Eight more halflings were ashed. Max obviously hadn’t been aware of that little trick, because the magic protecting his people wrapped around their bodies but not the ground. He had protected the house, however, because I was getting little more than an odd sense of deadness from its entire footprint.
Another warning rumble of thunder. I sucked in a deep breath, silently prayed for luck, and then ran, with every ounce of speed I could muster, toward the end of the house.
Close to the halfway point, I spotted something glinting in gravel and realized it was one of the guns. I scooped it up and ran on. I had no idea how to use one, but I wasn’t about to leave it just lying there for someone else to pick up, either.
The end of the house loomed, and the magic protecting the inner walls washed over my senses, a thick slide of foulness that flayed my skin. Horror surged. Not because the foulness told me there were dark elves within the building, but because my skin actually reacted to it.
Me, who was immune to magic, reacting to a spell.
Fear hit so hard that I stumbled several steps and had to throw out a hand to stop from crashing head-first into the wall. The slimy threads I could sense but not see rolled across my fingers, making them burn and itch. Vita immediately responded and the reaction eased, but it was still a horrifying realization. If they’d found a way to counter my natural immunity then I was in deep, deep trouble. At least Vita, for the moment, seemed able to counter the spell’s intention, and that meant I had better keep her out of sight and safe.
I swung Elysian’s scabbard around and thrust Vita into her. The gray immediately swept her from sight, but her faint pulse nevertheless echoed across my senses. Hopefully, I’d be able to access her if necessary.
I sucked in an unsteady breath, then shoved the gun into my belt at the back of my jeans. I had no idea if the safety was on, no idea if one wrong movement would set the damn thing off, but having it close to hand made me feel a tiny bit safer.
Overhead, the thunder rumbled ominously, and the thick scent of sulfur once again charged the air. But the heavy black clouds weren’t gathering above the farmhouse; they were rather racing off to the left. It was only then that it occurred to me—if Max had found a way to protect his forces from Nex’s lightning, it was also possible he’d uncovered a means of seeing a Blackbird wrapped in light.
I dragged out my phone and sent a quick warning to Luc. He didn’t answer but if he was in the middle of a battle, he was unlikely to. I just had to hope he saw it before that damn storm hit.
With another unsteady breath, I held Elysian out in front of me and padded to the front of the building. A quick peek around the corner revealed no guards, and there was no immediate sign of any other spells. Not that they needed any, given the power in that foul wave.
I took a cautious step out to look at the windows. They’d all been boarded. Max really had prepared his trap well, and it was, I suspected, one I’d have to step into whether I liked it or not.
A huge crack of thunder made me jump, and my gaze darted out to the field. Several bolts of lightning struck a stand of trees, and someone screamed—a sound that was cut off by a secondary fork. Fear closed my throat as I stared at the smoking ruins of the trees and hoped—with all my might—that Luc hadn’t been standing in them. The scream hadn’t come from his throat, but if he’d been attacking the cluster of men hiding there he would, at the very least, have been injured by the strike’s monstrous force.
I scanned the fields again, looking for that vague shift in light that indicated his presence. If he was out there, I couldn’t see him. I sent another text, but wasn’t surprised when there was no reply. I hoped it meant he was simply tracking around to the final cluster rather than being injured or worse. Either way, I couldn’t wait.
Time was running out for Mo.
The sudden certainty didn’t come from fear, but from the earth itself. Perhaps our joint connection was providing me with a sense of her well-being, even if I wasn’t getting anything else in the way of information, thanks to the slimy wall protecting the farmhouse’s interior and its occupants.
My grip on Elysian’s hilt tightened to the point that my fingers ached and my knuckles glowed. Lightning flickered down her fuller, blue-white snakes that struck and hissed at the empty air. She was ready for the final battle. I wished I could say the same.
That same light echoed in the coronation ring’s stone.
I glanced down at the crown attached to my belt. It too glowed. The triad of power was ready for action.
I briefly closed my eyes, gathered the thinning threads of my courage, and then softly padded up the stone steps and to the front door. The oily slick continued to roll silently past, and there was no sound coming from within the building. Only the magic suggested there was something untoward waiting within.
That, and the growing sense of elation in the air.
I shifted Elysian to my left hand and then slowly reached out to grip the door handle. The magic slid across my fingers, stinging my flesh for several quick heartbeats before Vita’s heat once again washed the worst of it away.
Even so, that brief touch was enough time to understand the slick wasn’t, as I’d initially thought, meant to physically hurt me. It had been designed to render me—or perhaps the knives—powerless.
Nex still pulsed, which was at least something, but there was no guarantee that wouldn’t change once I stepped inside. I frowned at the door, then stepped back, gripped the wind, and flung it at the both the doors and the windows. Nothing happened. The air’s energy slid away from the building like oil on water. The slick magic hadn’t only been designed to stop my magic but also elemental.
Meaning I had absolutely no choice but to spring this trap.
Mo’s life force was steadily growing weaker. I had no idea what Max or the dark elves had done to her, but I needed to get in there and find out. Fast.
I took one look over my shoulder, uselessly scanning for the man I knew was nowhere near and who wouldn’t be able to accompany me even if he was, then turned and flung the door open.
“Well, didn’t you take your damn time” came a heartbreakingly familiar voice. “Please don’t stand on ceremony in the doorway, dear sister—come on in and close that door.”
Chapter Fourteen
“And why would I do that, brother dearest,” I responded, somehow keeping my voice even, “when there are dark elves in there with you?”
“Your magic is stronger than I expected if you can sense the presence of elves over that spell.”
Meaning I’d been right in thinking the spell had been designed to restrict my magic. “It’s not magic, brother, but rather common old sense of smell. They stink.”
He snorted. “Something you’ll get used to soon enough. Come in.”
“Why don’t you come out? Or is the would-be king afraid to face his sister without his guards?”
“If you do not come in,” he said, the slightest edge in his voice betraying the anger I could almost taste. “Mo dies.”
His threat had my heart leaping, but I didn’t move. Though I couldn’t see him or the dark elves from where I stood, his voice was coming from the right of the door—no doubt to ensure he wasn’t within range of any regular weapon I might be holding.