“You are cold,” Rian complained, eying the nightgown that was more suited to the humid nights in Feura.
“Not for much longer,” I assured him, setting my gaze on the immense wooden gates that were closed. I breathed in the scent of the forest one last time, knowing that I was about to pollute the mountain with the scents of charred wood and burning flesh.
I walked forward with Rian trailing me. The grass was stiff and cold beneath my bare feet as the soft hem of my dress whispered around my ankles.
As soon as we stepped into the light of the torches on the stone wall, I knew that they had beenexpecting me. And they clearly had not forgotten the last time I’d nearly burned down the coven; the number of men that rushed out of the towers onto the battlements was flattering.
A ward had been erected, strong enough to make me hesitate when I met with it unexpectedly. But their power was nothing to what I had access to through Rian.
I raised my hand, allowing his shadows to flow out of my palm to consume the magic. They chewed through the ward with the ease that I bit into the exotic fruit that Rian had brought me after Ornella healed my mouth. It really was a wonder that my mate was never tempted to conquer the Four Courts with such magnificent power.
But I did not have his temperance.
I heard the men shouting in horror when the defenses they had undoubtedly been putting much of their faith in came down. The moment I stepped into range, a volley of flaming arrows was unleashed at us. I did not slow as fire magic singed my veins, incinerating the arrows directly in front of us to ash, which fell harmlessly to the ground.
“Cover us?” I asked Rian over my shoulder.
“So youarewilling to let me help,” he said snarkily, making me roll my eyes as we reached the gate.
I summoned a blast of flame that was hot enough to melt the stone on either side of the immense door so it fell free from its hinges. It slammed heavily onto the earth, revealing dozens of men ready to face me. The sight of their familiar red-and-gold robes and bearded faces full of malice only reignited my utter contempt for this place.
They charged while I formed beasts of shadow and fire similar to the wild fire hounds Rian loved. Onlybigger. And I grinned when I sicced the creatures on the warriors who immediately started balking. Many even halted their charge before my hounds began tearing into their ranks.
I turned to face the battlements from the inside where archers fired arrows at us. Rian consumed each missile in puffs of smokewithout even raising his hands. He was only covering us, just as I asked, without engaging any of the witches because he knew their deaths weremine.
I took even more of my own pain and rage and began to forge it into another beast to be set free upon the world. More and more shadows bled out, this time manifesting from my chest as well as my palms. The monster that took shape was truly massive with a serpentine head and wings that carried it up the stairs to the battlements.
The men saw it coming, too stunned with horror to do more than watch as their companions were swallowed in the gaping maw. Sense finally seemed to return all at once as they began abandoning their posts. Some even tried to leap off the wall to flee, but I directed my hounds out the gate to run them down outside the coven.
Not one Kelley witch would live to see the dawn.
I turned away from the battlements that were saturated in darkness and strode across the courtyard to the smaller gate that would open into the mountain. I had seen all the survivors scurrying through it like rats to try and escape from my hounds. But the beasts merely slipped through the cracks around the door like the shadows they were to continue pursuing their prey into the mountain.
I began stepping over the body parts the beasts had left strewn across the courtyard. The metallic scent of blood and raw meat was pungent as entrails squelched under my bare feet. Within moments, the delicate lace on the hem of my dress was soaked with gore.
My hands twisted at my sides as I walked and directed my flames to purge every drop of blood. It was so hot that the stone foundations began to melt, and the air grew thin and difficult to breathe.
Rian was immune to the extreme temperature, but he knew I was not. He used Darragh’s air magic to create a temperate bubble around me, and then pushed the heavy smoke up intothe sky. Ash rained down like black snow, staining my dress and smudging on my skin as it mixed with the gore and formed a gritty paste under my feet.
I reached the door into the coven, and several witches startled me when they suddenly cast fire down at me from a smaller gatehouse above the door. Luckily, Rian had the instincts of a thousand-year-old warrior and immediately snapped a shield into place to deflect the attack.
It was a good reminder that while my power may be strong, I had no finesse, no true knowledge or training. That was a weakness that I would need to correct.
Feeling more furious than ever, I blasted the gate apart and entered the coven, trusting Rian’s shield to deflect the magic and arrows that were fired at us. I could tell from the screams echoing in the stone hallway that the hounds had reached the women and children deeper in the earth. These men were the coven’s final defense, and once I had crushed them, the rest of the coven was mine to take.
Room by room, level by level, I made my way down, cleansing the coven with fire. My senses were open as the High Priestess so I could locate each and every body that had been torn apart, and I burned them. Purifying them.
The shadow hounds roved wherever I did not wish to venture from the watchtowers on the mountain above the coven to the dungeons where I’d never step foot again. They rooted children out from beneath their beds and slid through floorboards into cellars where people trembled in the darkness. Not even a pinprick of Phoenix blood was not consumed in my fire.
I could feel Rian’s curiosity like a prickling at the back of my neck, but he did not interfere with my preparation, merely continued to watch my back.
The last of the men had gathered in the ritual chamber of the temple for a tragic final stand in defiance of their god and their High Priestess. All but one of them were torn apart in moments by the shadow hounds.
I faced the lone survivor whom I had not seen since the night he ordered my mother burned, and then sent me down to the dungeon. He was much older now with a grey beard and hair streaked in silver. His face sagged in wrinkles, but I would recognize those eyes even if his furred mantle did not give him away as the High Priest.
I could not help a cruel smile as he looked from the snarling hounds around him to Rian behind me and lastly to the mark I felt blazing on my forehead. His attention lingered there, and after a moment, he threw his blade to the ground in a demonstration of surrender.
“Father,” I greeted him scornfully.
