Page 40 of Wings of Lies (Daughter of the Seven Circles #1)

The first part of my difficult task was getting away from Brock.

“Why don’t you help Aspen? And where are Cacus and Bael?”

Brock twisted his head slowly, raising a brow in disbelief. “You heard him. I’m here to guard you. And the demons are most likely hiding in the back.”

“Hiding? They are giant bombs, and they’re hiding?”

“Exactly. They’d level this entire field and kill every one of us if accidentally struck.”

Right.

“Well, I don’t need guarding. Help your prince.”

“He’s fine. It’s all for show. They can’t kill each other, or they’d start a war.”

Another dagger sliced into Aspen from behind, sinking into his leg.

I glared at Brock. “They look hellbent on starting a war. What will your queen do if you return with a dead prince?”

Brock met my glare with his own, but something in his expression told me my words struck.

“That’s what I thought.”

He eyed Aspen, now covered head-toe in blue flames with his uniform still intact.

“If you move from this spot, I’ll take your whole ear,” he said, unsheathing his sword.

“I hope you die,” I said, meaning every word.

He smirked. “They always do.”

Brock leaving me was easier than I thought it’d be.

Although, playing on his fear of the queen helped.

It was a game of who was the lesser evil—Aspen or the queen who’d most likely kill Brock if anything happened to Aspen.

To Brock, I was another female in the long line of females they’d kidnapped. I was disposable to him. Aspen was not.

The next tricky part was sneaking to the tripwire, luring two dangerous pissed-off males to me, and not dying.

A ball of blue flame flashed through the air toward Tavean’s chest. It distracted the Dominion long enough for the dagger swinging in front of Aspen’s face to drop.

Tavean’s second dagger melted on contact with Aspen’s flame-coated leather.

Relief released the tightness I didn’t know squeezed my chest.

Brock faced off with Milda and her lightning, dodging it as he swiped with his blade. Truly, I hoped the wench won. Because if she didn’t, I was about to be earless.

Sliding to the other edge of the carriage, I jumped down and hurried to the horses. They blocked most of my body as I gazed at the gap in the trees.

I glanced at my cuffs and made the smartest decision I could. Dropping to my hands and knees, covered by the metallic grass, I crawled as fast as I could through the field.

Lightning struck, hitting randomly, giving me mini heart attacks every time. I already tempted death with one lightning strike. Let’s hope death didn’t want me today, either. When one came a foot within reach of my hand, blinding me, I froze.

Ether drove into my nose. The hair on my arms and legs stood erect. Every inch of my mind screamed at me to turn around.

I stayed there staring into the little flames on the ground, seriously reconsidering everything.

“Lucille!” Aspen bellowed .

Shit . I needed to hurry. I couldn’t stop.

“Your mom’s out there. Be brave, Lucy,” I whispered, closing my eyes, and drove to my coiling power in my core. It hummed with a little more energy than before. I pulled at it, and nothing happened.

Another lightning bolt struck nearby.

“ Come on. I can do this. ” I grasped the humming energy and willed it to listen to me.

It was challenging without the prompting from my anger, but I forced it to the surface.

A restless energy tingled beneath my skin, accompanied by the faint melody of ice cracking in my ears.

When I opened my eyes, purple flames swallowed my hands.

A triumphant smile curved my lips as I beheld my accomplishment.

Thunder boomed above my head, reminding me I needed to move.

I scrambled. Fast.

The tiny flames created by the lightning hissed as I crawled over them, leaving icy handprints behind.

Despite the danger I was in, I couldn’t keep the grin from my face at the site.

I had finally used my power without help from my anger, and I wasn’t overwhelmed by the music or consumed by the desire to kill.

If this were any other time, I’d probably jump up and down. I did it.

At the tree line, I found the path and stood, letting go of my power. My smile dropped when I assessed the vicious fight.

Aspen dodged another knife and dragged his sword against Tavean’s leg.

Tavean stumbled back. I waved at Aspen, capturing his attention for a second before Tavean attacked.

A flash of surprise, worry, and anger overpowered my emotions.

I didn’t know why I could feel his emotions at random times.

It had to be the guardian bond, but I knew nothing of it.

Did I ever end up getting the book for Aspen?

If so, I wasn’t sure a couple of sentences would give us much to go on.

I motioned for him to hurry, hoping he saw it and understood what I was trying to say. Then, going off a hunch, hoping he was true to his word, I ran away. More like jogged. Maybe shuffled.

