Page 111 of Ascendant King
“You’re going to take down House Morrison and every mage you have with you.” Elizabeth’s voice was sure, the inevitability of Morrison’s downfall making her sound almost giddy. “But know that I am going to fight with every ounce of my strength to make sure that you never, ever lay your hands on Summer.”
Something hard and cold hit me, Phelan’s magic falling away. I turned and saw the iron chain that had been binding Elizabeth’s wrists swinging in lazy circles, slicing through the magic trapping us. When we were free, she dropped the chains and summoned her own blue magic.
A thousand spiders emerged from her palms, their blue bodies and legs crawling over Phelan’s net, nipping and biting at the magic. He stood stock-still, watching.
“You would choose one mad mage over your own people? I hold the future of our entire race in my hands. We could begreat.”
Elizabeth twisted her hands, and all at once, the spiders jumped off, and Phelan’s magic crashed to the ground, cracking the pavement, slicing through branches and leaves. But at least it was out of the way.
Her tattooed spiders leapt through the air, twisting around Phelan, binding him in a complicated web of her own magic. He waited, arms at his sides, and I felt the cool prickle of anxiety twist over my skin at how calm he looked. Slowly, I eased myself in front of Cade, watching with narrowed eyes.
We had the information we needed; Leon wasn’t with Phelan, and if he was, it was an unhappy partnership, one that would likely end up with Leon trapped in one of the paddedrooms underneath House Morrison, drained of all of his ill-gotten magic.
When Elizabeth was done, she grinned, not even sweating.
Phelan shook his head. “You were always too overconfident in your own power.”
He pushed his arms out, easily breaking the trap of Elizabeth’s magic, and his own ink rose from the ground, this time twisted in multiple colors, a rainbow of magic that wrapped around us. It twisted over my arms and torso, and I tried to kick loose but could only manage to swing my foot uselessly.
Elizabeth’s eyes went wide, and she screamed, the sound cutting off as her spiders disappeared one by one. She was choking, blood trickling from her mouth, and his magic seemed to visually drain her. Her cheeks went hollow, eyes standing out in a skeletal face.
He was draining her in front of our eyes.
I struggled to get free, but the magic was too tight, wrapped around me, creeping around my neck. Cade was struggling—I could see him out of the corner of my eye, his own magic no match for Phelan’s immense, grafted power.
I nudged my foot forward, unsure what I was going to even be able to do, when I heard the clank of metal. I had touched the discarded iron chains.
Phelan was stalking toward Elizabeth, the chilliness in his gaze burning hot. We had been an annoyance, but she made him genuinely angry.
“I do not understand whyyouof all people don’t want this. You came fromnothing. You came from a mage family that hadnothing. You might as well have been a human.” He tapped her cheek, now so hollow that I was sure his fingers were going to pass through the skin and reveal the bones underneath. “You were one of the first who signed up to donate your magic.”
“I should have killed you. I should have challenged you when you killed Howard. You’re nothing more than a greedy, power-hungry despot.” Elizabeth tried to spit, but the saliva just dribbled down her chin. “Is this what you’re going to do to every mage who stands against you? Drain them? Pull out the power that’s rightfully theirs out of them?”
Phelan didn’t even bother to lie. “Yes.”
I managed to get my toe on the other side of the chain, dragging it close to me. If I could just get it on top of my boot, I could swing it up, free my arms enough to hold on to it.
Cade was murmuring to himself, and I saw the twist of a tail move down his throat. Hopefully, Basil and he had come up with a better solution because I had never been a member of Cirque du Soleil, and this required that level of dexterity.
“Elizabeth, Elizabeth.” Phelan shook his head. “You brought House Morrison to the precipice of greatness. Why are you stepping away now?”
Elizabeth shook her head. “For Summer. You said it yourself.”
“When I find her and drain her and give her magic to mages who will actually use it, who won’t bescaredof their own shadows, I’ll let her know that you died for her.” Phelan stroked his hand down Elizabeth’s face before gripping her jaw tightly. “Perhaps it will be some solace to her.”
As he wrenched her head back and Elizabeth began to jerk and tremble, everything drained out of her, I managed to get the chain even closer, slicing the connection binding my hips to the ground. I twisted, trying to grab the chain between my feet, swinging it awkwardly as it put too much weight on my suspended arms.
There was a muffled explosion, and I heard Basil’s annoyed,No luck.
Elizabeth’s body went still, and Phelan turned to us.
“Cade Bartlett, boy king, I can sense you have only a fraction of the power you once had. What a pity. Should I give you power instead?” He slid through his own magic, the threads moving aside so they didn’t touch them. “I find that even the most reluctant participants understand when they receive their first dose of power. The ink on your skin will be proof enough of why this is the only way forward for our people.”
The blue of the graffitied ocean on benches and the fountain glowed, lighting Phelan from behind, the painted water taking over the surrounding buildings, drowning them.We were underneath the waves, in the greatest flood that had ever engulfed the world, and no one had warned Noah.
I floated in the water, breathing in the salty brine, every part of my body relaxed. Cade was shouting, but his muffled voice made no sense. The threads of Phelan’s magic fell away, and I turned to Cade, embracing him in a hug. He wrapped his arms around my back, fisting my shirt.
Then, he pushed his legs on the ground, kicking hard. I opened my eyes and saw nothing but water. No buildings, no park, no benches. No Elizabeth.