Page 168

Not now, not ever.

My fingers dug into Dukovich’s tunic as I dragged him toward me, tears building up in the back of my eyes as a growl tore from my lungs.

Landers took a step toward us and Sovana’s gaze shot to his.

“Stop,” she demanded, her voice squeaking. “She needs to learn her manners, learn how to respect authority.”

Landers’s face twisted in pain as she stared at him and I could feel her magic slipping into my mind, trying to break past my barriers but I pushed back with everything I had. She would not fucking control me.

“I will fucking kill you!” I screamed up at her as I pushed another surge of power against the tendrils she was trying to sink into my skull. She staggered backward at the force and her eyes widened.

“There it is,” Oryn said, satisfaction dripping from every word as his lips curled into a vile grin. “Our little bird sings for a traitor.”

Cyloe slipped from her wolf form at the sound of his voice, scurrying underneath my legs and pressing herself tight against my body. I felt her shift again, from mouse to snake as she slithered under my tunic. Her scaly body slid up my abdomen and wrapped around my arm, coiling so tight I could feel the flow of blood slow.

“Who . . . are you . . . working for?” Landers panted out through clenched teeth, his body shaking against Sovana’s power—resisting it.

Varah stepped forward, her eyes studying Landers, intrigue slipping into her gaze at the strength he had against their power. “She is not ready for you to learn who she is, not yet. Our Queen is not one for the spotlight, but soon—very soon—she will have everything she needs to make herself known. And when she does, all of Nimbria will know her name.”

I felt it then, my magic flaring, burning underneath my skin where Cyloe’s body connected with mine. Andrues’s voice, the ghost of it, whispered against my ear again as Dukovich let out another scream.

‘They are known to be an extension of the witch they are bound to.’

My eyes slid shut, and clinging to Dukovich’s tortured body, I let go.

Every resistance, every wall that had been building crumbled. For a second, there was silence in my mind. Pure, calm silence, as if I was floating into the ether, my body free of every weight and pain that had plagued it from the moment I was brought into this world.

Then came the fire.

But it was not the burn of a flame, it was the scorch of a million stars, the power of unending galaxies pouring their silver flame into my bloodstream.

I could hear it all, every whisper and muted voice from conversations that had yet to be spoken. See every detail of coming scenarios playing out behind my eyelids with blinding clarity. The thrum of magic collecting in the center of my forehead, the tap of Yenne’s finger against my skin.

My mind’s eye, the eye into the universe my magic held, broke open.

It was easy now, pushing Sovana from Dukovich’s mind. Soothing the pain her magic left in its wake. He stilled in my arms as my eyes slowly peeled open. With each second that passed, as I rose to my feet, her magic slipped from Landers’s mind, the claws she had dug in slowly dissipating.

A gasp left Sovana’s lips as all three of their eyes snapped to me.

“How? How are you doing this?” Varah hissed, taking a half-step back as sincere shock fractured her features.

Landers’s spine straightened, black ink rippling over his olive skin as if the patterns had come alive. His muscles flexed underneath them, magic now flaring at his fingertips.

He was finally free.

Free of their power, gaining back his strength from the poison iron. Those chains were the only thing protecting them from the wrath coiling around his tendons, crackling and pleading to be unleashed.

Through gritted teeth, Dukovich stood.

He did not flinch against the pain of his broken body as he rose to his full height, his own magic now radiating off his skin.

My heart stuttered as I looked at him.

The rage in his gaze matched my own, and unbridled fury seeped onto me. He would die protecting me, and I knew then, I would do the same for him.

Dukovich took another step forward, his body blocking me from view of the others as he slowly opened his palms. Crimson magic snaked from the center of his hands as a shimmer began to slide across my skin.

He was shielding me.