Chapter 49
Chapter Forty-Nine
Clay
Power erupted instantly out of her, sending me stumbling several steps while Ayanna’s dark hair blew back behind her in tangled wisps. The instructor gripped the book tightly in her hands, leaning forward to hold her balance as the magic continued to force us away from Thea.
And Thea...
Her eyes had gone pure white.
She stared ahead, and yet, she didn’t seem to see. She didn’t react when I screamed her name.
And Gods for a moment I was back on that bridge with her, just like we had been last year, back when she was just a stranger threatening my people. Only now she wasn’t just a stranger.
She was my everything.
And it wasn’t fear for my people that drove me towards her, with that desperate protective instinct coursing through me, it was fear for her.
“What’s happening?” I questioned Ayanna, finding my balance and beginning to struggle forward towards Thea.
Ayanna shook her head, ignoring my question as she watched Thea intently.
The blood that dripped from my Goddess's outstretched hand moved unnaturally, circling around her in a hauntingly slow path until it suddenly erupted.
Plumes of startling white flames sparked to life, immediately climbing up her legs and burning away the bottom of her trousers.
The cave instantly heated, and my magic rose in me as it sensed the fire, scales rising under my skin to protect me from the flames.
I would be fine if the fire spread, but the two women with me wouldn’t be.
“Thea!”
An animalistic snarl tore violently out of my chest as I shoved against the magic in the air. I had to get to her. I had to pull her out of those flames before they killed her.
“Get back,” I commanded Ayanna, pushing her behind me as my attention remained focused on Thea.
The flames were climbing up her at a steady pace, stretching up her thighs. She still didn’t react, even as burnt fabric and skin became all I could smell. I choked on the stench of it.
Whatever that spell had done to her, she wasn’t able to fight back against it. She wasn’t able to save herself and I—
I couldn’t lose her.
Not like this, not right in front of me.
For months I’d thought of nothing but this—nothing but her in danger, needing me to help her. I’d had nightmare after nightmare, all of which ended with her lifeless body in my arms. I’d spent every second of my waking life fighting to find her.
I couldn’t have gotten her back just for this.
“Thea, snap out of it!”
Crashing through the force of the magic keeping her from me, I reached forward, my fingertips just barely cutting through the flames to grasp her wrist.
A hand slapped down on my chest, shoving me back.
“Don’t!” Ayanna barked, a commanding sneer on her face.
My Dragon roared inside of me, scales bursting violently through my skin as I met Ayanna’s heavy stare.
Merciless. Knowing. Determined.
She put all her strength into pushing me aside, forcing me to release my grip on Thea.
Forcing me away.
“What have you done to her?” The accusation was a whisper accompanied by the uncomfortable realization that she had known this would happen.
She did this.
Fucking traitor.
“I’ll kill you,” I promised her, the threat laced with an animal growl.
Seeing past that rage was nearly impossible. The beast in me wanted to tear Ayanna apart for her betrayal of Thea and of Athenia. My Dragon wanted her to suffer.
And I intended to see that through, of course, but only after I saved Thea.
I shoved Ayanna’s hand off me, not caring as the woman fell into the rock wall with a hiss of pain. I pushed past her towards Thea to—
Pain.
Complete, indescribable pain.
It shot through every nerve in my body, like an electric storm searing me from the inside out. My knees hit hard on the rock floor, my lungs locking in protest against the magic that was tearing me apart.
Ayanna’s face was expressionless as she stared down at me, holding me in this suspended state of torture while the flames completely consumed Thea. Gasping for air, I stared up at the instructor, seeing absolutely no signs of hesitation or remorse.
Only cold resolution.
Her death would be slow, I decided. Agonizingly slow and unbelievably painful. Done with both my hands and my claws.
“What. Did. You. Do?” I choked out, spit flying as I glared at her, my stare promising a death that would lack any form of mercy.
She looked up at my Goddess, neatly folding the book in her hands. “I did what was necessary.”