Page 38 of Soulbound

She shook her head. "Not really. My natural inclination is telepathy. I know very little of the telekinetic arts."

The opposite of him.

"I can ward. And form a white mage globe, but there's not much impact in that."

Red globes were the color of war, or death; blue had significant impact; but white were almost harmless, and used mostly for light. He considered strategy. If he dropped the ward and stepped out of it to attack, he had to leave her to her own defensive capabilities.

"You're not invulnerable," Cleo blurted, as if she sensed his thoughts. "And we don't know what's out there. An imp or two hiding in the fog, but possibly something else. Be patient."

As if to underscore her words, something prowled the edges of the fog circling them. It couldn't get in, but they also couldn't move.

"Curious," he said, his gaze flickering to the manor, "that we're attacked by imps mere minutes after we leave the house of a man who pledged his allegiance to Morgana in exchange for the Relic."

"You think Malachi alerted her somehow?" Cleo half turned to him. "It's possible Morgana had someone—or thing—watching the manor. She wanted the Wand back eventually."

"Is there a reason you're defending him?"

"I'm not defending him." Her eyebrow arched. "Is there a reason the first thought that leaps into your mind is a conspiracy?"

Yes. Jealousy. "Life experience. If someone's able to stab you in the back, then they probably will."

"Well, I think—" Cleo hesitated. "Is your ward supposed to be doing that?"

He turned, finding a bizarre buzzing ring of red light at the base of his warded dome. As he watched, it began to fizz, evaporating upward.

"Something's breaking through," he said, trying to force more power into the ward. The power merely drained through, as though there was a leak in the ward somewhere. "Stand close to me!"

Another shadowy ripple stirred through the fog, as if an imp darted toward them, and then away. In the distance, a hollow boom sounded, and a patch of fog lit up in red. Fireworks? Or Bishop and his deadly mage globes?

Cleo pressed against him as the ward kept burning away from the bottom. A pair of claws flexed on the edges.

And Sebastian made a decision.

Grabbing Cleo, he dragged her into his arms, pressing her head to his chest to protect her. Letting go of the ward, he spat one of his power words, unleashing an enormous wave of force outward as the ward vanished. The fog evaporated, and something screamed in a high-pitched squeal as it went flying through the air. Timber groaned, and then a tree was tumbling down, its branches crushing through the gatehouse roof.

Sebastian stared at the damage. Served Malachi right.

"Behind you!" Cleo yelled.

He swung a hand, reverting to Expression to control his powers. Fear added a punch to his next blow, and he swept another imp out of the way with a flick of pure force. There was no finesse to Expression, merely destruction. He reined himself back in sharply.

"Warding!" Cleo yelled, and she glowed with faint light as a shimmering ward coalesced around them again.

The fog had swept away in the aftermath of his blow. A hooded figure moved out there. A human. Three imps circled them, but it was the man in the cloak who held his attention.

"What sort of coward hides in the fog?" Sebastian called.

The hood froze.

"He's not alone," Cleo pointed out.

There were two other figures out there. He could just make out a hulking form that towered over him, and a smaller figure, cloaked in a way that made him think woman. The three of them stood in a triangle shape around them.

"Take them," the first cloaked figure said.

Sorcery swirled, but it was the sort of thing he'd never encountered before. Cleo's ward began to evaporate the same way his had. The woman summoned a lash of pure electricity to life in her hands, and flicked it like a whip.

He couldn't take them all on at the same time, and he couldn't ward.