Page 363

Only one of the Sanctifiers recognized the danger. One smart yet so very stupid Sanctifier shuffled back.

Skye’s eyes shot to him, drawn by the movement. He would die first.

Chapter 75

Kill.

He saw her broken on the ground, and the word took root.

Kill.

He felt her blood on his hands, and it bloomed.

His shadows rose in answer, coiling at his back like smoke.

Kill.

And they obeyed.

The first Sanctifier barely had time to react. The shadows at his back twisted, writhing like living things before snapping forward, a blur of darkness and heat—stabbing straight through his wards and into his chest.

Skye didn’t pause to admire the kill.

Tendrils lashed the legs of another, yanking him from his feet. The Sanctifier screamed. Skye was already moving. He launched forward, his sword a streak of light.

One clean strike. The body fell in halves, fire devouring his robes mid-air.

It echoed louder now.Kill.

The tang of his mate’s blood soaked the air. Each breath fanned the flames of primal rage rising inside him.

Kill, kill…

Fear and pain screamed down the bond. His shadows seethed around him, eager to strike.

One of the Sanctifiers stepped forward. “Stand dow—”

KILL! KILL! KILL!

Shadows struck before the words could finish. And then so did he.

With a roar, Skye lunged, driven by fury, carried by the darkness at his back. Aether flooded his veins as the core between his shoulder blades pulsed.

Another Sanctifier dropped, choking on the shadows strangling him from the inside out. Skye wrenched his blade loose, blood misting the air—eagerly claimed by the waiting dark.

“Did you see that?!” one of the Sanctifiers shouted.

“The shadows—they’re feeding off it!” another yelled. “His blood… no,allthe blood!”

Indeed, his shadows rippled like smoke across the killing field, greedily siphoning the aether from every spilled drop, swelling larger and darker with every bit of stolen magic.

“Shit!” someone barked from behind, the scrape of their boots echoing in the chaos. “He’s a fucking bloodcrafter!”

The next two Sanctifiers came as a pair. One launched a hail of ice shards. The other ran straight at him, trailing violet. Skye ducked, cold shrieking past him like glass through wind. His blade lashed out as he rose, but the second mage was already there.

A fist drove into his ribs, the impact exploding through him as he skidded backward, boots scraping against stone. Skye snarled. Shadows exploded outward, solid as a shield.

A second wave of ice struck, only to warp and coil into barbed tendrils before snapping back toward its sender.