Page 127 of Possess Me at Midnight

“You’re both here,” Blackbourne notes, his gaze bouncing between us as he steps into the challenge ring. “Excellent.”

Suddenly, I know two things. One, Mathias will press Sabelle to use the diary to fulfill his twisted ambitions to rule and enslave magickind by force, and when she refuses, he will kill her—painfully. Two, I can never allow Mathias that chance. I pray Sabelle uses that clever mind of hers to break free or that Bram rescues her before Mathias can signal Rhea to commence Sabelle’s doom.

“We are,” Mathias confirms.

“Very well, then. The challenge has officially resumed!” Blackbourne declares.

“First, my fine opponent has something to say.” Mathias glares at me.

Gripping the sword tightly and swallowing back my fury, I address Blackbourne. “I do.”

The older wizard frowns down his long, thin nose at me. “What is it, Rykard?”

“I’m ready to resume, sir.” I whirl to Mathias. “And you can fuck off.”

Chapter

Forty-Two

“To the death, then!” Blackbourne’s scowl makes clear he hopes I wind up six feet under. Then he ducks out of the ring.

With a battle cry, I lift my wand with one hand. Mathias’s eyes widen in disbelief. He swears and raises his own.

One chance. One distraction. One opportunity to stop Mathias and his evil plan for Sabelle, maybe even kill the fucking bastard. I have to make it work.

Before Mathias casts whatever nasty spell he’s concocted, I raise my other hand, clutching the sword coated in my incorruptible blood.

Thanks to Marrok’s grueling training, I skewer Mathias in the gut faster than the blink of an eye and plunge deep into his abdomen. As his eyes widen and he gasps out, I turn the blade, doing maximum damage, before ripping it out. “That’s for Gailene. You brutally stripped her innocence and stole her life. So I’m going to slice you into little pieces, spit in the open holes, and let you rot until the maggots claim you.” I shove the sword into Mathias again and, with a hard flick of my wrist, slice him open again. “And that’s for threatening Sabelle. If you’ve laid a finger on her, I will make your death more painful than you could ever imagine.”

Mathias falls to his knees, clutching his bleeding stomach with both hands. All the goodness coating the sword is crashing Mathias’s system. No doubt the bastard is trying to heal himself, but the effort is rapidly depleting his energy. Without it, healing any faster than a human will be impossible.

He pales to the shade of fresh snow as blood oozes from his wounds and drips from his gaping mouth. He glares at me with accusing eyes.

“You said you would”—he chokes—“concede.”

“I lied, just as you did. You never had any intention of letting Sabelle go freely. You intended to use her to manipulate me into giving over the Doomsday Diary. Then you were going to kill her.”

“Not so stupid, after all,” Mathias hisses. “But it’s too late.”

“What’s this you say?” Blackbourne interjects. “Mr. d’Arc has Miss Rion?”

“Hostage somewhere in your house at this moment.” And I’ve never been more grateful that a wizard locked down his property from teleportation or Sabelle would be gone forever.

I drop my sword and run for the force field’s door. I have to find Sabelle now, in case Rhea spots Mathias’s injury through the window and harms Sabelle in retaliation.

Blackbourne calls out, “Wait! If you leave the challenge ring before I declare a winner or someone forfeits, Mr. d’Arc wins by default.”

Bloody stupid rules! I don’t care. Sabelle is more important.

“No!” Tynan shouts just outside the ring. “Stay! I will help Bram find her.”

“She’s in danger…”

“And all we’ve worked for will be lost if you step outside that ring. I’ll end the danger to Sabelle. You finish him.” Tynan nods at Mathias.

As much as I hate not racing to Sabelle’s rescue, allowing Mathias to win the Council seat will only give him more power later to hurt her.

It chafes, but I give Tynan a curt nod.