Page 73 of Malicent (Seven Devils #1)

Millicent

CAGE’S SUDDEN CHANGE IN DEMEANOR throws me off. I stare down at his limp form, then lean in to press a kiss on his cheek.

Somnex coats my lips, applied the moment I entered my room. I knew he would come once he sensed the magic stirring.

Of course, the dosage doesn’t affect me anymore. After Kalix drugged me, I began hunting for the plant. The beautiful purple petals, nearly iridescent in moonlight, caught my eye on a run with Luca. Every night, I dosed myself, slowly increasing each dose until I reached tolerance.

Let them try to drug me again.

I look to the owl. “It’s done Nora, I will retrieve the artifact.”

They all underestimated me. The collar gave me the perfect opportunity to slip into the mage’s wing unnoticed.

Week after week, I’ve been cataloging the artifacts.

I told Nora everything. And she wants one item in particular: a small golden box wrapped in spelled papers meant to contain whatever great power slumbers inside.

Cage was going to be a problem. That’s why he’s taking a nap during all this.

Shadows begin to slither from his body. I know Vyraxis is coming.

I bolt.

Windows I pass display a suddenly dark grey stormy sky. Large bolts of lightning zip through the clouds, and thunder rattles the castle as Vyraxis’s energy pulls. Yeah, she is pissed.

I sprint through the winding halls to the mage wing. Thanks to the ball, the entire wing is deserted.

Idiots. Too reliant on their wards. And their ward keeper is fast asleep .

I reach the sealed iron door. My magic slides from my fingers and sinks into the runes etched across the metal. One by one, the wards shatter. It’s nice not having the collar on. There’s no burning. This freedom tastes like power.

Inside, the artifact room feels like an overstuffed tomb. Shelves tower above me, crammed with cursed relics, ancient enchantments, and things that should never have been made.

I find the box easily. Golden, unassuming, barely bigger than a picnic basket.

A chill floods my veins the moment I touch it.

The Nightmother stirs awake.

Open it, s he purrs. Her voice coils in my mind. My hands shake when I try to resist.

Open it, she growls. Her compulsion slices in my mind. Images flash in my mind—a grotesque, four-armed beast. The visions are drenched black and crimson.

“Stop,” I whisper.

Open it. Open it. OPEN IT !

Her screams split my skull, and I collapse to my knees, clutching my head. I place the box down in front of me, grabbing my head.

“Stop! Stop!” I repeat. My scream cracks. Glass shatters across the room.

Her presence invades my mind. My vision floods black. My body spasms under the weight of her control as my hands move without my will. They rip away the protective wrappings, and the box creaks open.

She releases me, allowing my eyes to roll forward.

The box before me is empty inside, just a dust-lined interior wrapped in aged green velvet. A mirror is on the inside of the lid, so grimy I can barely make out my reflection.

Something moves in the corner in my periphery. I look over. Nothing.

Then the crows come, and I drop the box.

One, then a dozen, then hundreds explode from the box. Wings beat against the air. Screeches shatter the silence. They slash at me, beaks and talons piercing skin.

My magic erupts. A repulsion wave flings them back. I throw up a shield. They hammer against it, desperate to break through.

Some die on impact, but they keep coming.

I bolt for the door, flinging it open to escape.

They flood the hall like smoke, growing as they fly.

Legs lengthen. Muscles swell. Their claws twist into deadly appendages. From their backs, black spines sprout in whip-like tails sharpened into piercing tips.

Arms burst from their chests, each armed with three long talons

Their beaks stretch, mouths splitting open to reveal rows of glistening, serrated teeth.

Screams erupt from the halls, followed by the sound of fighting.

Iris . Felix .

I focus, ripping open two portals. Twyx and Nyx emerge with their fangs bared and their eyes blazing. They flank me instantly, growling at the threat ahead.

I sprint toward the ballroom, ignoring the maze of halls. I blast through a few walls, uncaring who sees or what I destroy

This wasn’t supposed to happen. I wanted to freak him out because he deserved fear. That was all.

I wanted to rattle him, to show him what sedatives feel like when they blur the lines between grief and madness, to leave him shaking from a nightmare of loss, the way I’ve lived mine.

Not cause loss for Iris and Felix.

Nyx and Twyx rip through any twisted crows that draw too close. Their snakes lash out with venom, shredding wings, hissing death.

Once I finally reach the ballroom, it is an ocean of red.

Blood streaks the marble floors. Ripped bodies litter the space like broken dolls. Screams mix with the sound of flapping wings as creatures pluck victims from the ground, gorging in midair.

