strike’s kiss and felt it in herself—a sense of needing to take a piece of him with her.

Then he shifted against her, poised to enter her, and she saw the question in his eyes. Tears threatened as she nodded and he slid inside without protection, skin on skin, tacit acknowledgment that after tonight it probably wouldn’t matter whether she conceived.

It mattered right then, though. It mattered in the feel of him within her, the sense that she was truly taking him inside her and holding a piece of him close to her heart. She pressed her cheek to his as they moved and found their rhythm, drawing out the pleasure, delaying the moment when they’d have to deal with reality.

Soon though, too soon and yet not fast enough, the heat built; the tempo changed as he thrust and withdrew, thrust and withdrew, pounding into her, racing with her to the peak. They came together with strangled cries and a rush of love so intense Leah almost closed her eyes against it, denying the emotion. But she didn’t. She kept her eyes wide-open, looking into his and seeing the love there. Seeing the heat and the mad glory of what they’d become together.

Then it was past and the heat faded. The world came back into focus around them. And there was no excuse not to have the conversation they were both dreading.

Drawing away from him, Leah touched his cheeks, his chin, the strong line of his nose. When he lifted a hand to do the same to her, she saw his forearm marks, stark black against his skin. She caught his hand and pressed her lips to the glyphs, kissed each one, then kissed the raised weal of the sacrificial scar that crossed his palm.

‘‘Leah,’’ he said, curling his fingers around to cup her face.

‘‘We need to talk about it.’’

‘‘There’s nothing to discuss,’’ he said, his voice going autocratic in a way that was necessary in Strike the leader, but set her teeth right the hell on edge in the bedroom.

‘‘Try again,’’ she said, lowering her voice in warning. Watch your step, Ace.

His eyes went cool, though she sensed the heat within him, knew it was a calculated move. ‘‘I’m going to try to bring the god through into me,’’ he said, like it was no big deal and the obvious choice. ‘‘Jade’s working on finding the transition spell as we speak.’’

Leah’s skin chilled even as anger flashed hard and hot in her veins. ‘‘And you’re just now mentioning this? What do the others think of the plan, given that, oh, there’s a good chance that you’ll turn into a makol? That’s why Nightkeeper males aren’t supposed to enter the Godkeeper ritual, isn’t it? Too much aggression in their psyches, running too close to the darkness.’’

‘‘It’s my decision.’’ But he looked away, not meeting her eyes.

‘‘That’s bullshit and you know it.’’ She grabbed his jaw and turned him to face her. ‘‘You’re not just a guy, Strike. You’re the frigging king.’’

‘‘I’m the king’s son,’’ he said, his jaw setting beneath her fingertips. ‘‘Until I take the scepter, the greatest sacrifice doesn’t apply.’’

‘‘Which doesn’t make it right for you to risk yourself like this.’’ She felt a panicked, trapped fluttering in her chest, a sense that this was history repeating itself all over again. And though she’d wanted him to care enough to buck the prophecy and fight the gods themselves for her, now that he was offering to do just that she saw the desire for what it was: a pretty dream, a selfish wish. It wasn’t a real option, wasn’t truly what she wanted him to do.

‘‘It’s my choice,’’ he maintained stubbornly.

‘‘No. It isn’t.’’ She leaned in hoping he’d listen. ‘‘Think about it rationally. If I . . .’’ She stumbled over the word ‘‘die,’’ found a neutral euphemism. ‘‘If I go before the equinox, Kulkulkan will be freed to return to the sky and you’ll have a chance to bring him or another god through to earth. Alexis could handle it, or Patience. Bonus with her, because she’s already got a Nightkeeper mate.’’

His eyes darkened and his voice went rough with the god’s anger, with his own. ‘‘You want to die?’’

‘‘No!’’ she said quickly, then softer, ‘‘No. But I don’t want to live knowing everyone else’s days are numbered because of me.’’

