Page 45 of Temptation Unleashed (Talaenian Fae #3)
Thaddeus braced his foot against the floor and thrust his arms forward on a roar that fractured the walls, brought dust raining from the ceiling, and unleashed a blinding white wave of power from the depths of his soul.
It ripped away from his bones, tore through his skin, splintered through his veins.
As the last of his magic fled his palms, all of his strength fled on its heels.
The light vanished, leaving a hazy impression of a familiar room.
The hollow echoes of voices shouting. His body had gone numb, blood oozing from his mouth, his nose.
He didn’t remember falling to his knees, but his body pitched forward.
Somehow, he caught himself on his hands, his arms trembling.
Agony of the worst kind consumed him, stealing his senses.
Until his head tilted upward with the help of two small hands and he focused on startling emerald eyes.
“You damn idiot!” she whimpered, her eyes flared with fright. Her pain, that which she suffered in silence— pain suffered needlessly for me —swirled within the emerald greens and falling tears.
He dropped his head as blood bubbled up his throat. ’Twas at that moment he saw the blood oozing from his scars on his chest, the black magic woven within his body painting gauzy ribbons across his skin.
Cael dropped to his knees beside Rori, magic ready on both palms. He reached for Rori’s wound with one, Thaddeus with the other.
Thaddeus scowled, drawing back, piercing Cael with cold warning. “I…can’t be healed. Waste a drop…on me, brother, and ’twill…be the last you do. Heal her .”
Words were hard to speak against the flow of blood and the dimming world, the muscle-breaking torture and skin-scorching burn. He rocked on his hands and knees, his vision pulsing and fading a bit more. A battle waged in his brother’s expression, but he did as Thaddeus commanded.
As he tried to push back to his heels, he noticed the damage to the apartment around them.
The walls had hundreds of webs and cracks, structural beams visible through holes.
The ceiling’s trusses had been wrought bare by his power.
Furniture within range of his blast bore scorch marks and destruction.
But when he tried to tally the bodies of the fallen Fae, in his foggy head all he counted was six.
Six dead Fae with shriveling skin and clumps of cloth when there had been so many more.
“Bloody hell.” Clinging to the last thread of consciousness, he forced himself to his feet. Every inch of him trembled with exertion, but he pushed through everything. Despite the numbness, he sensed the air change.
“Thad—”
“Illusions. They’re coming,” Thaddeus hissed, swiping an arm across his mouth.
He shook his head, the haze, as Cael cast the front door a hesitant glance. ’Twas a smart strategy, he gave Grison credit. But he’d not be taken down so easily. Not when Rori was in danger.
The air hummed with electricity. Cael grabbed Cassy’s arm at the same time Thaddeus took hold of Rori and his brother.
Fae materialized, circling them, their attacks launching from their hands before they had completed their appearance.
Drawing upon every last ounce of power and strength, Thaddeus sifted them from the apartment ruins.
His knees buckled the instant his feet touched vibrant green grass. Cael kept him upright, barely. He struggled with each crushing breath, each second he remained conscious. The sift siphoned the last of his energy, and the world began to close in around him.
“How dare the likes of you tread upon my land and come to the stairs of my home.”
The caustic rumble of a fury-fed voice reverberated in his head. He wiped his eyes, drawing blood across his face, and stumbled forward, away from Cael and Rori.
Lifting his chin, steeling himself for any further punishment or attack, he met the liquid rainbow gaze he’d last seen upon these same lands at a time when he wished ill upon this very person.
“You are not welcome here. Not after you lent a hand in destroying all that has since been restored.” Shaye lifted a hand, power hissing between his fingers.
“I should do Dagda the favor of executing you for your role in the destruction Daeanna wrought after you delivered that potion in her exile, the harm she brought to my wife, and your hand in stabbing the King of Realms in the back, rendering him indisposed for her to create havoc.”
“I deserve…death. Aye, ’tis my fate. My sentence shall come. But I’m here…with no ill intent or malice, for I’ve learned…my wrongs, which cannot be undone.”
The ground came up beneath his knees, jolting the little feeling he had left in his body.
All had gone numb with pain and there was no fighting it.
Darkness conquered all but a speck of his vision.
Blood seeped from the corners of his mouth, his nostrils, his ears, his scars.
He would die at the feet of a man who had been his closest friend ages ago. A man who’d become his enemy.
Goddess, he could only hope…hope…
“ Le … do … thoil …” Each word took the strength of a hundred men to form on his tongue. Each word stole his breath, his life, a little more .
He toppled forward, the last of his strength fleeing his body, as he begged, “Protect…Rori.”