Page 31 of Contested Crown

But it was a feint, the magic circling us and coming up behind Cade. He turned too late—the power had curled up his arm, wrenching it back and pushing him forward.

I didn’t hesitate. Leaping over Cade, I brought my own arm down, slicing across the magic still linked between the shadow and Cade’s body. It sheared off the line of dark gray tattoo like two pieces of metal striking each other.

I pressed harder, forcing all my strength into the pressure, and the foreign magic gave. Cade collapsed down, and I grabbed his arm, dragging him up.

We had to get out of the room.

“What is this?” I asked, even though I suspected I knew.

“One of the gifts wasn’t a gift,” Cade said shortly. He gestured to the wall, and I saw where one of the moving pieces of magic had gone missing.

“They were hoping to catch someone.” My gaze dropped to Cade. “Another mage.”

Something moved, and I came forward, using the magic on my arm like a bat, slamming it into the gray-brown magic, sending it flying into the wall. It sparked, burning at the paint, the chemical smell making both of us wince back.

Cade grabbed my hand and dragged me through the door. In the living room, Krista was slumped over her table, eyes wide open and a trickle of blood dripping down her lips, pooling on the wood. On the table with her were two small trays, a cell phone in each, along with driver’s licenses and disassembled passports missing the photo page.

Everything was still for a long, hard second.

Then the room came alive, magic seething out of every shadow. Cade swore, but I didn’t need to be a mage to understand that his trickle of magic wouldn’t be able to defend against this.

Spinning, I grabbed the trays, shoving them both into Cade’s hands, and then I planted my feet and crossed my arms, leaning into the wall of magic coming at us.

Cade said my name, but I couldn’t hear over the roar of all the power cracking against each other, sparking off and searing at my skin.

“Miles!” Cade was right at my ear, and he reached out, grabbing at my shoulder, and I felt a flood of warmth flow over my arms.

Cade’s hand disappeared, and I didn’t wait, didn’t hesitate. Shoving forward, I let myself be confident in the tattoos he’d put on my arms, then grabbed hold of the nearest piece of foreign magic, tearing it loose.

In my palm, it crumbled into nothing more than brown pigment. I grabbed another piece, shocked that I was able to hold on to it, and tore it free.

Sunlight streamed into the room. Cade had gotten the door open, but the locked security gate had him stuck.

“Miles! The key!” He turned his head, and I saw a shadow start toward him, the living tattoo darting through the light like a snake. It wrapped around his arm, binding him. He screamed as it burned his skin, and his eyes found me, wide and panicked.

We needed to get out. I turned away from Cade.

Krista lay right where she’d been killed, and I pushed her over, searching her pockets. A spell twisted around my ankles, pulling, but I found the key, tossed it to Cade, and then brought the gauntlets he’d tattooed on my arms down hard.

They slammed into the magic, and it shrieked, metal on metal again, but I kept pressing until it broke.

The security gate swung open, and Cade reached out, his palm in mine again. He wrenched me away from the magic, and we ran.

ChapterEleven

We sprinted down the hallway, each step loud. Cade was panting hard as we half tumbled down the stairs.

Suddenly, he pulled up short, screaming. I spun—a tattoo made up of interlocked fish scales had wrapped itself around his arm. It pulled him backward, yanking him off-balance, and he fell hard onto his back on the stairs.

The brown-gray magic twisted tighter around him, and I recognized the spell from the first time we’d met. It had bound me to the wall, twisting my arm until I was sure it was going to break.

Now it was Cade’s turn, only I didn’t like the idea of it. I didn’t like the thought of him losing his arm to this spell.

The spell started to pull him up the stairs, dragging him even though he was able to grab onto a banister, holding tight and bracing his feet. He’d dropped the trays, our paperwork and IDs spread over the concrete steps.

I leapt over the mess, trying to grab onto the spellwork, but I couldn’t touch it—it slipped through my fingers. Helplessly, I brought my arm down again, the gauntlets of magic making a clanging sound as they hit the tattoos wrapped around Cade.

It seared my skin, and Cade cut off another scream. His eyes were on my arms, and I started to ask if he needed the magic back, but he reached out, the fingers of his free hand delicate as they dragged over my skin.