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She didn’t look at Rurik’s face when she turned to him as the spell dissipated. She looked to where she placed her hands on his stomach, where the puddle of her own warm blood that had begun to pool on his abdomen and pushed herself off him.

Amalia then bolted for the door while cupping her wound with her hands.

Before she made it, she could see that Strolguil was already starting to rise. The coven Witches were still unmoving when she yanked open the door to run through it before veering to the left.

She didn’t make it far before she was tackled around the waist, and both of them fell against the floor.

“What have you done?!” Strolguil yelled, grabbing her around the throat with one hand and fisting her hair with the other.

Amalia flailed underneath him, pressing her hands against him. She smeared blood across his face when his grip tightened.

“Get off me!”

The emotion that had shifted inside of Amalia’s heart when he kissed her, had been pure and unbridled hatred.

Seeing her memories, seeing the fear everyone around her had for this man made her realise that he was terrible, was evil. If even Dark Witches feared him, thought the actions he took were too far, then he was an abomination.

If her mother had feared for her safety at the hands of him, had hidden her in hopes he would never find her, then she would trust in her parents’ actions.

They did what they needed to in order to protect me.

He tricked her, had tried to force her to do something she didn’t want to. Amalia knew he wouldn’t have taken no for an answer.

And, since the moment the disgust and loathing had settled into her, she’d been trying to discover a way out. She played along with his plans, had returned every saliva-filled kiss he’d given her. She had hidden her fear and worry in order to get to that altar.

“You will have that Dragon’s child, and you will give it to me!”

“No!”

She pushed her hands harder against his face, and her fingers started to curl into his skin as her nails bit in.

He gave a bellowing roar of pain when she saw steam coming from between where she was touching him.

He jumped back to his feet while covering his face with his hands. When he pulled them away to look at her, she could see his skin had melted like he’d been touched with acid. One cheek had a palm print of melted flesh. Her other hand had been over his eye, and she could see she’d melted that away. She had blinded him in one eye.

Amalia scrambled to her feet while he was distracted, and her movements caught his attention again.

When he ran forward, she turned her head to the side and threw her hands up in fear, only to hear a loud thud a moment later. When she turned her head back to see, she saw he’d been knocked back.

She realised she had shielded herself with a barrier.

She brought her bloodied and trembling hands in front of her face to gaze at them with uncertainty.I am casting without chanting.

Strolguil got to his feet with a teeth-baring glare of rage present on his face. It twisted his expression and made him appear undeniablydemented.

“I will heal you of this wound and then you will ride that Dragon again.” He started reaching into his pocket. “You will steal his heart, and youwillbe mine!”

He threw something small at the shield, and it shattered like it was nothing but glass.

Then he was chasing her again before he tackled her once more to the ground. He struck her across the face with his fist, intending to make her go limp, but it only made her fight harder.

Both their heads shot towards the sound that came from the wall of the main room they were next to in this hallway. It was a roar – a loud, deafening, large, lung-filled roar.

“You freed him?!” She could tell that Strolguil was growing more furious by the second, to the point he was beginning to shake with it.

While his head was turned, Amalia kicked him off of her and sent him flying to his back. She scrambled back to her feet and took an unsteady step back when he started to kneel. Just as he was about to lunge for her again, another roar sounded followed by the sound of a thud against the wall.

Strolguil paused to decide.