‘‘How about having a little faith?’’

‘‘This is all about faith,’’ she snapped, hating that they had to fight about this, hating that each of their options was worse than the last. ‘‘I’m choosing to believe that the end of the world is coming, and you and the Nightkeepers are our best chance of stopping that from happening. I’m choosing to believe that there’s a flying-serpent god stuck somewhere between the earth and sky because I’m alive, and I’m choosing to believe my death will free it and give you the best possible chance of stopping the next stage in the countdown, or at least the best chance to bring other gods through and increase your powers to the point that you can beat the Banol Kax.’’ She blew out a long breath, trying to ease the pressure in her chest. Her voice cracked a little when she said, ‘‘If that isn’t faith, I don’t know what is.’’

He slid his hand from her cheek to the back of her head, tangling his fingers in her hair and holding hard, as though he meant to keep her there and never let her go. ‘‘I’m talking about having faith in me. Trust me; I’ve thought this out. Having me cast the transition spell and bring the darkness through is the best answer. Then you and I are the Godkeeper together. Hell, I’m pretty sure I’m halfway there already—what is all this anger I’ve been dealing with if it’s not the dark side of Kulkulkan?’’

It’s you, she wanted to say. It’s your anger, your frustration. But instead she said, ‘‘Whether it’s Kulkulkan or not, the anger is a problem. It’ll make you skew too hard toward the darkness.’’

A muscle ticked at the corner of his jaw. ‘‘I’m strong enough not to turn makol.’’

‘‘You can’t know that, even if you had the spell,’’ she whispered, gripped with fear that his stubbornness and his ego would take him too far. ‘‘It’s too much of a risk.’’

‘‘It’s my decision.’’

‘‘All due respect, no, it’s not, no matter how many times you say it.’’

‘‘Don’t use your cop voice on me,’’ he growled, eyes flashing.

She pulled away from him and sat up, pulling the sheet with her. Anger rising to match his, she snapped, ‘‘Then stop acting like a spoiled prince. Stop ducking the scepter and pretending that’s going to solve anything. You can’t have everything you want—life doesn’t work that way, not even yours.’’

She knew those were fighting words, but part of her wanted the fight, welcomed it. They needed to burn off some of the tension and anger, and if they ended up pissed at each other, it’d be so much easier to do what needed to be done.

But he didn’t fight back. He rose up and gathered her into his arms, holding her close. ‘‘I’m sorry, Leah. I can’t let you do what I know you’re planning.’’ He chanted a quick spell before she could react, and sleep rose up to claim her.

As the grayness rose up to claim her, she slurred, ‘‘Bastard.’’ Then she collapsed, knowing he’d catch her when she fell.

She was going to be pissed when she woke up, Strike knew, and there was a good chance she’d never forgive him for cheating her out of her revenge on Zipacna. But he’d rather have her alive and hating his guts than dead because she’d gotten caught up in a fight that wasn’t even really hers. So he carried her down to the lower level of the mansion, into the storeroom he’d already set up with a bed and chair, makeshift chamber pot, small refrigerator, and a pile of books.

It was the best he could do. And she was going to despise him for it.

‘‘I’m sorry, Blondie.’’ He arranged her on the bed and pulled a blanket over her against the cool of the lower level. ‘‘It’s better this way.’’ He would present himself at the altar beneath Chichén Itzá and offer himself up to take the whole of Kulkulkan, severing the god’s connection to her and bringing all its magic into him. He would be both Godkeeper and Nightkeeper, sacrificing any hope of a future with her for the sake of her safety.

At least, that was the plan. Jade had better hurry up with the spell, though.

Bending, Strike touched his lips to Leah’s cheek, telling himself there’d be time later for them to work things out, for her to learn to trust him. But as he straightened and turned away, it sure as hell felt like he was saying good-bye.

Which was bad enough. Worse was stepping out into the hallway to find Jox standing there, arms crossed, expression thunderous.

