Another one of Noc’s terrifying blades soared toward me, but Jax was ready. A wall erupted in front of it, protecting me from the attack. Noc let out a wordless shriek before Calem and Oz pulled his focus again.
There were too many attacks to dodge. We barely had time to focus. “Gaige, what beast—”
Again, a swell of electrical energy began to fill the air, signaling the Vrees’s attack. The charge surged through me, and Kost’s eyes went wide. Snagging both Gaige and me, he yanked us into the world of shadows again just as a violent blue streak of lightning erupted where we’d been standing. We reemerged a few feet away with enough static hanging in the air around us to start a fire.
From the billowing fog at her beast’s feet, Yazmin laughed. “What do you think of my Vrees, Leena? I only just acquired him. I’d been tracking him for years, and finally, he showed himself.” Her smile turned feral. “Run all you want. Wherever his mist reaches, his lightning can strike.”
And it was everywhere. The perfect conductor for the spark angrily brewing inside of his ribs. Swallowing hard, my gaze swiveled back to Noc. He parried left and right, all the while wearing a smile so unnerving that my blood ran cold. Oz’s face was a bloodied mess covered in gashes and weeping wounds. Swollen flesh threatened to cover one of his eyes, but he placed a well-planted kick in the square of Noc’s chest, and he went flying back.
Calem lunged forward, long gashes trailing his arms and chest, and took Noc’s primary focus. Noc dodged Calem’s assault and stole a murderous glance my direction. Had the oath finally claimed him? Was he beyond my reach?
No.I would always find a way to reach him. I’d promised.
Gritting my teeth, I turned back to Gaige. “We’ll lose if we keep running. I need something to distract the Vrees while I take care of Yazmin.”
Another crack of lightning, and we scattered. Gaige’s knees buckled, and he clutched his stomach. From the red blooming along his tunic, it appeared as though his stitches had split. Kost’s torn gaze flickered between us and his brothers. Losing. We were losing.
The suffocating mist stretched further, and the wetness of it slicked against me and pressed damp clothing to my skin. If only we could blow it away or evaporate it with heat.
Heat.My eyes flew to Jax. He’d extended his neck fully and was constantly swiveling his head from left to right, searching for threats. He couldn’t summon fires, but his mother could. Extending my hand, I channeled my power and the beast door groaned open. Brilliant rosewood light battled against the fog, and Lola emerged. Her gaze first targeted her son, then the Vrees. In the span of a breath, she’d determined him to be the threat and charged. Thick claws scraped against the stone floor, and she stood tall before him. Gleaming red scales rimmed in gold glistened beneath the mist. Pupil-less white eyes burned with the intensity of the sun, and she let out a grating war cry that made her headdress of bone spikes tremble.
“Kost.” I reached out my hand.
“On it.” He gripped my wrist tight and looped Gaige’s shoulder over his, and then enveloped us in shadows. Safely out of Lola’s radius, we reappeared on the lip of the entrance to the throne room where grass met stone.
Our disappearance was the only signal Lola needed. The moment we were out of range, she kicked on her power and cooked the air. A heat wave rushed outward, and the mist began to evaporate. The stone beneath her feet glowed a fiery orange, and she inched forward. The Vrees shook its massive head and bared its teeth. Yazmin leapt back toward the dais, avoiding the skin-melting heat of the Laharock.
More mist sizzled, and the Vrees stepped back. Lightning sparked in his core, and he targeted Lola with terrifying certainty. With him distracted, I could take out Yazmin. And I had just the hunter to do it. One Yazmin hadn’t counted on me taming.
Thrusting my hand forward, rosewood light exploded from my symbol, and I summoned Reine. She bled into life in a smearing of nightly colors. Hackles already on end and endless eyes locked on the Vrees, she positioned herself in front of me.
“Not that.” I pointed toward Yazmin. “Her. Go.”
Part of me hated to do it. Hated to order a beast to kill like I’d done with Onyx. But this was so different from before. I’d been under Wynn’s control, and in a sense, so had the Council. They had mowed down assassins under the false pretense of defending their home, thanks to him and Yazmin. My actions now would protect the lives of those I loved. Even of those I didn’t know, like the Charmers hiding in their homes and the beasts they held dear.
I would fight for them. Just like Reine had fought for me against the Sentinels. She hadn’t needed to—I’d yet to tame her. But she’d chosen me. Deemed me part of her family and acted to save my life.
Realization settled deep within me. Reine wasn’t so different from us Charmers. She’d lived a life on her own, never confronting threats, only defending her territory. And yet… When something,someone, she cared for was jeopardized…she’d struck first. And Yazmin’s decision to openly attack Charmers who might have threatened her plan? The people she was supposed to love? Protect? That was an egregious wrong I knew we had to right.
As if feeling my conviction, Reine heeded my command and slipped out of existence.
Behind us, Calem let out a gut-wrenching scream. The three of us turned in time to see Noc sink one of his blood blades beneath his collarbone.
He turned away, leaving his blade lodged in Calem. “Don’t attack me anymore.”
Calem’s body strained in anger as he fought against Noc’s blood command. His eyes flashed mercury, and scales raced over his skin, forming and disappearing, as if the beast inside him was fighting against Noc’s compulsion. Fingers twitching, Calem reached after his brother. Talons formed and receded. His body shuddered, but he couldn’t will himself any further. Oz howled and lunged forward, slamming his fist into Noc’s temple so hardIalmost saw stars. He stumbled forward and crashed to the ground. Blood leaked from his ears, but when he turned to look up at Oz, there was nothing but pure murder in his eyes.
“Go.” I shoved Kost. “Go!”
He was gone in an instant, barely reaching the clearing in time to counter Noc’s blood blade with a glittering black rapier. A moment later and that disastrous red blade would’ve found its home in Oz’s heart.
A familiar swell of static energy brewed around Gaige and me. Bringing my gaze back to the Vrees, my heart dropped to the floor. Lola had evaporated most of the mist, but there were still two threads snaking from the beast’s frame—one pooling directly before Lola and the other encircling Yazmin.
“No!”
My terror-filled warning wasn’t fast enough.
Two things happened at once. Reine appeared and lunged toward Yazmin. And Lola took a small but significant step forward. And then the lightning god himself must have manifested, because a rain of bolts showered from the ceiling, right where the mist had formed. Reine crashed into a wall of electricity and let out a heart-wrenching yowl that ended in a soft gurgle as she staggered to the ground. Her chest rose and fell in erratic patterns, and her jaw cracked open wide. Wild eyes darted without focus.
