Chapter 63

63

Cassius

Ella lurched forward beneath a sudden wave of magic, impaling her chest on the tip of my outstretched sword.

Her mouth opened in a silent scream as crimson blossomed beneath my blade.

"No!" I bellowed, terror racing through me.

Desperation sent an unfamiliar strength through my body. My arms and shoulders quaked as I fought the spell binding me, and my blade pulled back half an inch.

Too little. Too late.

"Stop this!" I begged the silent heart. "I will serve you however you wish. Just spare her ."

Ella's eyes flickered, and a sad smile graced her lips. "Never submit."

Then her eyes closed.

No, gods, not like this.

An earthquake rumbled through the room, and my eyes widened as the roots lining the walls of the sepulcher ripped themselves free and lashed out like serpents. They wrapped around the pulsing heart and pulled back, and seams of white light poured through the spreading tears in its corrupted flesh.

An unearthly screech cut through my mind, and then, in a blinding burst of light, the heart split in two.

The spell binding me vanished, and my sword arm wrenched back. My blade fell from my grasp, and Ella pitched forward.

Streams of magic spilled through the room like a living aurora, and the fallen chunks of flesh began to pulse with a radiant glow. Light flashed, and the world seemed to slow.

Time to run.

Scooping Ella's body into my arms, I thrust myself to my feet and ran. A luminescent wave billowed toward us, and I hurled myself up and out of the hidden stairway, rolling flames on my heels.

Every footstep was leaden, and every moment became an eternity.

The nave of the church disintegrated in a ball of fire behind me, sending shards of stone and burning embers spinning through the air as I raced through the open door. Streams of rampant magic seared my back, and a shockwave rolled beneath my feet, but I didn't stop. All that mattered was her.

The explosion illuminated the tree line ahead of me.

We were out of time.

I launched myself over one of the heavy oaks Horace had felled and dropped down behind it, Ella shielded in my arms. The ground shook, and then the world went white. I shut my eyes, but the searing light streamed through my lids. My body trembled, and my eardrums screamed, but none of it mattered. I felt nothing but her.

When the deluge of fire and light subsided, I leaned back and looked down. Ella lay in my arms, eyes closed and face pale. A stain of crimson seeped through the pierced fabric of her bodice. My blade had made that mark. Her breathing was so shallow that I could barely hear it.

Fear lanced me, and I grasped her shoulders. "Ella, come back to me, gods damn it!"