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Her gaze met his, heat radiating incongruously from soft lilac eyes. She nodded at him—a plea to stay safe, to not bring her any more pain. Killian nodded back, silently promising to stay vigilant, and they marched out of the alley together.
Chapter 54
- Killian -
Elyse surged like a forest fire, fierce and unrelenting.
One moment she had her eyes closed, her mouth drawn tight as she focused on ripping down the Bastards’ wards. The next she was off, kicking in their door and sending three men to their deaths before they could even fire off one spell.
Commotion roared through the rundown building. Killian heard voices shouting, boots crashing into the floor above them. Elyse hardly seemed to notice as she tore onward, hurrying down the hall.
Her friends followed, allowing her space to unleash her magic. She’d given them one command: Stay behind me. So they obeyed, watching in awe as she eviscerated her enemies with mere thrusts of her hands.
The third floor was their target, where Elyse said her body was being held captive. They found a staircase at the back of the house and climbed it, but a menacing Bastard waited for them at the top of the first flight, his shield at the ready.
Elyse simply clenched her fist, and a gust of air sent the man tumbling headfirst down the stairs. She sidestepped him with ease while Killian had to leap over the man as he hurried to keep up with her. He spared a glance back to make sure that Manny and Jaime were still behind him as he mounted the landing.
The second floor was the same—another half dozen cocky Bastards who all underestimated Elyse. Though she fought with cold intensity, Killian could see that something was off. The exhaustion in her shoulders, the subtle gracelessness of fighting in a body foreign to her. Still, vengeful fire burned in Sera’s features as Elyse hurled everything she had at them—fire, stunning spells, and death hexes.
Killian kept his shield intact, protecting both himself and Manny. As Elyse bludgeoned a man’s head against the wall, they exchanged wide-eyed looks. “Stay on her good side,” Manny’s stunned expression seemed to convey.
It was difficult to watch Elyse without aiding her. She didn’t need their assistance as she ducked and spun, hitting her enemies with exhilarating precision, yet Killian’s hands flinched of their own accord, desperate to help. He balled his hands into fists, forcing himself to watch, to learn the beauty and nuances of magical combat.
And beautiful it was. She seemed to know her opponents’ moves even before they did. She caught a man’s wrist right as he was about to bring his dagger down on her chest. Ice curled from her fingers, encapsulating the man’s entire arm in the blink of an eye. He screamed and stumbled backward, and Elyse finished him off with a blast of magic to the chest. He crashed to the ground, his frozen arm shattering.
No, she didn’t need their help at all. In fact, given the amount of pent-up anguish she held, it was likely therapeutic.
When Elyse was finished, nearly a dozen bodies lay scattered in the hall. Several of them appeared to be sleeping, slouched against the walls, their bodies unmarked by the death hexes that had ended them. A few of them still sputtered blood from fatal wounds, but their open, foggy eyes were unseeing. Elyse didn’t glimpse at any of them as she headed toward the staircase at the end of the hallway.
This time, no one was there to block their way as they bound up the stairs. Only a narrow corridor met them, empty and desolate. Elyse stopped before a door on the left and blasted it off its hinges. She charged into the room, Killian hastening after her.
What he saw made his heart ratchet in his throat.
Elyse—or rather, Elyse’s body—was pinned against the far wall. Chains pulled her arms in opposite directions. Chains that bit into her wrists, bruising them. And on the bare skin of her left arm, a freshly healed cut, caked in dried blood. Sera lifted her head, a weary smile on her lips at the sight of her rescuers.
Killian looked to Elyse—the one who inhabited Sera’s body—and saw the darkness in her eyes. Something had changed in her the moment she entered this smothering, dimly lit room. Anger had exploded to rage, laced with fear.
Her gaze was not on herself, but on Siamus, who stood smirking, flanked by three other Bastards. They didn’t bother with any formalities this time as they lifted their hands and set off a barrage of spells.
A green arrow flew across the room, zipping past Killian’s shoulder. Manny took a step toward Sera, but Killian caught him by the wrist as he threw his shield into place. “Getting yourself killed won’t save her,” he barked at his friend, though he understood his pain. Seeing Elyse chained like that, the blood on her arm—it made him feral.
Elyse and Jaime took three of the Bastards for themselves, and Manny stood watch at the door, leaving Killian to face Siamus. His vision blurred red, his anger threatening to make him snap, but he knew this was what he’d trained for. Siamus stood for everything he hated. Dark magic, wicked intentions, immoral actions—things he’d associated with all magic-wielders. Things he’d wrongly associated with Elyse.
As he raised and lowered his shield, shooting precise yet powerful spells at Siamus, he made sure to keep Elyse—both versions of her—in his sights. Siamus met him spell-for-spell, hex-for-hex. He laughed as Killian let his hatred show.
Across the room, he heard screams as Elyse and Jaime cornered the last Bastard. Killian’s rage was centered on Siamus, though. Unable to find the means to advance, he kept his shield up as Siamus pelted smoke and curses at him. Siamus only grew more confident, more aggressive, as his vicious smile slithered wider across his face.
Violet, emerald, fiery red—spells of every color assaulted Killian’s shield as he shuffled around the floor, biding his time to attack. He glanced over his shoulder to see Elyse stooped over a body, pulling her dagger from the man’s chest. Just as he looked back at Siamus, a ball of white light came hurtling at him.
The light bounced off the side of his shield, reflecting at a hard angle. Killian realized with horror what was about to happen, but it was too late to stop it. The light slammed into Elyse just as she stood up, her shield still down, and she went soaring backward.
Chapter 55
- Elyse -
Everything went dark as Elyse collided with the wall and then crashed to the ground. Pain seared through her ankle as it twisted beneath her weight, and she gasped sharply.
She was a fool for letting her guard down, even though Siamus seemed thoroughly preoccupied with Killian. Fighting off the Bastards below had been easy; they were idiots, and she hadn’t been distracted by her friends’ safety. The melee in the cold, stony room was far more chaotic, and she’d gotten cocky.
