Page 113 of Blade of the Nightking

Segolayne stepped toward me again.

“Don’t touch me.”

“Then shoot the damned arrow.”

“No.”

I dropped the bow. It clattered loudly against the stone.

I turned on my heel and stormed back into the training room, heading for the door. When her hand closed around my arm, I spun on her with a snarl.

Her brows shot up in surprise before settling into an angry frown. “I didn't say you could leave.”

“Too bad.”

I yanked my arm free, but before I could take another step, she was in front of me.

“These sessions aren’t optional,” she spat, inches from my face. “You leave when I say you can leave.”

“Segolayne.” My pulse thundered in my ears as I struggled to keep hold of my temper. “I'm warning you.”

Something dark flashed across her face. Then, without warning, she shoved me hard toward the center of the room.

Missed.

Father…

Something inside me split open. Fear, anger, pain—it all came pouring out at once, and my magic answered with ravenous hunger after weeks of silence, surging through my veins with blinding strength. Before I even realized what I was doing, my hand lashed outward. Golden flame tore through the air.

Segolayne jerked to a halt. For one strange, suspended moment, nothing happened at all.

Then a thin red line appeared across her face, as though an invisible blade had carved it there. Blood welled, then poured down her skin, spilling from temple to jaw in a crimson sheet. It ran between her fingers as she instinctively reached for the wound, which had missed her eye by the narrowest margin.

Shock flashed across her face.

Then her expression twisted. Her teeth bared at me like an animal’s.

“Bitch,” she snarled.

I held my ground as fire burst to life across my fingertips once more—vicious. Wild. Furious. Aedric's magic.

Rage tore through me so fiercely I could barely breathe. And then my magic took it.

The fury vanished beneath the rush of heat flooding my veins. The fear. The loss. The hurt. All of it burned away in an instant, devoured so completely it left nothing behind.

Cold calm settled over me. Blissful emptiness. I stared at Segolayne through the dancing flames without feeling a single thing at all.

I would scatter her ashes across the floor.

I grinned just as she lunged. I thrust my hand forward and the flames erupted outward. Segolayne rolled aside at the last possible second. The magic missed her completely and slammed into one of the towering mirrors lining the training room instead. Glass exploded everywhere with a deafening crash.

Segolayne regained her footing instantly. I was already raising my hand, another flare of fire building at my fingertips⁠—

The bond cinched so tightly that I staggered.

A heartbeat later, Rìan was there.

He moved so quickly I barely saw him appear—tall and terrible in black, his dark eyes blazing, he planted himself squarely in front of Segolayne, shielding her.