Page 116 of Possess Me at Midnight

Despite that, Ice is willing to fight the worst evil in a millennium, in part, simply for a chance to be with me. How stupid have I been not to Bind to him already? I put Bram’s blessing over Ice’s heart, and now… This can’t end soon enough. I have to talk to him.

“Bloody git!” Ice growls at Mathias.

Right now, I can say the same about my brother.

“I underestimated his love for you. Nor did I know you feel the same,” Bram murmurs. “It’s my duty to be certain he’s the best mate for you?—”

“Excuses!” I hiss. “And you know it. Ever since you awakened from that Devouring Shadow of Mathias’s, you’ve been calculating and scheming. Cold. You cared far more that my mating would ally you with someone advantageous than whether it will make me happy. That shadow inside you? It’s winning, Bram. You rescued me from my selfish mother…and now you’re becoming just like her.”

“Sabelle—”

“Shut up. I don’t care whether you disclaim me or not. Ice will be my mate. If you don’t approve, you can go to hell.” I leap up from my chair, relief and anxiety pouring from me. It’s done; I’m free of my brother’s expectations. I’ll mate with the man I love.

If he survives this battle.

Bram’s eyes narrow. He bares his teeth with a growl as he wraps his hand around my wrist and hauls me back. “How dare you speak to me like that, you ungrateful little?—”

“Let go,” I demand. I’ve never felt compelled to slap my brother, but the urge hits me now. I restrain it.

He’s not himself, and the more I feed his anger, the faster this…thing eats the good half of his soul.

Suddenly, his expression shifts from fury to horror. His hands shake. “Christ,” he whispers, venom draining from his voice. “I’m sorry, Sabelle. That wasn’t… I didn’t mean…” He grinds the heels of his palm into his eyes. “This bloody shadow inside me makes me want to tear everyone apart.”

I know.

“Of course I want you to be happy,” he grates out.

But I can tell the effort to say anything remotely positive costs him.

Inside the ring, Ice growls. Something pings. A flash of light bounces off one wall of the force field, then another.

“Missed me.” Mathias laughs, finally shaking his hand free of the paralysis spell.

Clawing at his eyes, Ice drops to one knee. I wring my hands, willing him to concede this challenge. Maybe the others can find a way to oust Mathias from the Council and expose him for what he is. But this challenge isn’t worth Ice’s life.

“I’m not done yet, you dodgy prick.” Ice grabs a handful of the remaining snow and wipes it across his face, grinding it into his eyes. He comes up gasping, blinking, his eyes wide open. “Not by half.”

Ice flicks his wand at Mathias. A whirling wind funnel appears at his feet. He flings it toward the evil wizard with an angry roar. Then he scoops up more snow, crushes it in one big fist and tosses it at the tornado. The snow enters, then emerges on the other side as little projectiles of ice, headed directly for Mathias.

“Clever,” he praises, leaping above them. He levitates until all the pellets ricochet harmlessly off the clear force field and fall to the floor. “But not clever enough. You’ll have to try a bit harder.”

Then Mathias raises his arms wide, bringing them down in a scooping motion near his hips. They’re filled with something…little bodies that squirm and wriggle. The evil wizard tosses them in Ice’s direction. They seem to multiply in midair, a few dozen becoming hundreds in the blink of an eye.

“My friends are hungry. Feed them.”

I jerk my gaze from Mathias’s dark glower to the little pale crawling creatures. They hit Ice like a wall, and he screams, twisting and writhing, trying to fling them away.

Every one he dislodges leaves behind a bleeding wound as another quickly takes its place.

“Flesh-eating maggots?” Tynan rears back in disgust beside me.

“Oh, god. They are.” That’s dark magic, indeed. I once read they can eat a man alive in minutes.

Ice!

As if Ice hears my plea, he closes his eyes and focuses his energy. I run, approaching the force field in terror, until scarcely more than a few meters and a clear wall separate us. Around Ice, more snow melts, slowly filling up the ring. Ice ducks under the surface of the growing pool, removing the last of the creatures from his shoulders and neck, and they float away from him, unable to swim back for their meal.

When he comes up for air, he freezes the water with a flick of his wrist, rendering them instantly immobile.