Chapter 33

Chapter Thirty-Three

LYRE

Standing on the fountain's edge, Lyre kicked a chimera in the face as he slashed at another with a throwing knife. He hadn't had a chance to activate his defensive weaves. Fending off all four was the best he could do.

He hopped backward, knives in one hand, and tossed a light-flare spell upward. The four chimeras flinched back, blinded. Unleashing another wave of aphrodesia into the nearest guard, he snarled, " Freeze ."

The daemon froze. Lyre sprang off the basin edge, shoved the chimera's head up, and sank a knife into his jugular.

A crushing blow hit him in the back. He and the dying chimera crashed to the ground. He tried to roll but he was cornered against the fountain as the three furious chimeras lunged for him.

An invisible wave of sultry heat whooshed over him. Burning desire seared his body, and he needed to touch the source of that magnetic power.

Aphrodesia. But he was the only incubus here.

His distraction might have cost him his life if his opponents hadn't been equally sidetracked. They turned away from him, fixating instead on—on Clio? Lyre jerked halfway up, his gaze snapping toward her. Scalding desire swamped him again. The aphrodesia—it was coming from her. How?

Apparently, her mimic ability wasn't limited to copying spells and weaves.

She'd caught Eryx in her imitation aphrodesia, the daemon struck dumb and helpless, and the other chimeras were enthralled as well. Being female, her power was far more effective on male daemons than his was.

He was half caught too, but he'd been swayed by aphrodesia enough times that he could still think—and act.

Lurching to his feet, he grabbed the chain around his neck and activated a physical defense weave. Then he grabbed a chimera by the hair, pulled his head back, and cut his throat before they could react. No sense in wasting magic on a death spell when a blade worked just fine.

Shocked back to their senses, his two surviving opponents whipped around to face him, their black eyes glittering with rage.

If he hadn't gotten a shield up, he wouldn't have lasted long. With only two, they weren't getting in each other's way—and defending against them became more difficult.

Splitting up, they circled around him, striking from both sides at once. He flung out two trip spells, but he caught only one and the chimera recovered fast. Lyre retreated and they followed, staying close, giving him no space. He jumped back to evade a glowing blade and almost tripped on that damn chair. Its owner had moved away, steering clear of the fight, and Lyre didn't have the luxury of worrying about Bastian.

Ducking a blow, Lyre sprang at the other chimera. A punch of aphrodesia startled the daemon, then Lyre grabbed the back of the chair and swung it. It smashed over the guard, who crumpled to the ground. Whirling on the other, Lyre struck with a fast binding spell. The chimera shielded, but Lyre's spell snapped right over the barrier, pinning the daemon's arms to his sides.

Lyre jumped back three steps, opening a space to pull his bow off his shoulder. An arrow was in his hand an instant later, and he activated the spell as he slapped it onto the bow for a point-blank shot that would go right through the chimera's skull.

A flash of green light. Lyre glanced away for an instant and saw Clio, her back to Lyre, hurling two rapid casts at Eryx—but behind the chimera, Bastian was conjuring something. She couldn't defend against both of them.

Lyre had three seconds to save her life, but the angle was wrong. He couldn't shoot Eryx without hitting Clio.

Spitting a curse, he lifted his bow and loosed the arrow.

Clio

Aphrodesia had thrown Eryx off his game, and Clio finally had the advantage.

She whipped spells at the chimera, pushing him back step by step as he defended, a dagger in one hand and shielding with the other. One mistake. She just needed him to make one mistake, and she would avenge Kassia.

Eryx bared his teeth furiously as he darted side to side, trying to get around behind her, but she'd figured out that quick, low-power spells were enough to keep him in front of her. Unfortunately, they weren't enough to kill him.

As a green binding spell burst against his hasty shield, she took a chance. She formed a quick blast of power in one hand while in the other, she spun a green javelin into existence—a spell Kassia had taught her. A spell that could pierce hasty shields.

But Eryx was too experienced a warrior not to see and react. He darted backward to get out of range. She launched after him, closing the distance.

A grin of satisfaction pulled at his lips, and that's when she saw Bastian behind him, a glowing cast in his hand, ready to unleash on Clio.

She had a second to decide: retreat or attack anyway.

Kassia would have attacked.

With a scream, Clio threw herself at Eryx—and his eyes darted to something behind her. Horror flashed over his face, a blink of emotion.

He flung his hand out, hurling a blast of orange magic.

His spell collided with a golden-hazed arrow in midflight, shattering the bolt before it could reach Bastian.

And Clio plunged her glowing javelin into Eryx's undefended chest.

He clutched his chest, blood gushing over his fingers. Shocked at the sudden end of their life-and-death exchange, she jumped backward. As her javelin spell extinguished, Eryx sank slowly to his knees, grasping at the mortal wound as though he could hold on to life with his bare hands.

