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A surge of dark magic prickled Evander’s skin and sent the floor trembling beneath their feet before he could reply.

Cecillia lurched unsteadily.

“What on earth?!” she gasped.

Evander came to a decision. “Come with us!” he requested urgently to the professor. “There’s a dark mage in the building. He’s attacking Comte Beaulieu. I could do with your assistance!”

Horror widened Cecillia’s eyes. It was followed swiftly by understanding.

“Of course!”

Evander’s gaze switched to her detail. “I want you to guard the entrance to the south wing,” he instructed swiftly. “Make sure no one goes in or out. You have my permission to use offensive magic if need be.”

The officers bobbed their heads tensely. “Yes, your Grace.”

Cecillia grabbed the skirts of her dress and followed Evander and his group.

“Is the headmaster in the building?” Evander asked.

“No,” Cecillia replied with a shake of her head. “He was called to a meeting at the Ministry of Arcane Affairs. He asked me to cover for him, hence why I’m here.”

Evander told her about Shaw finding a strange magical trace as they hurried towards the lecture halls, carefully omitting any mention of the secret chamber beneath Whitley’s lab.

“You believe this is the work of whoever kidnapped Walter?” Cecillia asked, shooting an anxious look his way.

“We’re about to find out,” Evander said in a hard voice.

The air grew chilly when they approached the section of the south wing that contained the classrooms. By the time they reached the hall where muffled explosions originated, their breaths were misting in front of their faces.

The bitter taste of dark magic rolled across Evander’s tongue as they stopped in front of the double doors, the stench so foul it made his stomach roil. Even though he couldn’t see the barrier blocking them, he could sense it with his magic.

Power bubbled through his veins. He lifted a hand and sent a burst of fire magic into the invisible wall. The runes making up the barrier sizzled into life at the same time the flames of his magic cleared some of the noxious air.

His heart sank.

The spell was complex—not just a standard protection ward, but woven from dark magic and something he couldn’t put a finger on. He clenched his jaw.

“Whoever created this is incredibly skilled,” Cecillia said in a voice full of dread.

She jumped when a muted crash came from beyond the doors.

A shout reached them faintly.

Evander’s chest tightened at the panic lacing Leon’s voice.

“Stand back!” he commanded.

Evander waited until his companions had backpedalled several steps before placing his palm in front of the barrier and reaching for his magic.

Wind flowed through him, lightening his body and ruffling his hair.

The air began to stir, the currents swirling faster and faster until they formed a concentrated vortex around him.

Heat blossomed inside his chest with his next breath.

The fire that raced along his veins warmed his blood and made the vortex shimmer and spark.

He channelled his elemental powers into the barrier with a roar.

The flame storm that erupted from his hand raced across the corrupt wall with a boom that shook the corridor and sent the others sliding backward.

Cecillia gasped at the sight where she leaned into the wind.

The barrier shuddered under the elemental assault. A crack appeared. Then another.

Evander lowered his brows. Almost there!

Movement caught his eyes. He cursed.

A vile darkness was seeping around the edges of the doors.

“What the devil?!” Rufus shouted.

“Those look like shadow creatures, your Grace!” Shaw warned.

Evander gritted his teeth. He didn’t have time to take down the barrier and fight those abominations.

Cecillia appeared next to him, her face set in determined lines.

White magic sparked in her pupils and glittered in the bands of water swirling around her fingertips. They merged and solidified into a dazzling ice spear.

She widened her stance, drew back her arm, and stabbed it into the barrier.

The magic she unleashed washed warmly over Evander as he continued pouring his powers into the barrier.

It collapsed under their dual attack with a sound like shattering glass.

The shadow creatures surged towards them.

“Together!” Evander barked.

Cecillia swallowed and nodded.

The pair of them blasted the monsters with their magic while Rufus and Shaw opened the doors to the lecture hall.

Evander’s heart stuttered at the scene that met their eyes.

Leon stood with his back to the rows of seats and desks rising around the classroom, his chest heaving and his elegant attire torn and bloodied where he stood inside a maelstrom of his elemental magic.

He was facing off against three writhing masses of shadows coalescing and separating like living ink where they hovered in front of him, their wraithlike forms evading his Nullification Magic attacks.

But it was the figure beyond the shadows that froze Evander’s blood.

A man in a hooded cloak stood next to the lectern with his arms outstretched.

Dark magic wreathed his hands as he directed the shadow creatures to attack the Frenchman.

Though his face was obscured, there was something familiar about his stance.

Something Evander recognised vaguely from the past few days.

“Professor Musgrave?!” Cecillia gasped.

The figure’s head whipped around, eyes narrowing behind his glasses and his expression that of a madman. A chill shot down Evander’s spine at the sight of the shadows crowning his head and moving sinuously around his body under the cape he wore.

It reminded him of how Renwick had looked in the warehouse.

