Chapter 33

Light bright enough to blind exploded from that darkness, slamming into me and driving the breath from my lungs as I crashed to the floor, my cheek shredding, knees screaming, a twisted smear of fiery pain searing across my side.

Momentum sent me rolling, the library becoming a messy tangle of light and dark, and I kept going until I ended up against a bookshelf, scanning the now-empty library.

A blazing torch abandoned on the floor. Books on the table. The strong smell of smoke. No sign of Bella.

I might be…on fire.

I slapped at my burning side then pressed my palm to my sopping shirt. My fingers came away wet and shiny. Black. I blinked, not comprehending what I was seeing.

Blood.

A grunt and a hiss then Bella stood over me, blue magic sparking at her fingers as she faced off with a cloaked figure lunging out of the shadows. "You know how this ends. In a cell with the rest of them, Solomon."

Solomon.

I stared at my blood-slicked fingers, the warmth soaking my side, trying to force my muddy brain to think…Solomon.

I clawed at my arms, at the bands, slick fingers slipping on the smooth fabric, on the bands that were wedged so tightly around my flesh. Finally—fucking finally—I wrenched one loose as silver flashed across the room.

Solomon's knife, thrown with deft precision, straight at Bella's throat.

My magic whipped his blade away, and by the time he yanked another from his boot my star-flecked shadows crushed Solomon to his knees, pinning him in place.

"Get behind the bookshelves," I screamed to Bella, pointing, fear clawing up my throat as Solomon loosed a guttural roar, struggling to free himself. "Get as far away from me as you can."

Turning her into a monster…no, that was not happening.

She raced for the darkness, her torch lying forgotten on the floor, smoke curling from the charred wood floor as the flames licked hotter.

"You made a mistake coming after me," I growled, gathering my power.

"Oh, I don't think so. You might have magic, half blood"—he lifted a hand and every muscle in my body stopped working as if I was made out of putty—"but I heard you talking."

My magic evaporated, shadows fading away as he climbed to his feet.

"You don't know how to control your power like I do." I could only watch in horror as he stalked closer, his knife poised to slit my throat. "After I kill you, I will free my friends, and when we are done with you lot, it will be like you never even existed."

I was too under his control to answer.

Doomed to die a silent, pointless death down here in the bowels of some strange fortress in a foreign land.

Solomon stepped closer, throwing back his hood. Anticipation grew in his cruel face as his eyes raked over me, completely at his mercy. This was a male who enjoyed inflicting pain. My eyes stayed open and staring when he dragged the tip of his knife down one cheek, then the other, the tang of copper tinting the air. Warm rivulets of blood tracked down my jaw, my throat, soaking the neckline of my shirt.

Trapped, I couldn't do anything more than bleed.

"After Vireena took the throne, my sole job," Solomon went on, his soft tone promising a long, painful death, "was to carve every traitor's tongue out of their screaming mouths. It's been a while since I've practiced. Let's see if I still have the touch."

His hand gripped my shoulder and slammed me to my knees, black spots dancing in my vision as blood poured unchecked from my side, my face. Then, ever so slowly as if he wanted to make this moment last, he used magic to pry my mouth open, wide enough my jaw cracked. I thrashed against his dark magic, fought Solomon with every ounce of my strength, and only managed to produce a single tear.

Powerless, I could do nothing as he pinched my tongue between his fingers and pulled it taut. Out of the corner of my eye, his blade flashed in the blazing glow as the floor ignited.

I fumbled for my magic, yanked and dragged at my worthless power, but the magic stayed dormant, locked down inside my equally worthless body like I'd been wrapped in a thick, smothering blanket.

"Screaming would make this so much more enjoyable, but no need to alert the entire fortress. I'll leave your body down here, then you'll all be displayed on the arches tomorrow, along with sweet little Bella, her mother, and everyone else who has helped you since you killed our true priestess."

Everything faded away except for the cold bite of his blade against my tongue, my breaths heaving in and out as I waited for the flick of his wrist that would take my voice away forever.

Sparks floated through the air in a shower of yellow and gold.

The phantom wind that drove them curled around me like a lover's caress, and Solomon paused, searching the darkness behind me, his eyes glittering like ice.

"You think you're so clever, Bella, but you are no match for me. A bookworm and a pretend priestess. You never should have brought her down here. This is your fault; these people will die because of you."

This time the draft came from the other direction, but instead of sparks, when this wind hit the torch fire exploded everywhere, setting the edge of Solomon's cloak ablaze. He yanked away from me, tearing at his flaming cape, shedding the burning fabric to the floor and kicking the blazing fabric away where it burned with glorious brightness.

And when he turned, knife in his hand, that creeping, malicious grin on his face, the iron bands lay discarded at my side. Magic roared out of me, no regard to the books or the fortress above me. No, all I wanted right now was to make this bastard pay for everyone he'd ever hurt.

Shadows wrapped him in a noose of consuming blackness and forced him to his knees.

"How were you planning to release the prisoners?" A trail of thorny vines exploded up Solomon's neck, covering the side of his face as he clawed and cursed. "How?"

Another pulse of power had one side of him encrusted in a thick, oily residue, like sap, like…oh gods…exactly like Corvus's corrupted power.

"Tell me how and I'll make this quick," I told him, prowling close enough to glimpse the black veins spreading beneath his skin and pulsing with hideous power, the terror dawning in his eyes. "Or I can draw this out until I get the answers I require." I squatted down so we were eye to eye.

"I might not have much control," I told him softly. "But I am pissed off enough to make this last. Trust me, you will talk before the end."

"You will never rule."

"Good thing I have no desire to rule, then." Another push and his body torqued as a line of black shiny spikes tore out of his spine with a wet, shredding rip.

"I can do this all day. My magic has depths I haven't yet explored. Perhaps now is the time to try?" I picked up his discarded blade, inspecting the blood—my blood—coating the silver edge.

"Stop," he sobbed, sagging in the coils of shadows and stars. "Stop…I'll…"

A deep thud reverberated from somewhere overhead. Dust sifted down over us, highlighted in the glow of Bella's torch. Another crash, louder this time, and a chunk of ceiling shattered across the floor, loud as thunder.

Only then did I hear the shrill cries, the clash of metal on metal.

"What did you do?" I hissed.

"He let them out," Bella whispered. "He released the prisoners."

Solomon's eyes reflected the blazing flames when he threw his head back and laughed, his teeth stained black. "It's already too late. They're all free, and you and your friends don't stand a chance. When you?—"

I snapped his neck and smothered the fire with my darkness, Bella flinging herself out from the shadows, her eyes horrified as she peered down at Solomon's monstrous corpse, the sound of muffled fighting drifting through the boarded-up door.

Bella picked up the guttering torch, her eyes huge. "Let's go. They'll kill as many witches as they can, and all of you." We ducked through the opening, the panicked shouts getting louder. "They are the very worst of us and the most powerful."

She paused on the first step, her eyes flickering over me as if she couldn't quite decide if I was friend or foe. I wiped my still-bleeding face.

"For everything Solomon did, he deserved far worse. I am your friend, Bella." I gripped her hand. "And I will not let you down."