‘‘Don’t start.’’ Strike locked the storeroom door with an old-fashioned padlock and stuck the key in his back pocket. Then he fixed his winikin with a look. ‘‘I want your word that she stays put.’’

Jox’s face creased. ‘‘Think about what you’re doing. Please.’’

‘‘I know exactly what I’m doing. Your word.’’ Strike’s chest went tight at the knowledge that this could be the breaking point of his relationship with his winikin, too. Dropping his voice, he said, ‘‘I wouldn’t ask this of you if I didn’t believe. Please.’’

‘‘Your father believed in his course, too.’’

‘‘Your word. Or I lock you in there with her.’’

Jox tipped his head in the barest of nods. ‘‘You have my word. And my disappointment.’’

‘‘Noted.’’ Strike turned on his heel and headed for the stairs, feeling as if the whole world were against him, and not entirely sure he gave a shit.

When Leah awoke, for a moment she thought it was a new day, that she’d somehow made it through the equinox. Then she got a good look around and remembered what had happened in the bedroom. From there, she could easily guess where she’d wound up. Locked in the freaking cellar.

‘‘Goddamn it!’’ She launched herself off the folding cot and hurled herself at the door. ‘‘Strike! Don’t do this!’’

She grabbed the knob, twisted it, and gave the heavy panel a serious hip check.

And went flying out into the hall.

She stopped, stunned, standing in a dimly lit hallway, chest heaving while her brain scrambled to catch up. The door wasn’t locked. Yet Strike had clearly set the room up as her cell . . . which meant someone else had let her out. And she could guess who’d done it.

‘‘Thank you, Jox,’’ she said under her breath, though there was a bite of sarcasm to the words, because they both knew he’d done it so she could kill herself.

Fine, she said as she headed up the stairs as quietly as she could, keeping a sharp ear for any movement up ahead. But I’m not going out alone. If she had to die, she was damn well taking Zipacna with her.

He was going to be at the sacred chamber that evening—it was a given. Strike and the others planned to arrive two hours before the equinox, when the secret door leading down to the hidden tunnels opened up.

Well, she was betting on Zipacna being earlier than that. And she was going to be waiting when he did. Carter had it all set for her—her plane tickets were waiting at the airport, and the weapons and jade-tips she’d paid too much to have smuggled across the border were waiting in a storage facility near Chichén Itzá. She just needed a change of clothes and her passport and she was good to go.

That is, until she, snagged her cell phone, and found a text message waiting for her, sent from an unfamiliar number.

Do you understand yet that the Nightkeepers must kill you to set their god free? Meet me in Pueblo Bonito if you want to live. And the bastard had the balls to sign it, Love, Vince, though he hadn’t used Vince’s phone.

Anger flared alongside adrenaline, and Leah bared her teeth in a triumphant smile. Apparently Zipacna was looking for her, too. Good. That’d save her the trip to Mexico.

Now all she had to do was make sure they both got dead before the zero hour.

Strike knelt on the footprint mat in the sacred chamber that’d been his parents’, pressed his knife-scored hands to the chac-mool where he’d loved Leah the night before, and bowed his head in prayer.

A dull ache thumped at the back of his skull, drumming with his heartbeat. The barrier was thinning—he could feel it in the anger that curled inside him, dark and tempting, and in the heat that flowed in his blood.

‘‘Gods help me make the right choice,’’ he said, hoping like hell they were listening. ‘‘Help me to know the difference between what I want to do and what I ought to do.’’ Those were the right words, the proper ones. But they weren’t at all what was in his heart, and knowing it, knowing he was in serious trouble, he said, ‘‘Kulkulkan. Creator god. There’s got to be a way to save you both. Tell me how. I’ll do it. I’ll do anything.’’

For a moment there was nothing. Then there was a flicker in his peripheral vision. Another. His attention snapped to the obsidian mirror above the altar, where torchlight reflected in strange patterns. Stranger patterns, he realized, than they’d been making before.

