Chapter 8 #2
But Seren tightened her grip and leaned in close to whisper, “I don’t believe for one second that there’s even a crumb of anything special inside you, Non.
Even the most powerful Wielder of the last century, your own blood, gave up trying to coax it out of you.
She should have just left you bleed out in that pub last night and burnt the evidence like the trash you are. ”
Clearly, absence had not made the heart grow fonder in Seren’s case. We’d never got on particularly well, but her hostility after so many years apart was a little unnecessary.
She released my throat, and I hit the ground with an unflattering thud.
Brushing myself off I pushed past her to put as much distance between us as possible.
Her piercing eyes never left me as we slowly sidestepped in tandem.
Somehow, we’d managed to circle each other enough that the handle to the study door was at my back, Seren poised at the other end of the corridor.
My knowledge of the power my grandmother was capable of was patchy at best, but I wasn’t enough of an idiot to think turning the door handle would make the study door fly open.
Without a doubt, there would be some magic to stop me from waltzing in.
Even if I could open the door, Seren would have been on me like rat up a drainpipe before I had the chance.
But her display of power in the corridor did tell me something: she was quick to anger.
A very idiotic but possibly plausible idea came to mind.
“It’s sad to see after all these years that I still get to you, huh?” Her eyes widened, and my heart rate galloped like the horse on her habit. “I might be a disappointment, and likely don’t have a speck of magic in me, but do you know what I’ll always have that you don’t?”
Her hands twitched at her sides, confirming my plan was working. Hopefully.
“Nothing you can do will change the fact I will always be her granddaughter.” Something akin to a snarl ripped from Seren’s throat.
“And you can kiss her arse all you want, play the part of perfect pet, but you’ll always be the lonely little orphan that she had to take in.
When the day comes for all this”—I gestured to the castle surrounding us—”to be handed down to someone, do you really think she’ll give it to some long-lost niece? ”
The severity of my words hurt even me to say. I was far from fond of Seren, but playing on her loss wasn’t something that felt good. I was lucky I still had my Mum to keep me from ending up a ward of my grandmother.
It was a gamble that she was jealous of my direct relation to Granny.
Truly, I had done nothing in our younger years to make her hate me, but I always had a gut feeling that was the reason.
And even I wasn’t stupid enough to believe that any assets my family owned would be passed to me if something happened to Granny, but the swirling vortex of magic building at Seren’s fists told me I’d hit the mark.
She took the bait like a good little psycho and fired a ball of wind straight at me. Ducking into a crouch, I was surprised my plan worked when the wind hit the centre of the study doors, and they exploded with an ear-splitting crack.
Turning towards the gaping hole where the doors once stood, I could make out three figures, two of them male, one older and slightly shorter, and the other, who towered above everyone, around my age.
Their faces were almost as shocked as my own.
To the left of the study was my grandmother, still seated behind a long wooden desk, her expression as unreadable as ever.
Looking back towards the corridor, a smug grin was already plastered on my face to greet my dear cousin. But it wasn’t her mask of rage I was met with, no. It was the second ball of wind I didn’t anticipate she’d throw, now flying towards me.
For the third time that day, I was thrown across the room, and quite honestly, I was starting to get sick to fucking death of it.
When the magic found its mark at the centre of my chest, I was slammed into the hard muscle of one of my grandmother’s guests.
From the size of my body and the power behind Seren’s magic, he was also thrown off his feet.
The two of us collided with a credenza that sat underneath the bay window at the back wall of the office.
Despite the winded oooff the stranger let out as we hit the floor, he managed to catch me in his arms. One hand braced behind my shoulders, and the other clasped my legs.
There was no time to stop and thank him for catching me; I was focused on Seren, who stood smirking in the doorway. Two new balls of wind swirled in her palms.
I felt that familiar rage gradually build inside me; pressure unlike anything I’ve ever felt pushed against my ribs, demanding I let it out.
As if I had no control of my words, a deep, “I will end you,” rumbled out. If it weren’t for the fact that everyone in the room was looking at me dumbfounded, I wouldn’t have believed it even came from my mouth.
The two broad males, both with copper hair, exchanged concerned glances. Their hands twitched at their sides, instinctively grasping for something invisible. The taller of the two turned to my grandmother, who was now standing a few feet to my right.
“Ledr, what is that thing?” His voice was filled with a surprising amount of concern.
The rage in my chest twitched at the insinuation that it was a thing. In the back of my mind, I could have sworn I even heard it snarl at the insult.
“None of your concern,” she snapped without taking her eyes off me. “Rein it in, Non. Immediately.”
For the first time in my life, I didn’t internally flinch at a reprimand from my grandmother. If anything, the thing inside me chuckled at her poor attempt to calm me.
Stupid bitch.
“Bron, she can’t be left like this. We need to do something—now!” the shorter of the two men pleaded.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Seren take a bold step towards me, wind still swirling in her palms, prepared for another blow.
My right hand lifted of its own accord, finger pointed in her direction. The threat only made her smirk widen, which in turn made the pressure in my chest build so intensely, every breath felt like a struggle.
A broad hand gripped my arm, spinning me towards eyes so blue and inviting even the rage paused to admire them. Whereas Seren’s eyes were cold sapphires, striking but devoid of any emotion, these were a pale ocean blue, warm and kind.
“Hey, Non. Eyes on me, cariad.” For the first time since these attacks had taken hold of me at the age of sixteen, the pressure in my chest eased slightly. “I need you to take some deep breaths, and try to tell us what exactly is happening to you.”
I tried and failed to speak of my own volition, to scream in this stranger’s beautiful face, I have no fucking idea why this keeps happening, but I had no control.
A hissing sound drew my attention back toward the entrance to the study, another ball of wind barrelled towards my face, and I braced for my already broken nose to be buggered up a bit more.
But the handsome redhead who still had his hand on my arm stepped directly into the path of the oncoming magic and took the blow aimed for me directly in his chest. Thankfully, he didn’t lose his footing this time, but I felt his whole body tense in pain.
That final blow that Seren fired at him broke the very little resolve I had over my anger, and with a strength I didn’t know I had, I shoved the stranger in front of me to one side.
Like a puppet on a string, both my hands lifted without me telling them to, and for the first time in nine years, shimmering black magic shot from my palms and engulfed Seren until she disappeared entirely.
The roaring in my ears became so loud, all the shouting between the other three in the room was muffled. But the rage in my chest seemed content with whatever I had just done with my cousin.
I’ve waited years for you to finally let me out. What a beautiful team we make.
My attention was forced back to the present as large hands grasped my arms and shook me firmly.
His ocean blue eyes bored into my soul with pleading and something that looked a lot like regret.
He held out a hand, and from a vortex of water that hovered mid-air, he pulled a gleaming double-edged axe.
Bringing his lips to the shell of my ear, he whispered a sincere, “Sorry, cariad.” Then he took one step away from me, lifting his axe. The hilt connected with my temple, and my vision turned to black.