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“Leon!”Viggo yelled as he disappeared over it.He lunged forward, heedless of Solomon’s shout.

The world tilted as he pitched over into a maw of darkness.His left hand closed on Leon’s wrist at the same time his right hand found purchase on the edge of the platform base.For a moment, he thought they would be okay.

His fingers slipped.

Horror widened Leon’s eyes below him as they plunged into the abyss.

A violent windstorm boomed around them, buffeting their bodies and freezing their fall.

“Viggo!Leon!” someone yelled.

Viggo’s heart pounded violently in his ribs as he met Evander’s frantic gaze across the cavernous chamber.

Darkness ignited the air around Musgrave, the effect of Leon’sNullification Magicabating.He manifested a veritable horde of shadow creatures and directed them to attack Evander.

Evander scowledand raised a wall of fire around him and the officers and mages in his wake.The shadow creatures recoiled with high-pitched shrieks.They writhed and danced around them, their inky forms trembling under the effect of the flames and the amulet shining brightly against his chest.

His pulse thrummed as he carefully manoeuvred Viggo and Leon to the safety of the platform they’d fallen off.He focused on Musgrave next.

“You have nowhere to run, Professor,” Evander said coldly.His gaze swept the machine with the dark crystal and the tanks where Musgrave’s victims floated.His voice when he spoke again was lifeless, the fury making his body vibrate barely suppressed.“This facility is surrounded.We will not harm you if you surrender quietly.”

Musgrave laughed, a mad sound.“Surrender?!Are you insane, Ice Mage?”He sneered.“Or shall I call youArchmage?”He glanced at the officers and mages slowly inching around the chamber to encircle them.A deranged smile stretched the professor’s mouth.“We’re in the midst of a delicate procedure, Duke Ravenwood.One that will revolutionise our very understanding of magic.”He gestured to the tanks where Whitley and Chevalier hung suspended.“They had their chance to be part of something groundbreaking.They chose to be obstacles in my path instead.”He straightened to his full height.“What you see here is merely the beginning.”

“The beginning of what?!”Evander bit out, blood pounding in his skull.“Torture?Murder?!”

The violent magic churning inside his chest and beneath his skin itched for release.All it would take was lifting the lid a fraction and this entire laboratory would be reduced to rubble.He took a deep breath and fought for control.

“Progress.”Musgrave’s eyes shrank to slits.“The advancement of magical science beyond arbitrary limitations imposed by nature itself.”His face hardened.“Surely you of all people can appreciate that.Your own magic is quite remarkable.Imagine if such a power could be replicated, distributed to those deemed worthy.”

Evander gritted his teeth.“There’s nothing worthy about what you’re doing here!”

Musgrave sighed, as if disappointed by his lack of vision.“I expected more understanding from a member of the nobility.”He shot a sadistic look at Leon.“And you, Mr.French Investigator.After all, it was your countrymen who pioneered much of this research.”He smiled thinly as Leon paled.“Oh yes,Les Prophètes Illuminéslaid the groundwork for this decades ago.We merely perfected their methods.If Chevalier hadn’t discovered his morals, we would have made more headway by now.”

Evander stepped forward, fury bubbling in his veins.

“You’ve broken every law of magical ethics, you damn fiend!”he snarled.“In the name of the Metropolitan Police and by the authority of the Crown, I am placing you under arrest!”

A laugh escaped Musgrave then—cold and devoid of humour.“I answer to a higher authority than your petty regulations,Archmage.”

Evander narrowed his eyes.“Does the name of that higher authority begin with the letter ‘I’by any chance?”

Musgrave lowered his brows.“I see you know of my master.”He turned to his associates.“Kill them all, except for the Brute, the Duke, and the Frenchman.They will make interesting test subjects.”

Musgrave’s companions removed small black crystals from inside their robes.

Horror widened Evander’s eyes when they swallowed them, Musgrave quickly following suit.

No!

He knew instinctively they’d just ingested a piece ofMidnight Obsidian.

“Everyone, stay back!”Evander hollered.

His ears throbbed when the pressure inside the chamber dropped precipitously.

The coldness that descended upon the lab made frost form on his eyelashes and chilled him to his very bones.The air grew foul with a miasma of corrupt magic.

The dark mages’ eyes glowed with an unholy light as they unleashed their powers.Hundreds of shadow creatures coalesced from the darkness and arrowed towards Evander and his companions with near-silent malevolence.