He was out of time.
The shuffling sound of footsteps echoed around them as she took the first step toward him. Lucian ran his fingers along one of the bars, pulling a section the length of his forearm free and hurling it at her in one fluid motion. As the piece of metal flew through the air, Lucian continued to manipulate it. By the time it reached Effie, it was flattened and curved, its pointed ends sliding through the wall behind her as easily as if it were made of butter. The only thing stopping it from sliding straight through the rock was Effie’s throat—and Lucian’s power.
There was a garbled shriek as she realized she was trapped, Lucian’s metal band kissing her neck and holding her in place. Howling with rage, she started squirming in earnest.
Lucian ignored her and turned to pull the bag of ingredients through the bars. Checking the map a final time, he started setting things in place. That much handled, he glanced back at Effie. He needed to get her from the wall to the floor without getting close enough to allow her to take a chunk out of him.
She bared her teeth at him as he crossed the cell to stand in front of her. Lifting his hand, he ran it along the cool surface of the metal, careful to stay out of range of her mouth. As his hand moved, so too did the metal. It stretched and thinned until it covered Effie from neck to nose, leaving just enough room that she could still draw in breath.
It took only a finger running along the edges one at a time to sever the metal where it had sunk into the wall. As the band started to drop, it transformed once more, no longer metal, but cloth. Moving quickly, he pulled her head forward and snatched the ends of the thick fabric in his other hand before they could fall, tying them off in a knot.
All of this happened in the span of a few heartbeats. The creature, realizing she’d been neutralized once more, started growling low in her throat.
Lucian did his best to ignore the savage sounds even as the hair along his arms and neck stood on end. He couldn’t help but wonder what would be left of her even if the spell worked.
Using his left hand, Lucian reached behind Effie’s back and found the thick length of chain that connected her wrists to her feet. With a sharp tug, he broke the chain in two and pulled her away from the wall. The force of his pull had her body spinning sideways as her arms followed the chain’s momentum. She tried to fight it, her feet tripping over themselves as she struggled against his hold. Bound as she was; she was no match for Lucian’s strength. She managed to regain her balance and stagger alongside of him instead of being dragged, her wet snarls beneath the gag a testament to her rage.
Once they reached the center of the room, he turned to face her, releasing the chain and giving her shoulder a hard shove that sent her flying back. She hit the ground hard, her head cracking against the stone floor. Lucian dropped to his knees beside her, leaning over her prone body, his arms outstretched in anticipation of his next move when she snapped her head forward, slamming it into his nose.
Lucian grunted in pain, hot blood spurting down into his mouth.
“It’s going to take more than that to stop me,” he warned her, his voice garbled from the blood.
She reared back to do it again, but Lucian caught her by the hair, pulling her head back far enough to bare her throat. She continued to writhe beneath him, attempting to use her legs to land several awkward kicks to his body. Bound as she was, he dodged easily. Using his free hand, Lucian manipulated the chain still connected to her wrists, severing it so that her arms could come out from under her.
Lucian needed both hands for what he intended, so he released his hold on her hair. Effie knifed up, but Lucian was faster. Pressing his torso against her, he used the weight of his body to press her back down onto the floor. He could feel the heat of her damp breath puffing against his neck as she snapped at him behind her gag.
Fingers curled around each of her wrists, Lucian pushed downward, using his power to sink the metal down until it fused with the earth on either side of her body. Rising to his knees, he shifted his attention to her ankles, repeating his actions, not bothering to sever the chain that connected her feet together.
With a sigh, Lucian finally dropped the hold on his power and sat back on his heels. Effie wasn’t going anywhere. Not until he allowed it. She was bound to the floor, the rock and metal fused so completely there was no telling where one ended and the other began.
She glared up at him, her brows dropping lower over milky eyes.
Lucian’s heart thumped erratically in his chest.
“Now,” he said, his own voice a savage rumble, “it’s time to take back what you stole from me.”
Chapter 13
“Incipere,” Lucian murmured, lowering his hand and placing the final item on the floor, briefly wondering how Vance had come across a phoenix and managed to steal one of its feathers.
As with each time before, a surge of energy swept through the room. This one tasted of cinders and caused sweat to bead across his brow. His power answered the call, rushing to the surface in a frantic burst.
It arced from his hands and flew up. Unused to it taking on a physical form, Lucian stared in wonder as it swirled along the ceiling, becoming one with the other magics he’d summoned.
With no frame of reference for whether this normally happened or not, Lucian forced himself to refocus. While he’d been busy invoking the elements, Effie had not ceased in her efforts to escape, futile as they were. The fresh scent of blood and the putrid smell of corruption filled the air.
He returned to his place beside her, the words Vance had painstakingly written down surfacing in his mind. Not sure what to do with his hands, Lucian held them flat, hovering over her forehead and the center of her chest as he zeroed in on the area within her that seemed absent of all light. “Et quod solum remanebit.”
Lucian gasped, feeling as though he’d been struck by lightning. His back arched, his head flung back as the power that had gathered in the room plunged itself straight into his heart. He could barely breathe through the pain of it, let alone think.
It felt as though he was being unmade, the power taking away his form and scattering what was left of him into the heavens.
Chest heaving, Lucian somehow managed to open his eyes. Was it his imagination, or had some of the darkness ebbed?
Encouraged, he placed his hands once more and said as clearly as he could manage, “Et quod solum remanebit.”
This time he was expecting the surge of liquid lightning running through his veins. He bit off a cry, but not before the taste of blood filled his mouth. If possible, it hurt worse than the first time. Never in his millennia walking the worlds had Lucian experienced pain such as this.
Gritting his teeth, his pulse pounding wildly in his neck, Lucian focused harder on the slithering darkness, willing it to separate itself from the dull strands of light that were starting to reappear where Effie lay.
“Et quod solum remanebit.” The final word was barely formed before he was crying out in agony, the sound torn from his throat as if white hot blades were being shoved into every inch of his flesh.
Lucian’s hands dropped to the floor, his body shaking so violently he feared he would not be able to push himself upright. Is this supposed to happen?
Pink-tinged sweat poured down his face as Lucian struggled to clear his mind. He could do this. For her, he could bear anything. Nothing would be worse than the pain of losing her.