Kalix guards Tyran like a steel wall. Iris stands beside them, a green aura pulsing from her skin. Several crows hang in the air, stilled by her power. Others circle above like puppets waiting for command.

Some relief washes over me when I see them in one piece.

I move with Nyx and Twyx, jumping over bodies, my feet slipping through blood as I vault to Tyran’s side.

“Millicent!” Felix shouts, eyes wide.

“What the hell is happening?” Kalix demands.

“I—I don’t know.” My voice cracks. I meet his eyes.

Kalix’s expression turns to stone. “Millicent.”

His voice is cold steel.

“What have you done?”

“Forget whose fault it is. Just fucking handle it.” Felix snaps.

I’ve never heard him like this, rage dripping from every word. His eyes land on me, full of disappointment and anger. That look burns deeper than any curse ever could. I turn away, unable to face it. Not now.

Taking inventory of the room, I let Twyx and Nyx roam free, slaughtering as many as they are able.

They surge forward, their jaws splitting down the sides until four panels of gruesome teeth fan wide. Their tongues lash out like spears, dragging the creatures from the air to the floor.

From the corners of the ballroom, the shadows obey me. I call them in, shape them in my mind into lances—long, deadly, and sharpened to perfection. The air thickens as they begin to take form around me.

I let them fly and send my lances toward their forms. Crows shriek and spiral down, bodies punctured and split as the lances pierce through bone and muscle. One lunges for my side, too fast to dodge.

Nyx is faster.

His tongue impales it mid-flight, and with a guttural roar, he launches upward. They crash across the floor, limbs snapping, until Nyx’s four-jawed maw closes over one’s skull, severing it cleanly.

My heart pounds. I need to end this. I need to close the box.

“Iris!” I yell over the chaos. “Do you know anything about the artifacts in the locked room?”

She glances back. One of her controlled crows drags a corpse to her. “No, but Cage does! Where the hell is he?” She hammers into the crow, muttering an incantation before It rises under her command.

“Kalix, what is the antidote for Somnex?”

Kalix yanks his impaled sword from a crow’s gut, blood splashing on his boots. “Millicent Le Strange, if we survive this, I am going to kill you myself!” he screams furiously.

“Noted,” I shout back over the clash of screams.

“It’s night lily! In my office, labeled and deep purple!” he says as he kicks the chest of an approaching crow.

The building shakes, floor and walls trembling as a low roar vibrates through the air. All of us stagger, nearly losing our footing.

Felix braces himself against his throne, flinching as debris rains from the ceiling. “Fuck. You pissed off Vyraxis didn’t you?” he snaps.

“What’ll she do if Cage is unconscious?” I shout, a crow’s shriek clipping the end of my question as Twyx tears it cleanly in half.

“She’ll hunt you down and kill you,” Kalix calls, laughing grimly. He charges a crow diving toward Iris, driving his blade through the underside of its beak.

“Good,” I say through clenched teeth. I raise my hands, channeling magic until it sears like lightning through my veins and my vision floods with blue.

I don’t hesitate and fire upward.

The roof explodes in a deafening blast. Shards of stone come crashing down like hail.

It does not take long for Vyraxis to answer. Her enormous head forces through the gap, stones cracking and tumbling off her horns.

I leave Nyx and Twyx, saturating the room with my aura. Felix’s guards are dead. I pull a sword from one of their fallen bodies and run.

Vyraxis senses me, and her silver fire consumes the space. Screaming fills the air from humans and crows alike. I dive through the nearest door, casting a shield over myself to avoid being burned to a crisp. The heat licks at the edges of my ward.

Once I hit the hallway, I release what magic I can spare, preserving only enough to keep Nyx and Twyx present. As long as they’re active, my aura lingers enough to keep Vyraxis in place.

Her next blast confirms it. More flames roar behind me, engulfing what’s left of the ballroom.

I sprint down the corridor. Crows dive at me from all sides. I dodge instead of fighting. Magic risks drawing Vyraxis after me. She needs to stay where her fire protects the only people I have grown to care for…in my own way.

I need Oliver.

I frantically pull on our bond, and he appears by my side in an instant. His form flickers with yellow, the color of panic. His wide eyes take in the chaos in the blood-soaked halls. Above us, the shrieks of hunting crows still echo through the corridor as they hunt any human they can find.

“Kalix’s apothecary,” I instruct, breathless. “Night lily. It’s labeled and deep purple. Quickly now, go.”

He vanishes in a flash, his urgency rippling through our connection.

I burst through my chamber door and drop to my knees beside Cage. My heart pounds, adrenaline masking the ache in my muscles.