Cuffs sucked.

Up ahead, the dirt road forked into two paths. One shimmered with iridescent light, and the other swirled with darkness. It was a good thing I didn’t have to guess which one was the trip wire. Turning my back on both paths, I waited to see if his highness would come.

Two panic-inducing minutes later, he did, pulling me over his shoulder. He luscelered us through the screen of iridescent colors and into a sweltering landscape of blue-tipped bushes.

“Are you out of your fucking mind, Lucille?” He plopped me on the ground, blue eyes swallowed by flames, seething.

I stood, refusing to let him lord over me. “Obviously not, seeing as we have no raging angels on our tail. I just saved your sorry asses and myself in the process.”

“I had it handled, and you almost got fried by lightning!”

Wouldn’t be the first time.

“Yeah, it sure looked like you had it handled with the knives stabbing into your legs,” I deadpanned, nodding down to his bleeding wounds. If they bothered him, he didn’t let on. Or the rage fueling his fire disguised it.

He took a step toward me. “You are the most infuriating?—”

“Naive, ignorant, stupid, helpless, wimp,” I gestured with my hand, acting unphased, bored. A lie hiding the anxiety I came down from. “Any other insults you want to add to your list? ”

He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a long breath. “Why are high-ranking angels after you?”

Apprehension twisted the nausea in my stomach. “I don’t know.”

My mom and I had a lot of enemies.

He opened his eyes, staring at me with an unreadable expression until the planes of his face softened. My heart picked up speed as he opened his mouth, nervous about what words would come from such a gentle expression. But before a sound left his lips, something silver flashed through the air.

I flinched to the side, expecting pain. Only to see Aspen jerk, catching the object. The cool metal tip of a knife poked my ear.

For a second, I thought the angels found us. But when I looked over Aspen’s shoulder, all I saw was Brock standing just inside the shimmering barrier, bruised, bloodied, and vengeful.

When I glanced back at Aspen, I didn’t dare breathe.

The veins in his neck popped from how tightly he clenched his jaw, similar to the knuckles erupting from his tightly squeezed fist. He stared with glowing eyes at the knife he caught millimeters from my tipless ear.

A hue of red illuminated his chin. But the more he stared, the brighter his power became, and the glowing scar throbbed.

Once fire breached Aspen’s eyes, the scar’s light weakened.

“Aspen?” I whispered, afraid to startle him.

He shot his flaming gaze to mine, and pure loathing ravaged his eyes. I stepped back, and that little movement catalyzed his rage. Hot and powerful fire burst from his hands, turning the knife in his palm to molten metal and extinguishing the rest of the glowing red light.

I took a few more steps back, my exposed skin burning from his heat .

In the next breath, he unleashed his sword and channeled the flames into the steel blade. He plunged his sword into the ground, leaving it to turn to Brock.

The sword flickered before me, a viscous inferno separating me from them. I dared a small step toward it, and the blue flames pulsed, marking the ground in a dark line. To cross would be to suffer the consequences of Aspen’s wrath.

He strode to Brock, hands loose at his sides, no longer covered in his power.

Brock retreated a step. “Prince Aspen, I told her to stay in the carriage. She disobeyed my orders. I told her what would happen if she did.”

Aspen swung. A loud crack resounded through the air as Aspen’s fist made contact with Brock’s face, sending the old male to the ground.

He jumped on top of Brock, straddling him.

“I told you what would fucking happen if you touched her again!” Punch.

“I should kill you.” Punch. “The only reason you’re here is because she ordered it. ” Punch. Punch.

Brock tried to retaliate, but Aspen’s fists were too fast, stunning him with the force of his blows.

“Always following your own orders.” Punch. “Insubordinate.” Punch. “Fallen scum.”

Brock sputtered, trying to get out words, but Aspen wrapped his hand around Brock’s neck, leaning close. “I swear, the next time you so much as lift a finger at her, I will obliterate you. And don’t think our queen will mind one bit because I’m protecting her asset.”

Aspen leaned back and stood. Brock heaved himself off the ground, eyeing the flaming sword and me. “I don’t remember you being this protective over the other assets we brought in,” he spat. A glob of red landed next to Aspen’s boots.

The flames on the sword leaped. I jumped back.

“I don’t answer to you.”

Brock took a step toward him, a fiendish smile on his face. “No, but I bet the queen would be interested in hearing about the odd feelings I’ve felt from her,” he nodded to me. “And your change of heart.”

I stiffened.