‘‘Please,’’ he whispered, and felt the anger stir within him. The power.

The reflected flames stirred. Intertwined. Formed a shape, then a scene, and all of a sudden he was looking at the grad student’s apartment, only not as he’d seen it, but a scene from before his arrival, when the idiot was reading from the codex fragment, his lips moving with the ancient words.

Then the fire picture was gone, and the flames were only flames.

Strike blinked. Blinked again.

And got it. It was the damn transition spell.

‘‘It’s the same spell,’’ he said aloud. ‘‘The makol, the gods. Same transition spell.’’ That was why Leah had wound up hooked to Kulkulkan at the solstice—Zipacna had enacted the transition spell to make himself an ajaw-makol , and in doing so had opened not only the passage to Xibalba, but the skyroad as well.

It was the same. Fucking. Spell. What mattered was the orientation of the user, good versus evil. Only they didn’t have the spell, he realized. Lucius had burned it.

‘‘Damn it!’’ He slammed his palms on the altar and pushed away. Then he froze.

Maybe they did have the spell. Red-Boar had wiped the guy’s memories, which meant he’d experienced them. He’d heard the spell. Odds were, he’d filed it—the brain of a mind-bender was a strange, convoluted place.

Question was, would he give it up?

‘‘Only one way to find out.’’ Strike strode from the royal suite, combat boots thudding as the thick bedroom carpet gave way to the tiled hallway. He hesitated near the stairs going down to the basement, but knew he should stay the hell away from Leah just now. The Nightkeepers were leaving in an hour; they’d be back after the equinox. That’d be soon enough to let her out and try to make amends.

Gods willing.

His heart ached with what he’d been forced to do to her, and with the fear that there wouldn’t be an ‘‘after’’ for them. But he set all that aside—or tried to—burying it deep as he strode out the back to Red-Boar’s cottage and slammed through the door without knocking. ‘‘I need you to—’’

He broke off because Red-Boar wasn’t in his usual spot at the kitchen table. Rabbit sat there instead, his hoodie pulled way down, his shoulders hunched.

‘‘Where’s your father?’’

Rabbit didn’t answer immediately. When he did, his voice broke. ‘‘Kuyubal-mak.’’

Strike stiffened. ‘‘What did you do that needs forgiving? ’’

‘‘I unlocked the storeroom.’’

Everything inside Strike went cold, and he slapped at his back pocket reflexively, finding the padlock key still there. ‘‘How?’’

‘‘He told me not to tell you I can telekine, too.’’ The teen looked up at Strike, his hood falling back to reveal tear-reddened eyes. ‘‘He had me text her cell, too, and tell her to meet him up at Bonito. He said he didn’t want to do it here, after everything that’s already happened.’’

This time Strike didn’t try to fight the rage. ‘‘Do what?’’ he grated out, though he already knew.

Rabbit gulped miserably. ‘‘Kill her.’’

The landscape near Pueblo Bonito was harshly beautiful, and dotted with the remains of soaring stone buildings erected in the first millennium by the Chacoans. Like the Maya, they had been great astronomers and architects. And, like the Maya, theirs had been an incredibly complex civilization that had flourished for hundreds of years—and then vanished within a few decades.

Broken walls made of stone and wood speared up from the ground or crumbled down along cliffsides, and pteroglyphs paid homage to the sun and stars, and as Leah finally pulled up near the Bonito ruins, she felt what she thought was the hum of magic in the air.

She hoped to hell it was because if she had access to the magic as the equinox approached, her chances of killing the makol were that much better.

Although Pueblo Bonito was a national park, and had its own visitors’ center up the road, the ruin itself was deserted. Which she figured was a good thing—witnesses would be a problem with what she was going to have to do next.

