Fuck. I can’t believe I screwed up. Heaving in a breath, I turn the corner and find four pairs of eyes and one twisted grin greeting me.
“Get help!” Vanall screams.
The masked man grips his throat once more, and now I can see the way his fingers dig into his flesh, purple bruises lining histhroat. “One more word and I’ll make you bite your own tongue off. Do you understand me, Vanall?”
Vanall’s knees knock as he sinks to the floor, and the masked man turns his focus on me.
“You’re a little late to the party.” He sighs. “You’ll have to forgive me; this would have been much more pleasant if you had been on time, Miss…”
“Checkmate,” I supply. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s bad manners to torture the mayor in his own home, right? I’m new to high society.”
He laughs; its sharpness ricocheting in my chest. “I’m not hurting him, am I?”
The mayor curses, mumbling.
“What was that?”
“I said eat shit, Charade.”
Charade laughs like he’s just heard the world’s funniest joke, then clamps his long fingers around Vanall’s chin. The mayor’s expression slackens, his mouth stretching in a wide, unnatural smile as he lifts his fist and slams it knuckle-first into the ground. Again. And again—his expression never changes.
What. The. Fuck?
The wind I gathered earlier roils as I unleash it, sending Charade flying backward over the bar, thudding hard against the shelf, sparkling liquid and glass raining down in his wake. I scramble to the men, my stomach heaving as I take stock of their injuries. A few broken bones and lacerations will heal as long as I can get them out of here.
“Run as soon as you can. Take as many people with you as possible. I don’t care how you wake them up—get them out of here.”
Vanall grimaces, his shattered hand landing on my shoulder. “Don’t let him touch?—”
He shoves me away just then. I skid across the floor on my hip as an arm swings out over the bar where my head was moments before.
Glass crunches at Charade’s feet as he stands, his skin reddening from tracks of cuts and slivers too fine to see.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he snarls.
Too late.An electric hum swirls in the air. Rising, it snakes between my fingers. I clench my fist and the power goes out, casting us all in shadow. Pandemonium breaks out as Vanall and his men flee, cursing as they barrel through the black.
“Fuck,” Charade growls. He’s over the bar now, landing somewhere to the left of me. I feel the impact, hear him muttering a curse too.
“Where are you, little vixen?” he taunts. “Come out and play.”
I roll my eyes, drop to my knees, and crawl carefully away from his voice. Electricity crackles in my core. It takes all my concentration to keep it coursing through my muscles and away from my heart.
“Do you know what you’ve done?” He sounds farther away now, but it’s hard to tell without the others scrambling to block the echo. At once, he seems in the next room and behind me—far away, yet close enough to touch. It sets my frazzled nerves ablaze. “Who you’re defending?”
I rise, hoping I’m in a clear enough position to run. As if drawn by the electricity inside me, like calling to like, a bolt spears the clouds, filling the night-filled windows and the room around us with light. It’s a blessing that his back is to me, but it’s worse—so much worse than I could have imagined. He’s practically on top of me, so close I can see the blades of his broad shoulders ripple with his movements.
I can’t hear the thunder over the beat of my heart—can’t think past the flashing grayscale of him searching for me. The room darkens again, and I’m too afraid to breathe, letalone move, but I think I’m in the clear. There’s an almost imperceptible change, and goose bumps break out across my skin. My hair tickles my ear as his breath skates against my cheek.
“You’re It, Checkmate.”
My brain short-circuits, instinct and self-preservation taking the wheel. His features take shape as a blue-white glow seeps from my pores, suffusing me in a neon glow. I let go, the charge breaking the sound barrier as it arcs around me, burning my figure into the wall at my back and striking Charade in a flash of blinding light that throws his body across the room. Again.
The arc is unstable though. Electricity is wild, lethal. My powers don’t deal with the element directly; I haven’t had enough practice to really control it, let alone master it. One moment, it’s within my grasp; the next, it’s surrounding me, humming so loudly it feels like my eardrums will burst. A coppery tang fills my mouth while everything’s hot and charged around me. The arc is minimal, but my balance is gone. I soar sideways as the bolt hits me instead, muscles tensing and numbing like I’ve been shot with a taser.
The ground rises to meet me, and my head hits off the tiled surface.
It’s still dark when I open my eyes, but streaks of blue and red glows across the ceiling. I close them again, my temples throbbing in time with my pulse. My skin tingles with phantom bolts and I’ll crawl out of my skin if I don’t move soon, but all I can do is lie here and pray to gain my bearings soon.
