Lucille
Chapter
Eighteen
Ipulled out of Aspen’s head only to find chaos.
Red flames whipped around us like a fiery tornado.
Interspersed within MJ’s powers were Ronen’s shadows, twisting black within the red.
It was a barrier of heat and hardened darkness—until the wind shrieked and a spray of ice punctured our protection.
Ether shoved up my nose, and then there was a flash of blinding lightning, blasting apart the ice shards.
Stinging registered across my face, and a fiercer pain throbbed in my arm. I wasn’t alone in my wounds either. Alexei’s bandaged wings bled from puncture holes. An icicle protruded through MJ’s palm as if she’d tried to bat it away. Rune, besides her bloody snout, seemed okay. Then there was Ronen.
The stupid male standing directly in front of me with shards lodged in his legs and cuts sliced across his neck.
Heavenly Shit.
Shock flushed through me at the sight, but my praesidium didn’t react. My ears didn’t ring. My thoughts didn’t tunnel with rage. His block against me was securely in place.
I almost wished it wasn’t. I wished I had something to stop the chilling fear working its way through my system.
The guardian bond hummed with attention, its claws tapping against my mind as if to say I’m here.
I shot a glance at Aspen. The bond witnessed the bloody lines streaking across his face and the tears in his clothing, then sank in its claws.
It burrowed until it found where my Infernus coiled, dangling my emotions like raw meat before a starving carnivore—until music seethed in my ears and itched along my skin.
Aspen grabbed my face. He was saying something—no, shouting—but the wind ripped his words apart before they could reach me.
“Layers! We need to layer our power,” he urged.
“How?”
The guardian bond tugged on my Hellfire, forcing the haunting music to scream in my ears.
“Watch and follow my lead!” Aspen’s eyes flared, then he stood.
I shot up with him. He flung his hands above his head, crafting two flaming blue domes, directing one with each hand and wrapping them around us.
“About fucking time, beautiful,” Alexei shouted.
Ronen glanced at me right as the wind blasted through Aspen’s power. A few shards flew through the gap directly toward Ronen. I luscelered in front of him, taking one to the shoulder and throwing up a quick dome of Glory to melt the rest.
He ripped me back behind him, his eyes like daggers.
Another blast shredded through all our powers, ice shards following right behind. Aspen intercepted it, throwing up a third dome.
“Lucille, layers!” he called.
I threw more power into my Glory dome, then lifted my other hand and released the incessant itch beneath my skin. My black flames joined my white ones, intertwining like lovers.
The wind tore apart Ronen’s shadows, MJ’s flames, Alexei’s wind, Aspen’s flames, my Glory, then fizzled out against my Hellfire. Seconds ticked by, our breathing labored, our eyes searching, and the storm died down.
Alexei grinned. “Way to go—”
A blast, more powerful than the last, speared through my Infernus and rocked us back.
Immediately, razor-sharp ice tips beelined for me, Ronen, and Aspen, coming at us high and low.
Ronen and Aspen stepped in front of me as they flung up two walls of power.
But the wind knew what they’d do and already had another attack ready.
It pounded through their rippling blue-black shield, slamming ice into their bodies.
I didn’t see their wounds, only heard their hisses and felt a sharp pain pierce Aspen’s mental barrier.
The invasive force tore apart my flimsy control and shoved me out of the driver’s seat.
It forced me into its darkness, and a cold wrath spread from my chest and flowed through my muscles.
All I felt was strength. All I heard was Hell’s music.
And this time… I didn’t mind it. I didn’t try to fight it.
We were darkness. Vengeance. Inevitable.
I felt a smile spread across my face and warm pressure build behind my eyes. The wind and ice paused, almost as if taken aback.
“Mmm,” I hummed, savoring its weakness. Its fear.
Then I stepped forward, only for a hand to latch onto my shoulder. I lifted my head, and Ronen stiffened. He dropped the shadows from his eyes, and I turned away.
“Hellion, let me help you.”
Never. The guardian bond practically hissed in my mind.
“Stay here,” I ordered. My words sounded odd to my ears. “Stay safe. Don’t move.”
Then I luscelered out of Ronen’s hold.
The wind and ice attacked. And so did I.
My Glory and Hellfire interlocked, bursting out of me in an endless stream of black and white as they collided with the sentient storm. The impact shattered the shards and hissed against my flames. Then it hit again—harder. Each strike forced me back a step, nicking my exposed skin.
I relished the pain, bared my teeth, and retaliated.
My flames tore through the clearing, the Shard Field, the sky. Steam and hissing filled the air as they scorched the ground. For a second, the storm turned chaotic, rapidly slamming against my shield.
Curious, I stilled my power. The wind lessened.
There was something important here.
I pushed my flames out again, edging toward Veil Forest. Two specks of light flickered in the shadows. I squinted through the flames, and a figure flashed behind the spindly trees, disturbing the thick mist along the forest floor.
Was someone watching us?
Narrowing my attention, I directed my power closer.
The Veil Wind lashed out. Violent. Aggressive.
