“Lusceler to the trees, Oli.”
“You’re going to do half my work for me? I could just kiss you.” Alexei chuckled.
Another bolt crashed to my right, shattering ice. Shards sprayed our uniforms. Before I could react, another struck inches from my boots, hurling me into Oliver.
Through the ringing in my ears, I swore I heard a low grow—from wherever Rune was—but then jagged plasma ruptured the Shard Field again. Strike after strike hit, and Oliver flipped me over, shielding my body with his own. I stared at his bloodied face in horror, seeing all the nicks and cuts. I touched my own and found nothing.
The general was protecting me. But not Oliver. He was Rune in this scenario.
Would the general go so far as to let Oliver get struck by lightning? Or just ice?
It was one thing to agree to the general numbing a limb, but I didn’t think… I guess that was it. I didn’t think. The general needed blood to infiltrate Oliver’s mind, so of course, he’d have to bleed somewhere.
“Roll over, Oliver,” I said, flinching with each lightning strike. I tried to push him off, but he resisted. “Oliver!”
“I’m trying to protect you! Alexei is just ahead.”
“I don’t need protection!” I shouted, gesturing to his face. “You do!”
“Fine, I suppose I can’t disagree there. But this exercise is about you getting taken. We only win if you don’t.”
“No. It’s about using my Glory. But it’s never surfaced on command, and I have no idea how to wield it without killing Alexei.”
The general had miscalculated. He didn’t realize that my skill level with Glory equated to a child’s. Did shielding Rune against Ni give him the impression I had more control? Or was this how he normally trained his Dreads?
“Well, that’s problematic. What if I scared you and?—”
Time slowed.
A bolt cracked through the sky, zigzagging toward Oliver’s back. My eyes widened. Needles pierced my skin. I didn’t think.
I threw out my hands and screamed as my Glory shredded me apart. Blinding white flames arched around us, colliding with Alexei’s lightning in a resounding boom that blasted apart every shard of ice within a ten-foot radius.
Oliver cringed from the heat, sinking closer to my body. I pushed my flames higher, expanding the sphere. Ice sizzled. My vision blurred. My arms trembled.
Sand weighed down my limbs, threatening to drag me under. I released my power, slumping into the muddy ground.
Oliver groaned and rolled off me. “That was almost as bad as the tree incident—except this time I felt like a slow-roasting squirrel.”
“Sorry,” I muttered, letting my head fall back. “But you’re okay, right?”
“Just peachy.”
The undulating darkness cleared, revealing the silver moonlight of Hell, the face of the general with Rune at his side, and Alexei’s bloody face.
My stomach dropped. “I’m sorry.”
He only grinned. “You knocked me on my ass, so I’d like to say you won, but…”
“You failed,” the general stated coldly.
I stared him dead in the eye. “I will never let harm come to those I love. I will always put them before myself. I thought you gathered that after I protected Rune.”
Alexei’s grin fell. “Lucy, I would’ve never hurt Oliver. I was about to pull the bolt back.”
I shot him a hard look, then turned back to the general. “How was I supposed to know how far you’d go? I understand you don’t think I’m replaceable—but what about him? This is Hell. Suffer or die, right? And if you can’t stand me—if it took you until today to stop calling himNephilim, like he wasn’t a person, like you didn’t respect him—then why would I believe the General of Hell and his second gave a rat’s ass about his life?”
My head pounded, my eyes ached to close, and I knew what I did wasn’t safe. But Oliver was all I had.
