8 #2
“What the hells?” Connus asks, looking at me wide-eyed, at the electricity—silver streaks dancing along my arms and fingertips. He looks over his shoulder at Blair. “Why does she have celestial magic?” His tone is lethal.
She just gives him the same shrug she gave me before. “I told you she has magic.”
“You said she can’t wield it. And not that it’s lightning.”
“Well, obviously, I was wrong,” Blair counters with a shit-eating grin. Connus growls at her, baring his elongated fae canines. Seems they aren’t such good friends after all.
“Why in the nine hells does she have celestial magic?” he asks again.
“Because Caryan gave her a shred of his, or so she told me,” Blair drawls, her face slipping back into the same bored mask she’s had since the first time I met her.
I take another step toward the doorway that promises the way out.
Sweat has gathered under my shitty linen dress, running down my body while I struggle to keep the magic under control.
“Let me go.” My voice comes out shaky, breathless. “I will walk straight out of here and be gone, and neither of you will move a muscle.”
“Or?” a deep, hazy voice asks. A massive, bald man, armed with a saber, appears in the doorway, blocking my only way out, mockery drenching his voice, reflected in his eyes too.
Again, Connus cuts in, his hands raised in a way that should calm me down. “Don’t you realize that it’s safer here?”
I meet Blair’s eyes across the room one last time, but the witch just looks back at me, not a hint of regret or emotion at all—other than mild bloodthirst—in those amber eyes. As if none of this affects her. As if she’s given up completely.
“Let. Me. Go.”
“I can’t,” Connus says.
Again, my new magic rumbles. A volcano of lightning and darkness, ready to erupt out of me in a violent burst. It takes everything I have to wrestle it down. But for how much longer can I do this?
“Listen. I don’t want to hurt anyone, but I want to leave.
This magic inside of me—I can’t control it.
So if you keep blocking my way, I will hurt you.
Because it’s going to hurt you,” I warn him, my eyes fixed on Connus.
I don’t want to hurt them. They might have broken my ribs, but they’ve also healed me.
And I’m not a murderer, and hells, I don’t want to be.
I’m not a full fae, not as callous and cold-blooded as they are.
But instead of answering, Connus takes another step into my space, so he’s blocking my way again.
A subtle move, but the message is clear: He won’t let me go.
Then all hells break loose.
The whole room starts to rumble, as if there’s an earthquake.
Pans and pots start clanging against each other, shelves swaying, jars and plates dropping.
Then, silvery lightning rakes across the ceiling beams, forks across the table, throws bodies into walls.
Everyone has taken a step back from me, panic and confusion shining on their faces, in their auras.
I use the moment to grab the black Nefarian sword with my free hand, while I bolt through the room, toward the massive guy towering in the threshold. A lightning bolt hits him full in the chest, hurling him into the opposite wall hard enough to splinter wood.
Another wolf—mid-shift—leaps at me over the table. The magic rips through him before I can think, the smell of burnt fur filling the air, and he falls directly in front of my feet, not moving.
I hesitate for a second, then step over the body and run.
“Take her, gods-damn it!” Connus barks, and I hear people shift—clothes shredding. A second later, claws scratch the wooden floor.
I run as fast as I can. I cross the hallway in a sprint and tear open the double front door at its end, staggering out into the mist- and fog-covered grounds, breathing hard, my gaze darting over the garden that stretches out before me—to where it ends abruptly in a whitish wall of magic that spans over the area like a dome of mist.
“You can’t leave here. You need a spell to break the magical barrier.” Blair’s suddenly behind me. Utterly naked. She must have dropped the blanket and followed me. I whirl on her, pointing the blade directly at her throat—which is covered with fucking hickeys.
“What is this? You bartering my life away and getting your brain screwed out while I’m unconscious ?”
“Calm down. He’s a friend, okay?”
“Yeah? One that won’t let me go for a walk, that much is clear. You fucking tried to sell me,” I pant between gritted teeth. My eyes widen. Lightning licks over my skin, snaking along the sword, too, making it look like a weapon a god would wield.
“Whoa, hang on a sec. You could have just heard him out. I brought you here because Connus may be a piece of shit, but he also stays true to his word and has good connections.”