Bastian stood several long steps behind his right-hand man, his face twisted with fury. He fired his spell. Clio jerked her hands up defensively, but she had no time to cast.

The spell whipped past Clio and burst against something behind her.

She half turned.

A dozen paces away, Lyre stood amidst a shower of green sparks—Bastian's spell, already countered. Dead chimeras surrounded the master weaver.

In a blink, Lyre flipped an arrow onto his bow and raised it—his black stare fixed on the nymph prince.

Clio's heart stopped. It just stopped. Bastian was her brother. He had betrayed her and tried to kill her, but he was still her brother. And Lyre was about to kill him.

Lyre's arm drew back as though in slow motion and the arrowhead lit with a shield-piercing weave. His hand opened—and a chimera guard, injured but still conscious, tackled Lyre in the legs.

The arrow whipped past Bastian's head. Blood splattered, and he jerked sideways as crimson spilled down the side of his face and stained his hair. He raised his hand, something tiny and spelled with green magic in his hand—a gemstone.

Clio's gemstone.

The stone into which she'd woven one of Lyre's powerful binding spells while fighting Eryx. Bastian had picked it up—and he'd repaired the weave.

Lyre slammed his bow into the chimera's face and twisted free, but Bastian's arm was already in motion. He pitched the gem at Lyre, and there was nothing Clio could do to stop it from clattering to the ground at Lyre's feet. Electric power surged over him and the chimera, and they both collapsed to their knees, immobilized by the binding.

Clio stood frozen, as paralyzed as Lyre was.

Bastian hissed angrily. " Five of my best guards," he complained as he slid his hand into his pocket. "Such a waste, and for no gain at all."

A waste? Eryx dying to save him was simply a waste to Bastian?

The prince withdrew the KLOC and its key from his pocket. Smiling at Lyre helpless in the spell, he pushed the key into the back of the clock.

Clio's heart seized a second time. Bastian was going to test the KLOC by unleashing it on Lyre and his own guard. He wasn't even going to test it in water. How could he be so careless? How could he be so selfish ?

Her heart launched back into a frantic beat, and magic sparked across her fingers. She flung a binding spell at him.

Bastian batted her cast out of the air like it was nothing more than a crumpled paper ball. "Really, Clio? You wish to fight me?"

"You can't use the clock spell," she said hoarsely.

"I can do whatever I please. You cannot stop me."

Who was this nymph? He wasn't the prince she'd thought she knew. "You're putting the realms at risk."

He shrugged and tucked the KLOC back into his pocket, the motion almost hiding the way green light sparked up his arm.

She cast the master-weaver shield, and his spell exploded against it. Dissolving the barrier, she began two more casts. Across from her, Bastian began to cast as well. She hurled back-to-back attacks.

He cast the same shield she'd used. That fast, he had mimicked it.

Her spells exploded harmlessly against it. Jaw clenched, she began to cast again. Light flickered over her fingers as the same glow danced over Bastian's hands. As much of her attention was on his spellwork as on her own as she tried to anticipate his casts before he finished them.

But he could anticipate hers too.

She threw spell after spell, and he countered them all. Magic exploded in the space between them, the concussion blowing her hair back from her face. She cast again, using the rarest spells she knew to catch him off guard.

But he had organized most of her education. He knew almost everything she did—and more.

A wave of magic nullified her last cast, and then the spell in his other hand shot toward her. It hit the ground at her feet and burst. The blast hurled her backward and she landed hard, pain flaring through her joints. Gasping, she rolled over and staggered to her feet.

Green light glimmered over Bastian's hands. She flung a shield in front of her, but his first cast obliterated it and the second one exploded against her chest. She skidded across the rough pavement.

Her head spinning, she pushed up on shaking arms. She'd barely staggered to her feet when his next spell hit her. She tumbled across the ground, coming to a stop on her belly.

Footsteps crunched as Bastian walked toward her. She raised her head, struggling to make her arms and legs move. Only a few feet away, Lyre was still immobilized. She had fallen at the edge of the binding spell that held him prisoner, a constant stream of electric magic crackling over the ground.

Bastian's footsteps stopped beside her. "Kindly stay there for a minute, Clio, hmm? Just one minute."

Metal clicked above her. Panting and dizzy from pain, she lifted her head. Bastian stood at her side, blood drenching his face, as he grasped the key sticking out of the clock. The gears ground loudly in the otherwise quiet park as he wound it.

Tremors ran through her body as she wiggled her arm forward. Her bloody fingers touched the glowing green edge of the binding circle.

The gears clicked. The clock was wound.

Digging her fingernails into the pavement, she cut through the circle with her magic and the binding spell evaporated—just as Bastian pulled the key out of the clock and the countdown began.