Trying really hard to think of it as a tactical exercise rather than the suicide mission it needed to be, she loaded her weapons belt from the knapsack, racking the MACs she’d snagged from the armory and making sure her knives were close at hand for the head-and-heart deal. Then she sat for a second, knowing that once she got out of the Jeep there was no turning back.

Closing her eyes, she sought the mental ghosts that were her constant companions. Matty. Nick. The man she’d known as Vince was gone now, dispelled by the knowledge that he’d been part of Zipacna’s elaborate setup. But the thought of her parents joined the memories of her brother and partner. Strike was there, too, heat existing alongside grief. She knew he’d never forgive her for what she was about to do, but she couldn’t stand by and watch him gamble the world on the slim chance that his crazy plan would work. He risked dooming the world with his stubbornness, and she’d be damned if she let him do it.

‘‘This is the only way,’’ she said, her mouth gone dry with dread.

Then, knowing there was no place for second thoughts where she was going, she focused on the dead, on the ghosts. On the people Zipacna had killed, what he’d done to them. And though she had gotten the lightness of the god, she found her own anger within, and fanned it to a flame. When she was good and pissed, and carrying a cold, murderous rage that she hoped would see her through Zipacna’s extermination and then her own, she got out of the Jeep and slammed the door.

The ruins were spread out in front of her, several acres of walls and doorways, of square rooms and sunken circular kivas connected by mazelike passageways. There was no sign of life save for the cry of a hawk high above.

‘‘You want me to come and get you?’’ she muttered, pulling the MACs so she held one in each hand and felt like a serious badass. ‘‘Then you’ve got it, because ready or not, here I come.’’

She wasn’t wearing body armor and didn’t bother to stick to cover because she knew she had one advantage: Zipacna needed her alive through the equinox. She, on the other hand, needed his ass dead. Thinking herself on the better end of the deal—for the moment, anyway— she set out.

She was three steps from the Jeep when the echoing crack of a gunshot rang out. She heard the whine-thwap of the bullet hit, felt the slap of impact. Then blood bloomed low on her shoulder, just above her right breast. She screamed and grabbed for the wound as she dove for cover, slamming to the ground behind a low wall.

Then she scrambled up, braced one of her pistols with her uninjured hand, and returned fire, aiming low near a crumbling wall where she saw a flash of motion, a swirl of brown cloth, and a familiar sharp-edged profile.

Not Zipacna, she realized. Red-Boar.

Betrayal roared up within her. The bastard had set her up, no doubt guessing what Strike meant to do and deciding it’d be better if she died sooner rather than later. Rage twisted through her—at Red-Boar for trying to kill her, at herself for not thinking clearly and guessing that the text message had been too conveniently timed. The rage bumped up against a building pressure at the back of her skull, and the contact sparked with golden light. With magic.

Her powers were definitely coming back online with the approach of the equinox, but they wouldn’t do her a damn bit of good under the circumstances. She couldn’t kill Red-Boar. Strike needed the older Nightkeeper, needed his power and his knowledge—probably more than he needed her, when she came down to it.

She had to get out of there, but she needed to leave the brown-robed bastard alive. Screaming a curse, she unloaded a full clip over Red-Boar’s head and started running back toward the Jeep. The text message had been a setup, which meant Zipacna wasn’t there, wasn’t looking for her. He was down south, preparing for the equinox. She needed to get to the airport, needed to—

Thunder boomed, and Zipacna appeared in front of her in a swirl of purple-black mist, flanked on either side by two other makol. They slammed to the ground between her and the Jeep. Heart lunging into her throat, Leah skidded to a stop and tried to backpedal. She turned the MACs on them but got only the click of empty chambers. Before she could grab a spare clip, before she could do anything but scream, Zipacna grabbed her. He grinned horribly, his mismatched eyes glowing green. ‘‘You shouldn’t have gone beyond the Nightkeepers’ wards if you didn’t want me to find you, baby.’’