The door behind us bursts off its hinges as massive wolves try to get through at the same time, barking and snarling at each other when they get stuck.
Massive creatures with dark fur and very sharp teeth bared.
The magic in me reacts again at the terrifying sight, and a wall of black smoke and silver starts to swirl around me—and Blair—blocking us off from the rest. I instinctively know that anyone who’s dumb enough to step through would be taken apart by the magic.
I’ve seen it before, when Caryan conjured a similar thing—only a hundred times bigger and deadlier.
Hells, it scares me, but for now, I’m grateful.
I won’t go back to being anyone’s slave.
“I saved you from Caryan’s prison, and you fucking ratted me out.”
“You were almost dead. I brought you here to heal,” Blair insists, putting her hands to her hips.
“Yeah, almost killed by one of Connus’s henchmen. And then you sold me. Tell me what he promised you.”
Blair only glances at the blade once. “I really thought I’d do you a favor.”
“Tell me what he promised you!” I scream at her, as more wolves come barging through the door, leaping over the backs of those still struggling to break free.
The ring around us flares, but I can feel the magic in my veins burning out as it keeps feeding the magical wall around us.
I have no clue how long I can keep it up and going.
I’ve only just discovered that I even have magic in my veins.
And it was so little. Just a little silvery light.
And now, after Caryan fed his into mine, forged mine—
“I tried to make the best out of the situation. Caryan can’t sense us here.
What do you want to do? Run straight back into his arms?
Because I promise you, he’ll take apart that damn Black Forest until no tree is left standing.
And then he’ll drag you back in a collar, Melody.
I tried to make the best out of it for the two of us. ”
“I’ll ask you one last time: What do you get for selling me?” My voice quivers, and I angle the blade so it bites into her neck, drawing blood. Hells, I haven’t even realized how much her betrayal hurts me until now.
She doesn’t even flinch, doesn’t so much as lower her eyes to the blade. “Do it. Come on,” she dares me.
“You don’t believe I can.”
She puts her tongue in her cheek, looking me up and down as if we have all the time in the world.
“Honestly, no. I know a lot of women who could, but you’re not one of them,” she states matter-of-factly.
“But if you really want to know what I want, then I’ll tell you.
” She leans forward into the blade. “My magic . I want my magic back!” Her amber eyes narrow, her silver claws flex.
“But that’s never going to happen, obviously.
So why don’t you suck it up, you little melodramatic crybaby, and try not to ruin the gods-damn deal that might save both our asses. ”
“You know what? You’re a fucking bitch.”
“Yeah, it’s been suggested before.”
I huff a laugh, not sure whether I should slap her or pity her. “Don’t try to stop me, Blair. Because I’m out.”
I lower the blade, then turn away from her, quickly stepping through the magic.
It changes its form—the circle opening up to a kind of wall, forcing all of them to stay on the other side, including Blair.
The wolves growl and snarl at me, digging their huge claws into the ground, their teeth snapping at the air, but they don’t dare to jump through.
“Hate to ruin your little attempt, Melody,” Blair shouts after me. “But may I remind you again that you need a counterspell to get out of this dome? So, I guess you’re damn stuck with us here.”
I stop dead in my tracks, baring my teeth when I look over my shoulder at her. “I will burn right through it.”
“You’d need a wagonload more of magic to attempt that, sweetheart.
So cut being pouty and come back.” She looks so damn pleased with herself that I truly regret not slapping her.
Connus appears in the doorway. I’m not sure whether he’s a damn wolf shifter, too, but if he is, he hasn’t shifted.
Instead, he lifts a hand and fire springs to life in his palm, a flame dancing over it.
He throws it, and it forms into a large ball that comes crashing toward my flames.
I feel the impact physically in my body, my black wall rising to shield me, but that extra surge of energy burns me out all the same.
And the way that bastard smiles at me—he knows that.
Another flame springs to life in his palm.
I turn on my heel and sprint down the garden, only to slam full force into an invisible wall of magic.
I swear dirty as I’m thrown backward, landing on my ass, my face aching and throbbing.
I touch my nose, relieved to find it bleeding but not broken.
Behind me, the wolves give chase as my magic flickers out, having fallen victim to another of Connus’s blasts.
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!