Was it protecting them?
I pulled my flames back slightly, testing. The storm weakened. Then I drove them toward the leafless dark trees, avoiding the area where the figure had vanished.
The Veil Wind shrieked. Wind and ice crashed into me with twice the force.
Not protecting the figure. Protecting its home.
My lips curved into a slow, cunning grin as my power surged—faster, hotter—barreling toward the haunting black forest.
Sensations flickered beneath my satisfaction. A faint, familiar prickling in my feet.
No. Not yet.
The bond eradicated my sudden fear, fueling my drive to finish this. It didn’t care about the sensation, only punishment.
I fell to my knees.
“Release your power, Lucille!” Ronen demanded somewhere behind my six-foot flames. He could feel my body succumbing to Divine Wasting.
I was so close, though. I wanted to save them. Even if I didn’t, the bond wouldn’t let me stop.
I pushed and pushed, knowing my body wasn’t equipped to wield this much power for much longer.
The Shard Storm’s frenzy kept fighting me. Ice constantly snuck through my flames, weakened by my Hellfire and Glory but still able to puncture my uniform. We struggled against each other, both losing strength.
The guardian bond continued squeezing what it could from me. I was inches from the trees. My body slumped forward.
The songs of my Infernus softened, and beneath their weakening melody came a soft cry echoing my own.
Help me.
Two pairs of black boots entered my wall of flames.
Ronen’s black shadows slowly wisped away, revealing him and Aspen.
His nostrils didn’t flare like the time I’d woken in the healers’ wing after he caught me.
His muscles weren’t tense, straining to contain his anger.
No, Ronen had passed pissed off and entered a deadly, cold calm.
If we survived this, I knew my next threat would be the Dark Seraphim staring at me with an unrelenting promise.
Aspen’s expression differed, appearing more concerned. But underneath that concern lay narrowed calculation.
Ronen dropped the shadows from his eyes, and I turned away.
“You will look at me, Hellion,” Ronen barked, a threat lurking beneath his words if I disobeyed, forcing goosebumps up my spine.
“I just need to push a little further.” But it wasn’t me saying it—it was the thing inside me, using me. It twisted my thoughts until I could barely recognize which were controlled by it and which came from the soft voice yelling from a deep chasm within me, desperate to be heard.
Ice pelted us and bloodied our faces. Ronen crouched beside me and grabbed my chin. I closed my fucking eyes.
“You don’t have enough power left. Let me help you!”
Yes, let him, the soft voice urged beneath the puppeteering force that said, No.
I needed to do this.
Alexei and MJ shouted from their corner, fighting a battle we couldn’t see.
You’ll kill us.
I would do this.
Rune hunched to the ground, pressing against Ronen’s body for protection.
I don’t want to die.
I have to protect him.
I flung out my hand, feeling a stinging in my eyes. I couldn’t stop. It wouldn’t let me stop.
Aspen shoved Ronen away from me and dropped to his knees. He quickly erected a flaming dome around us just as Ronen’s shadows attacked. They slammed against Aspen’s fiery barrier, shaking the earth.
I focused on pushing my flames toward the trees. They just wouldn’t move—
“I give to her freely and irrevocably,” Aspen murmured as he clasped my hand.
A scream wrenched free of my throat, and my spine bowed as searing energy burned through my system—painful and reviving. My powers drank it in while also seething at the invasion. Perverse. Unnatural. Impossible. This, whatever it was, wasn’t supposed to happen.
The energy he gave me fueled me enough to push my flames the last distance. They struck. They burned. An ear-piercing shriek split the air, and every piece of ice dropped to the ground. The wind speared back into the black forest, rattling the bare branches.
We did it.
The guardian bond unhooked itself from my mind, easing back into its cave.
My emotions flooded back. My thoughts were mine to control.
My actions. A gasp shuddered from my lips, and I jerked my hand out of Aspen’s.
The connection between us snapped. His burning heat fled from my body, leaving me aching as if he’d scorched my insides.
“What in the Seven Hells did you do to her?” Ronen asked. No threats. No bellows. His voice was even—unnerving.
I shook my head at Aspen, silently conveying the importance of his silence. As much as I wanted to know what he’d done to me too, I wasn’t in any position to keep Ronen from killing him, and I was pretty sure my pleas wouldn’t work.
“There was someone in Veil Forest watching us,” I rasped, trying to divert Ronen’s attention.
“Did you catch any physical details?” he inquired, never removing his stare from Aspen.
“No.”
Alexei and MJ hobbled up behind Ronen.
A horrified sound escaped me at the sight of them. Ronen finally tore his gaze away.
Alexei’s wings were pierced through with multiple icicles. His bandages were soaked with blood, smearing across MJ’s shoulder as she half-supported him while Rune pressed against his side.
His face scrunched into a grimacing, fake smile. “Don’t worry, it no longer hurts. I think the ice has numbed my wing muscles now. That’s good, right?” His eyes bounced between us, and whatever he saw had his false positivity giving way to gut-punching grief. “Yeah. Figured.”