"No!" she screamed, and turned one of the MACs on herself, knowing she couldn’t let herself be taken, couldn’t let them keep her alive through nightfall.

She pulled the trigger. Got a click. Still empty.

Red-Boar’s weapon chattered. Zipacna cursed and turned so the bullets plowed into his flesh rather than hers. He snapped, ‘‘Delay the Nightkeeper.’’ His men scattered, taking potshots toward Red-Boar as they ran.

Then Zipacna tightened his grip on Leah. Power surged around them.

And everything went purple-black.

‘‘No!’’ Strike landed running, heedless of the rattle of automatic weapons, his entire being focused on the sight of Leah covered in blood and struggling in the ajawmakol ’s grip as power whipped and the transport magic took hold. ‘‘NO!’’ he shouted, and flung himself toward their disappearing figures . . .

And landed on his face in the sand, his outstretched hands clutching nothing.

Bullets whined and automatic fire barked, the impact marks walking toward him as two lesser makol fired on him from the shelter of a small stone-walled room.

‘‘Stay down!’’ Red-Boar shouted, and lobbed a jade-packed grenade toward the makol’s shelter. It detonated seconds later, and the gunfire ceased.

Strike didn’t stop to process. He was on his feet and in the room with the two bleeding, shrapnel-stung makol in an instant. He got one by the throat and the other by the scruff and smashed their heads together so hard their glowing green eyes winked out simultaneously. Then he got his knife off his belt and sank the blade in the first one’s chest, carving deep until he could shove his hand in there and rip out the fucker’s heart.

Glory surged through him. Rage. Red-gold light. And for a second, as he held the makol’s heart aloft, he felt like a god.

He did the other one’s heart, then both heads, and roared victory when the bastards puffed to nothingness. Then he sagged and took two shuddering breaths as Red-Boar’s footsteps approached, moving fast.

Leah, he thought, his heart tearing in his chest. Gods, Leah.

Straightening, he grabbed Red-Boar by the throat, spun, and slammed the traitor into the nearest stone wall, hard enough that rocks tumbled and broke free. ‘‘Why?’’ he grated, fury twisting inside him. Despair. ‘‘Why?’’

‘‘Don’t play a bigger fool than you already are,’’ the older man spat, his voice rasping against the choke hold. ‘‘I’m trying to stop you from making the worst mistake of your life.’’

‘‘No.’’ Strike tightened his grip as betrayal and killing rage washing his vision red. ‘‘You’re punishing me for my father’s choices.’’

But Red-Boar’s breath rattled in his constricted throat. ‘‘At least he made his choices. You’re acting like a spoiled brat, sitting around and waiting for a godsdamned miracle.’’

‘‘I’m—’’ But Strike broke off when the accusation resonated too close to what Leah had said to him that morning, when she’d called him an arrogant prince who wanted everything his way. Was that really what was going on? No, he thought. That wasn’t him, wasn’t the man he wanted to be.

But maybe it was what the darkness inside him had made him become, he thought, loosening his fingers and letting Red-Boar slide down the wall.

Kulkulkan’s influence had shaded Leah’s brother toward easy living and self-justification. Was that so different from what his most trusted advisers were warning him against now? Or was that explanation in itself too easy? Was it more comfortable to blame the darkness on the god than himself?

In the end it didn’t matter where it came from, he realized. Because he knew what he had to do about it. He owed it to his people to give them a ruler, owed it to Leah to make choices not just for them in the moment, but for the hope of a future.

It’s time, his father’s voice whispered in his mind, though he couldn’t have said whether it was a message or a memory. But either way, the whisper was right. It was time. Avoiding the scepter hadn’t stopped the prophesied events from coming any more than avoiding Leah had stopped him from falling for her. And turning away from his people now would only cause more destruction.

He was his father’s son, which meant more than a fondness for dreams. It meant the blood of kings ran through his veins, and the duty, the responsibility wasn’t his to set aside.

It was only his to take.