Page 118 of Arcane Entanglement

Renwick whirled around, hand outstretched and face contorting with rage.

“No!”

But he was too late. The gem had embedded itself in the machine, along with the Brute’s bag of anti-magic tricks. Dark energy crackled and surged inside the device. It began to shake ominously.

Viggo lunged for Evander.

Evander gasped as the Brute barrelled into him and lifted him off his feet as he ran for the wall facing the river. Viggo smashed a window with an elbow and tossed him outside with all his might.

Chapter47

The world spun dizzyinglyaround Evander as he fell backward from the building.

No! Viggo!

Cool air chilled his flesh and ruffled his hair as his stunned gaze met the Brute’s fleetingly.

“I love you,” Viggo mouthed with a sad smile.

Then the dark waters of the Thames were rushing up to meet Evander. He plunged into the river, the cold driving the breath from his lungs.

Evander floundered as he sank, disoriented for a moment. Desperation squeezed his chest, sharpening his senses and allaying the panic threatening to overwhelm him.

I have to get back! I have to help him!

Water magic bloomed around Evander, creating an air pocket in which he could breathe. He swung his arms and kicked towards the surface, wind forming currents that aided his ascent from the icy embrace of the river.

He emerged with a gasp and spun around where he bobbed in the water.

The current had carried him a short way downriver.

He could see the warehouse some hundred feet ahead and to his left, the building dark and ominous against the twilight sky.

It disappeared in a violent flash that scorched Evander’s vision.

Thewhoomphthat accompanied the detonation made the air tremble and the surrounding buildings quake in their foundations.

The shockwave hit Evander like a physical blow, driving him back under the water. By the time he surfaced again, the warehouse was nothing more than a smouldering wreck.

“No,” Evander mumbled.

His heart felt like it might burst from his chest as he swam desperately for the shore, wind and water magic carrying him there faster than his limbs could.

His feet touched the muddy bottom of the river after what felt like an eternity.

Evander staggered onto the embankment, his legs threatening to give out beneath him. He stumbled towards the burning wreckage of the warehouse, ears ringing and blood pounding in his skull.

“Viggo!” he shouted. “Viggo, where are you?!”

Smoke and dust choked the air as Evander picked his way through the debris, heedless of the flames still licking at the ruins and the sour stink of corrupt magic lingering in the air. He came to his senses and invoked his water magic to create a shower that rapidly doused the pockets of fire.

The Met’s enchanted whistles echoed shrilly in the distance. A horde of officers were running along the footbridge towards the south bank.

Evander ignored them and wielded his wind and earth magic in a desperate search for the man who had come to mean the world to him, carefully lifting beams and sections of collapsed brickwork.

He has to be alive! Dear God, please make it so that he survived this!

Evander’s eyes stung, whether from the smoke or unshed tears, he couldn’t say. A sound made him freeze a moment later. His head snapped up.