Chapter 19 Winter #2
Ambrose doubled over, and as I went to him and supported his weight, his glowing ivory eyes flickered unstably, and he rasped, “Do not heed his words. Do not internalize his rhetoric. He is a millennia-old puppet master. He will exploit your vulnerabilities, your deepest dreads about what you are until they ring as truth, until his designs for you read as inevitable.” He clutched my arm.
“You were not born to bring forth destruction, little necromancer. I swear it to you. You are—”
He roared and lurched as an explosion of midnight-blue power tore into his magical construction, decimating it, and blowing us apart.
The entire thing imploded and the reality outside came rushing back as I landed with a hefty thud on my back on the dark sands beach.
Groaning, I forced myself to roll to my side, then staggered back to my feet.
I saw Ambrose about fifty feet from me curled in the fetal position on the sand, unmoving.
Fuck. No!
I called my necromantic power, my amber magic flaming on my palms as I started toward him while scanning the immediate area for any sign of the source behind the attack.
There was nothing.
No one.
I couldn’t feel a thing.
And then it hit me in a sudden rush.
That same awful unsettling sensation I’d felt before.
I came to a grinding halt as that midnight-blue light from moments ago erupted right in front of me.
And then a figure materialized.
His presence demanded attention with his powerhouse physique.
His hair was jet-black, long strands streaming behind him in dark ribbons.
It framed a face of harsh lines. His red eyes burned with a brutal predatory edge as he looked upon me.
He wore a long, opulent floor-length coat with gold and midnight-blue baroque patterns.
It was open, flaring outward and framing his bare torso.
“Who are you? What’s going on?” I demanded.
He studied me curiously, cocking his head to the side.
“Well?” I pushed. “Why did you hurt my friend?”
“Friend. Yes. That is deeply unfortunate. As is his affiliation with a certain Polygenus Entity. A combination that could prove antagonistic to my designs.”
What?
He smirked. “They will all learn well to call me by my earned title, King of the Beyond. Though, you may call me Ruxnoth, miraculous boy.” He reached out to touch my face, but I jerked back, my power flaring wilder. “Hmm… so much fear.”
“You don’t strike fear into me.”
“Of course not. You are unkillable. What could there be to fear from others with that being your reality? I was referring to the fear you have of yourself and the downfall your very existence will bring to your lessers. Even those you love so very dearly.”
My gut twisted at his pointed comment.
“Step away from him!” Ambrose’s voice rang out, jarring me.
As Ruxnoth turned, I caught sight of Ambrose struggling to his feet, calling his power.
In his ailing state, he didn’t get far before Ruxnoth thrust both palms at him, two streams of his magic slamming into Ambrose and sending him flying back.
“Stop!” I cried.
The streams morphed to blue lightning within moments, and he had Ambrose writhing and screaming as he electrocuted him with True Celestial power—a perversion of it.
I smashed my palms together and sent out a mammoth shockwave of my necromantic power that tore through the entire area, flowing over Ambrose without doing him harm, though.
Just before it hit Ruxnoth, a gray shimmering film enveloped him.
He cut out his power and eyed me over his shoulder, my shockwave doing absolutely nothing to him.
How was he doing this?
The amount of power I’d sent out… the fact it was pure death magic… even as a True Celestial he should have been impacted.
He turned away from a reeling Ambrose and closed the distance between us.
Gesturing at the film encompassing him, he told me, “They are safeguarding me. At least temporarily. Your power is impressive, yet largely untapped. We will see to that. Don’t fret, deathborn darling.
” He tensed and shot a look over his shoulder.
“He felt the eruption. He comes this way for you.”
My dad?
It had to be.
Nobody would feel a mass unleashing of my power as instantaneously as he would.
Ruxnoth grasped my hands and had me grunting as he pushed his True Celestial power against mine, trying to force me to snuff out my magic.
“Ungh,” I uttered through gritted teeth.
“Consider the current futility of your fight. I am being gentle. I could quite easily be unduly violent and inflict pain upon you through actually pushing my power into your body, not just your magic. Is that what you wish? Or will you please me and behave?”
“You push your power into me like that, and I’ll siphon you until you’re on your knees.”
His eyes darkened. “I knew there was some latent ferocity buried deep within you.” He pushed against me and whispered at my ear, “I felt it.”
I screwed up my face, knowing he was referring to him infecting me with what I now knew was his power.
He tensed again.
And then I felt it. An immense surge of my dad’s magic.
Ruxnoth eased back to gaze at me, his lips lifting. “Sylas Morgrave has no power here.”
“Wrong,” I ground out. “No matter what, he always finds a way.”
“Making it all the more tragic.”
“What?”
“He won’t survive your rise.”
“My—”
The shock of his words had him managing to force my power back.
And then in the next moment, he captured me in a body lock with a burst of Celestial speed, then swept us up in a cloud of teleportation.
The last thing I heard was my dad’s voice roaring across the beach.
“I will hunt you to the ends of the earth and tear you apart, piece by motherfucking piece! Return my son! My son! Winter! Winter!”
To be continued in FROM POISON