Page 110 of Temptation Unleashed

Her bond. A golden lifeline.

Flickered.

Dimmed.

A knife through her heart as the storm exploded and the fragile shell holding her together shattered.

She threw her head back, a scream erupting from the deepest recesses of her very being, beyond the storm and the shattered shell. Her very soul ripping out of her body.

Thaddeus!

And crashed into darkness.

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His boots hit the ground in the center of the main tunnel, his power thrumming, beating against his body relentlessly. Threads of power poured off his fingers, seeping into the ground and spreading at an unstoppable pace, creating an impenetrable barrier throughout every crevice of the cave.

The stagnant air hummed with magic.Hismagic, destroying every ward and spell placed throughout the tunnels and rooms. His power swept through the hideaway, a stealthy monster coiling around its prey. He would crush the life from this place, make the stone bleed.

The first sign of his power completing its path came with a gentle breeze that stirred through the tunnel. He drew his dagger from its sheath, observed the ripple of blue magic through the engravings, hungry for revenge.

A blade born of blood was an extension of its owner. His blade recognized his mood, resounded with his plan, and its excitement showed in the pulsing veins of blue.

“No one escapes here.” He swiped the blade across hispalm, opening his flesh, blood running free. “Notabloodysoul.”

He dropped into a lunge and smacked his bleeding hand to the ground.

A powerful macroburst of air rushed over him from behind, the cloud rolling down the tunnel, splitting down every branch and path, tearing down doors to rooms. Wind picked up, beating against every surface, rippling his clothes, whipping his hair around his head. He narrowed his eyes and unleashed a destructive flood of power in the rivulets of his blood.

The first tremor hit the cave, a small shake. Within seconds, the entire underground hideaway began to quake, stronger and stronger. Bits and pieces of the structure began to break away, plinking down around him.

He straightened up, dust from debris creating a haze. He watched, listened, waiting for his first victim to flee the crumbling cavern.

He didn’t have to wait long.

Two males burst out of a tunnel, skidded to a halt when they saw him, spun, and bolted in the opposite direction.

Thaddeus sprang forward. He fisted one by the hair, pivoted and came up in front of the other, stabbing him in the chest. His first victim dropped. The man in his grip opened his mouth to scream.

His blade cut clean through his neck, his head hanging by threads.

The second body had barely hit the ground when another Fae barreled into the tunnel, straight onto the dagger Thaddeus flipped in his hand and thrust backward. He yanked it free and stormed ahead. Chunks of rock rained over the ground around his boots, walls beginning to collapse inward as he strode by. A scream turned into a gurgle down apathway as he passed, the tunnel caving in, crushing whoever hid within those bowels.

The gusts of wind strengthened, feeding off his wrath.

When a trio of escapees stumbled into the tunnel, he struck quick and clean, felling them in two swipes of his blade.

The blue veins glowed vibrantly, enthralled by the bloodshed.

His own magic skittered across his skin, wild, untamed, uncontrolled. He and his blade, a powerful ebb and flow of power.

He reached the curve in the tunnel that led to the hall and an icy smile came to his mouth.

Soldiers.

Three deep, four wide.

A dozen men, Grison’s last wave.