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“Are you going to let me up so we can fight like adults? This is pathetic,” Ash growled, struggling against the vampire queen’s tendrils.
Nadya’s cruel laughter filled the room. “I don’t think so. I will wait for your mate to wake up so he can watch me end you.”
Ash heard Luca struggling on the other side of the room, but her attention was on Nadya. The older vampire ripped Ash’s shirt off and exposed her bare skin. She flicked her wrist. Ash felt a stabbing pain in her abdomen as Nadya sliced her flesh with a blade forged of darkness. She could resist the questing magic that sought her secrets, but this was a raw, brutal force.
Grinning in victory, Nadya forced her hand into the wound, wrenching agonized screams from Ash’s throat. She’d felt the bright power in Ash’s chest and realized it had to be the source of her sun tolerance. Nothing else made sense, and none of her vampires carried the light of the sun within their bodies.
Ash’s screams were a symphony to Nadya’s ears. She wished she could linger over the torturous task. The vampire queen located a small stone wedged between Ash’s heart and lungs and gripped it with her blood-slicked fingers. “Oh, my. Guess what I just found?”
Ash’s life was slipping through Nadya’s fingers. Ash couldn’t move. She also couldn’t breathe, which would not matter if she didn’t figure this out. The pain was unbearable, but their lives depended on her. She could smell Luca’s fear and agony because he couldn’t help her over the sharp scent of her blood.
“Who’s pathetic, little one? It seems to me that…”
Ignoring the vampire queen’s taunting, Ash fought through the pain to call on Eiko in the mental space that was the witch’s alone.
Oh, no! Eiko sent. You’re in trouble.
Help! Ash shouted. I don’t know what to do, and I can’t break free.
You need to promise me that after this, you will train with me day and night. You must learn these spells, and you are years behind schedule.
Yes! Ash shouted. Please! The sun is everywhere, and if she pulls the stone out, I’ll die.
As before, repeat everything I say.
Time moved differently in the real world. When Ash went back, Nadya was finishing the sentence. “…the one lying captive on the floor is more pathetic.”
When Eiko chanted, Ash coughed, forcing air through her larynx, then repeated the words that Eiko spoke in her mind.
Nadya’s eyes widened. “Stop that!”
Ash chanted louder.
Nadya grimaced. “No!”
Nadya squeezed Ash’s heart, and she cried out, then resumed chanting. She wouldn’t stop. It was hurting Nadya, and she needed to get free.
“If I go down, you’ll go down with me,” Nadya choked out.
Ash gasped and stopped chanting when Nadya yanked her hand back, gripping the orange stone. The younger vampire screamed as her skin burned in the sunlight, crisping and fluttering away.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Therian Palace, Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Luca watched in horror as Nadya ripped something out of Ash’s chest. His mate’s skin began to burn in the sunlight that streamed through the window.
Nadya stumbled back, cackling as she pointed at Ash. “Your skin! That is disgusting. I love it. You should have known better than to go against me, as young as you are and alone.”
Ash’s skin smoldered, but she did not burst into flame. As her screams faded, a growl started low in her chest. She’d been lost in the pain, but as it lessened, she realized she was still alive.
Nadya hadn’t only removed her sunstone. She had unleashed something Ash hadn’t known was there, and power welled up within her like a natural spring. Ash welcomed it, letting the light of her spark flow through her, healing the damage she’d sustained.
Time stood still as the power overflowed. Ash’s roar shook the windows, and a blast of light exploded from her, vaporizing every vampire in the room except Nadya. The queen was frozen in shock.
The blast obliterated the darkness binding Ash, and she rose in one fluid movement. It also freed Luca. He pressed a hand over the ragged wound in his head, but he sat up, unable to tear his gaze from Ash.
Her body was a charred and blackened husk. She clenched her fists and closed her eyes, trembling as the burnt skin flaked off to reveal flawless new flesh. Her golden curls regrew before his eyes. When she was whole again, Ash’s eyes snapped open, blazing with the copper fire of her spark.