“Bollocks,” Shaw mumbled. “He’s a proper dark mage!”

“Evander!” Leon’s shout ripped him from his unpleasant memories and snapped him back to the present.

The Frenchman was barely holding the shadows at bay, a pale wall of wind and water magic flickering weakly between him and the creatures.

He met Evander’s gaze wildly, his eyes dark with dread. “I could do with a little assistance!”

“Try and hold off Musgrave!” Evander commanded Rufus and Shaw as he strode purposefully towards the Frenchman. “Cecillia, guard the door so he doesn’t escape!”

Ice magic crystallised around him as the closest group of shadow creatures turned on him.

He hurled the barrage of glittering shards. The frozen missiles tore through the formless bodies. The monsters screeched, a sound that bypassed his ears and cut directly into his brain. They re-formed and bore down on him.

Heat flooded Evander’s veins. A circular wall of flames whooshed into life around him.

The shadow creatures recoiled with sibilant hisses.

“These ones seem resistant to elemental magic somehow!” Leon shouted as Evander closed the distance to him, his face pale with exertion. “Even my Nullification Magic isn’t able to clear them fully. We need to try something else!”

Evander extended the barrier of fire around the relieved Frenchman and observed the twisting shadows surrounding them. He suspected these apparitions were different from the shadow creatures they’d encountered previously by virtue of how they’d been created.

If standard elemental magic doesn’t work against them, then that might.

He was distracted by the sound of Musgrave cursing where Rufus and Shaw now flanked him, truncheons in hand.

“Leon, remember that thing we tried once, when we were still at the Institute?” Evander’s frowning gaze shifted from the dark mage to his former lover.

Leon blinked. His eyes rounded. “You mean when we almost destroyed the classroom?!”

Evander nodded grimly.

Leon swallowed. “Alright, I’ll give it a try. Just—be gentle, mon cher.”

Evander put a hand on his back. “Remember to breathe.” He focused a controlled flow of magic into the Frenchman’s body.

Leon gasped and straightened. His eyes glowed and the air around him sparked with a dazzling light as Evander augmented the core where his powers dwelled. He clenched his jaw, raised his hands, and gathered his Nullification Magic around them like a silver shield.

The floor cracked beneath their feet, the marble slabs unable to withstand the sheer forces radiating from both of them.

Leon staggered a little.

Fear twisted Evander’s stomach when blood trickled out of the Frenchman’s left nostril. He began retracting his magic.

“Don’t stop!” Leon scowled at Evander. “I can take it!”

Evander hesitated before nodding jerkily.

He lifted his other hand and sent fire magic pouring into Leon’s Nullification Magic .

“ Now! ”

The concentrated energy wave they released boomed in a blinding flash that rippled outward on a formidable shockwave.

Windows shattered and chandeliers cracked. Chairs and desks exploded, filling the air with debris. Fracture lines snaked across the floor and up the walls. Plaster dust rained down from the ceiling.

The shadow creatures recoiled, their formless bodies contorting in agony before they dissipated to wispy tendrils that quickly faded in the sunlight streaming through the broken windows.

Musgrave stumbled back with a cry of horror as he was momentarily robbed of his magic by Leon’s powers. His murderous gaze found Evander.

“You will pay for this, Archmage!” he hissed.

Evander didn’t waste his breath responding. He advanced towards the professor where the latter stood trapped between Rufus and Shaw, anger tightening his face.

“Where are Whitley and Chevalier?” Evander growled. “And what have you done with the missing thralls?!”

A bark of laughter that did not belong to a sane man escaped Musgrave.

“You think you’ve won, don’t you?!” he sneered. “You and your damn friends and even that whore Harrington?!”

Cecillia paled as the professor shot a glare at her.

Musgrave’s eyes shrank to slits at Evander’s approach.

“I shall have your powers!” His gaze shifted to Leon.

“ All your powers! I will turn the pair of you into drooling rats that can’t even light a candle with your magic!

” His mouth stretched in a deranged smile.

“And my master shall reward me for my efforts, just like he promised he would! I shall have you lick his boots, Archmage. For you are nothing compared to his greatness!”

Ice filled Evander’s veins. He closed the distance to Musgrave and grabbed him furiously by the collar of his robe.

“Who is your master?!” he snarled.

Musgrave’s eyes gleamed with macabre glee. He reached inside his cloak, removed a round metallic device, and pressed the button atop it before Evander could react.

“This isn’t over, Ravenwood!” he cackled.

“Evander!” Rufus yelled in horror.

Leon cursed and dashed towards him.

The only thing that protected Evander from the brunt of the dark magic explosion was the wall of ice his body instinctively erected in an act of self-preservation.

Even then, the blast sent him flying backward into Leon’s arms and sent them both tumbling to the ground.

By the time the smoke cleared, Musgrave had vanished.