Chapter 43 #2
Any attempt Elashor made to erect a mental barrier was too slow. Too flimsy. Jassyn ravaged those fragile defenses, rampaging like a bull. He charged further into the general’s awareness, blocking Elashor’s power before he could assemble a counterstrike.
Twisting his wrist, Jassyn stripped control from Elashor, taking over his body. Jassyn bent the general’s limbs with his mind, forcing him to hold his sword to his throat.
“I should make you do it,” Jassyn whispered through his disbelief, his voice snatched away by the wind. Forming a fist, lightning flared and slithered across his skin.
Jassyn stalked up to Elashor, chaining the general’s legs to the ground with sparks. A swell of anger barreled through him, imbuing his words. “I can see inside your feeble mind.”
Body trembling, veins thrashing in his forehead, Elashor snarled as he fought the sword. But the general’s physical strength was no match for the magic at Jassyn’s command.
He could control everything.
He could end everything.
“It seems so simple now.” Something vengeful had Jassyn tilting his head, a predator for once, cornering defenseless prey.
“I can snap my fingers and make you sever your own throat.” He snapped.
Elashor gritted his teeth in response, pushing the sword deeper into his neck, skimming skin to draw a thin stream of blood.
“But you already know that, don’t you?” Jassyn spun sparks in his palm. “What else do you know?”
Show me what the king is planning, Jassyn seethed into Elashor’s mind.
Images unfolded, incomplete thoughts Elashor battled to withhold, discussions with—
Someone snatched his shoulder, startling Jassyn out of the telepathic assault. Blinking rapidly, the prince came into focus.
“Easy, Slayer,” Vesryn said, squeezing Jassyn’s arm, anchoring him back into his own mind.
Jassyn’s eyes whipped to the soldiers. A blanket of rending enveloped them like fog, shackling them to the ground. Clarity returned slowly as he caught his breath. Stars, what was I doing?
He refortified the telepathy and lightning constraints on Elashor, restricting access to his magic and body. Despite his defeat, the general sneered, lips opening to speak. Jassyn yanked the words out of his throat, silencing him.
Vesryn tugged Jassyn’s elbow. “We’re leaving.”
The prince spared Elashor a dismissive glance before his eyes sharpened on Jassyn’s forehead. Reaching out, he cautiously brushed Jassyn’s curls aside. Jassyn winced when Vesryn’s fingers trailed over the bloody cuts.
The prince’s confusion quickly morphed into realization. His attention ricocheted to Elashor and then back to Jassyn, face twisting with fury. Shadows exploded, mirroring the roiling tempest, encompassing the three of them in a raging gale.
Vesryn faced the general, still fettered with sparks, kneeling on the ground. Jassyn dashed to seize the prince’s elbow when he stalked forward, shadows churning in his wake.
“I’ll kill him,” Vesryn snarled, ripping out of Jassyn’s grip.
“He’s not worth it,” Jassyn urged. “If we do anything to him, someone else will just take his place.”
Nostrils flaring, Vesryn wavered, fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. The shadows receded around them as the prince calmed his magic, but embers of anger burned in his eyes.
A muscle feathered in Vesryn’s jaw. “Let me mend you, at least.”
“I’m fine—you can heal me later.” Jassyn shook out his arms, releasing the sparks from his fingers. “Like you said, we need to leave.”
The liberating strength left behind an irrational aftermath, an intoxicating residue corroding Jassyn’s thoughts. I should destroy Elashor’s mind and harvest the king’s secrets. Warring to halt that wild urge, a shred of control had him yanking on the reins.
No. I’m not finished.
Faster than his lightning, Jassyn planted a foot, pivoted, and twisted. His fist smashed into Elashor’s face with a satisfying crunch of cartilage and bone. The general crumbled to the ground in a heap, sword clattering beside him.
Vesryn’s nod was more than approving as he opened a portal.
Jassyn’s knees threatened to give out as exhaustion caught up to him. He wiped blood and rain-soaked curls away from his eyes and asked, “Where are we going?”
The prince lowered his voice, scanning the battalion shrouded in rending. “We’re portaling all of that research in your rooms to the jungle.”
“We’re really fleeing,” Jassyn said, accepting that he was about to leave behind the only home he’d ever known.
But it’s not safe here anymore. Glancing around, they were the only ones from Centarya in the courtyard, but he knew the residents must’ve observed the displays of power. His eyes shied away from Elashor, collapsed on the ground. Word would spread. I hope this didn’t sentence the others like me.
“There’s something I want you to consider,” Vesryn said, one boot through the portal.
“You won’t like it, but if today was any sign, the benefits would outweigh your distaste.
” The prince idly scavenged the front of his bare uniform for a thread that wasn’t there.
“We’ll need an edge since it’s just the two of us now. ”
“And that would be…?” Resignation pooled in Jassyn’s stomach. The quiet rain droned, pattering in the growing puddles. He already knew the answer before Vesryn spoke.
“I think we should bond.”