"Arthur, if you want to fight, we can fight. But not here." Liam changes tactic. He knows Arthur is not in his right mind, and if Arthur wants a fight, Liam will give him one. Just not here. Not with Theo in the room.

He just needs to get him away from Theo.

Arthur looks at him lazily and sneers. "If you think you can go against me, Monfort, you’re making a big mistake." His tone is full of mockery.

"You’re not strong enough for me. Even you know that."

Liam swallows hard. Arthur is not wrong. But he would never say it out loud.

Sonia, standing to the side and taking all of this in, is close to having a heart attack. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

Monfort?! This man is a Monfort?!

She looks at Liam with an entirely different set of eyes now. Judgment and accusation written plainly across her face.

Liam doesn’t notice. He is too busy keeping Arthur talking.

"Then it should be even more fun for you, right? I mean, you’d win every time. That’s fun for you, isn’t it, Art?" Liam keeps talking, keeps distracting. He does not like the aura rolling off Arthur right now. Not one bit.

He keeps stealing glances at Theo, checking that he is still okay. He has no attention left over for Sonia and whatever shift just came over her.

"You’re a Monfort?" Sonia suddenly exclaims.

"What?" Liam answers, distracted.

"Are you a Monfort?" She repeats.

"What does that have to do with any of this?" Liam is annoyed.

"It has everything to do with everything! I see it now. You’re Liam Monfort. Son of Linus Monfort. Heir to Monfort Industries." Sonia says.

Liam turns around when he catches the animosity in her voice. His mouth falls half open.

"Yes, I’m all of that. And again, what does that have to do with what’s happening here? Why are you angry about it?"

He shakes his head. "You know what, forget it. Do what you want. I need to deal with Arthur."

He shifts his attention back to Arthur, but Sonia is having none of it.

"Don’t you dare ignore me!"

When Liam doesn’t turn back, she scoffs.

"Typical. Very typical of a Monfort. Disrespectful, the whole lot of you."

Liam’s eyes go wide. "What in the world are you talking about? Hey. I don’t know you. You came in here and literally destroyed our home." He gestures between Arthur and himself. "In case you haven’t noticed, we have a situation here. I don’t have time to argue with you."

"Between you and him? I pick him." Liam says, turning toward Arthur.

Theo blinks. Why is she suddenly snapping at Liam like that? She clearly has some kind of issue with the Monforts.

But as Liam said, now is not the time to lose focus. The threat named Arthur is still very much present.

And Arthur does not like being ignored.

"Monfort. All talk and no action. Come at me and prove you’re worth anything." Arthur suddenly launches a fire pillar straight at Liam.

Liam is ready. He blocks it with his Water. He cannot dodge, not without letting the fire take the room.

Sonia stares, genuinely shocked. She had read this as a heated argument between friends. But that fire pillar is not a warning shot. The room temperature is climbing fast.

On the edge of Theo’s vision, Maeve sways because of the heat. He starts making his way toward her, carefully, splitting his attention between her and the fight. He still believes she is the best way in. His body does not move as fast as he needs it to.

Before he can reach her, Arthur clocks that Theo is moving. He sneers and fires a fireball directly in front of Theo’s path, cutting him off.

"Are you insane?!" Liam’s voice cracks. He goes pale watching the fireball arc toward Theo. But he cannot move. He is still holding Arthur’s Fire back.

He knows he cannot stay on defense forever. He needs to push Arthur back, put him on the back foot.

He calls more of his Water forward and shapes it into several large bubbles. His goal is not to attack. It is to smother Arthur’s Fire, drop the temperature, and stop the room from burning.

He launches the bubbles to envelope Arthur, trying to contain him.

Arthur is not going to stand for that. He drives his Fire hotter, pushing to vaporize Liam’s Water before it can close around him.

They go head to head.

Liam grits his teeth. Sweat breaks across his skin. He can feel the heat more acutely than anyone else in the room, but he cannot give ground.

I need to make the water colder.

While Liam pours everything he has into holding the line, Sonia stands watching him with the same hostility she has carried since she first heard the name Monfort.

I can’t believe I’m actually looking at the Monfort heir. Such a despicable family.

She clenches her jaw. And for one fraction of a second, she lets the hatred in.

I wish all Monforts would die.

One fraction of a second. That is all it takes.

The corruption slips into Sonia’s mind, silent and undetected.

The next second, Sonia calls her Light forward. "Luxtra veniar. Valkar draeven."

Theo freezes completely when he hears it. He snaps his head toward Sonia and sees four spears of light hovering around her. The next second, they launch forward.

Toward Liam’s back.

Theo has no time to think. Instinct takes over. He knows that if those spears hit Liam, the damage will be serious.

He is only a few steps away. He does the only thing he can.

He throws himself between the spears and Liam.

No one has time to do anything.

Liam does not see it, but he feels the attack coming from behind. By the time he turns, Theo is already pierced.

Maeve sees it. For the first time since the confrontation began, her brain snaps awake. So does Julian’s.

But it is a different matter for Arthur.

Something does snap inside him too. Just not in the right way. Every effort he has been making to fight the corruption collapses in an instant.

His Fire erupts. Hotter than before. And its color is no longer reddish orange.

It is ice blue.

Under the worst possible conditions, Arthur has just broken through to a new realm of his Fire.

After that, everything happens in slow motion.

Theo falls. Julian lurches forward and catches him. Maeve screams and rushes over.

Arthur sees red.

His Fire burns hotter and brighter.

Pain drags Liam back from the shock of watching Theo go down. He needs to contain Arthur. But he can feel his Water vaporizing faster than he can replenish it.

Sonia stands frozen. She never meant to hurt anyone. But she did. Her eyes are wide with horror and she cannot move.

Julian is on the floor, holding Theo, who is gasping for air.

"Thea! Thea!" He calls out.

Maeve drops to her knees beside them, her healing Light already rising from her hands.

"Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay." She chants through her tears.

Theo coughs up blood.

"Oh my God, Thea!" Julian’s voice breaks.

"Don’t you die!" Maeve cries at the same time.

Liam’s concentration fractures. His panic takes over. Most of his Water is already gone. What remains of his bubble is riddled with holes.

Arthur is beyond fury.

He is pouring everything into destroying Sonia. The problem is that Theo is directly between them.

Arthur does not see that. He sees only Sonia. Everything else has ceased to exist for him.

Everyone in the room can feel his wrath on their skin, in every breath they take.

------------------------------

Hawk finally reaches the sixth floor balcony, having climbed the building in the middle of a storm with broken ribs.

The first thing he notices when he gets there is not the absence of wind or rain or sound.

It is the heat.

Relentless storms always carry cold air with them. But on this balcony, the air is so hot that the rain evaporates before it can land. The balcony is as dry as a desert.

Hawk uses fire too. But this heat is something else entirely.

"What in the world is happening here?"

He sees the large hole where the window and balcony door used to be, covered by some kind of force field.

He cannot hear much through it, but he can see.

He steps forward and carefully peers inside.

What he finds nearly stops his heart.

"Thea!"

Theo is lying on the floor, his head supported by Julian Montrose. Maeve Collins is kneeling beside them, a pale green light pooling in her palm, pressed against Theo’s chest.

And Theo...

There is blood soaking his chest. More at the corner of his mouth and down his chin.

"Thea!"

Hawk pounds on the force field with both fists, frantically searching for a way in.