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CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

Ellery

That knowledge spurred me into action. Beneath my palms, I gathered energy from what little air currents flowed through this suffocating place and whipped it into a wind that I pushed toward them.

I didn’t have time to create a tornado, but the blast of wind knocked them back a few feet as Callan braced his legs apart and held his sword before him to take them on. I gathered another blast of wind and unleashed it on them again.

They were more prepared for it this time, and while it slowed them, it didn’t knock them back again. Shit.

The rock blocked me from using my lightning, and I couldn’t draw rain or snow into this dank, underground world. I could use my fog, but Callan didn’t know I possessed the ability… only Ryker did now that my mother was gone.

Besides, by the time I created enough fog to hide us, the guards would already be on top of us. We were nearly powerless and weaponless against these men dressed in mail and wearing helmets.

“Run,” Callan said to me.

That wasn’t going to happen. I had no weapons, but I wouldn’t leave him to fight these two off on his own.

With a flick of their wrist, one of the guards twisted the wind I kept blowing at them and flung it back at us. The gust blew my drenched hair away from my face and whipped my soaked dress around my ankles.

He was strong, but I managed to wrench the next blast of air from his grasp and send it back at them. Throwing up his hands, the guard flung forward another wall of air that crashed against mine.

Currents of air thrummed between us and tickled my palms as we battled each other, but while I could feel him trying to shove forward, I didn’t give him any ground. Digging in my toes, I pushed back and gained some ground as I moved the wall closer to him.

His mouth twisted into a snarl. He growled before throwing his hands to the side and smashing the air against the rocks with a loud pop.

The barrier I’d created broke apart. Before I could form another blast of wind, the guards bellowed as they charged again.

Without my abilities, I only had my training to rely on, and I’d been taught by the best. The guard who destroyed my barrier was still a few feet away when I ducked, swung out my foot, and swept his legs from under him.

The man grunted as he flew into the air before crashing onto the rocky floor. The air in his lungs erupted from him in a loud rush as his helmet clinked against the rocks.

His sword clattered across the floor as it flew from his hands and settled against the opposite wall. A few feet behind me, Callan battled the other guard while I scrambled to retrieve the sword.

My fingers brushed the hilt as a hand enclosed on my ankle and jerked me back. I bit back a startled cry as the guard’s hands tore at my dress, ripping fabric and creating airflow where none was before.

I rolled to the side to get away as I tried to kick free of his hand, but there was nowhere to go in the narrow hallway. They’d designed the tunnel to be big enough for a couple of servants to walk while rolling a cart. They hadn’t designed it for comfort.

The guard’s hands pawed at my thighs and belly, though I wasn’t sure if he was doing it on purpose or trying to get a better grip on me as he climbed his way up my body. My skin crawled, and my stomach churned as his palm settled over my breast.

With a screech of indignation, I rolled beneath him and punched him in the face. The impact jarred through my hand and into my arm, but my father had taught me how to punch right, and I didn’t break anything other than his nose.

It twisted to the side as blood spilled free. Instead of the blow making him free me, his hands clasped down harder.

When I punched him again, he hit me back. His punch landed solidly against my temple and knocked my head to the side.

Bells exploded in my skull, my vision blurred, and it took all I had to remain conscious as blackness swirled across my eyes until only a pinpoint of light and the guard’s bloody, hate-filled face were visible.

I had to stay conscious. If I went under, this man would destroy me.

My mind flashed to my mother and the heart that was torn from her chest. I jammed my thumbs into the guard’s eyes.

The man screamed as I gritted my teeth and twisted my thumbs deeper. I wouldn’t let him kill me, and I wouldn’t let him rape me. I’d tear him apart first.

By the time I finished with him, he’d be in two pieces too. He screamed as he grasped my wrists and tried to tear my hands away from him.

His fingers were bruising against my flesh, but I didn’t stop digging as his eyes shifted grotesquely beneath my thumbs. All my rage and misery had become focused on him, and he would pay for it all .

He screamed and released his grip on my wrists to hit me again. Unable to see, his blow glanced off my chin and across my cheekbone before clipping my ear, but it didn’t dissuade me from blinding him.

The guard howled as I succeeded in tearing his eyes free. I refused to let what I’d done make me sick as bile surged up my throat. I would do whatever it took to survive.

His hands fumbled at the place where his eyes used to be as he reeled back from me. Planting my elbows on the ground, I scrambled backward and went for the sword.

I grasped the sword and lifted it as the thud of more feet sounded from the tunnel. A few seconds later, three more guards came into view.