“I’m the only one who can.” I cut Wilder off. “She’s going to either focus on you or me, and if it’s you, then you can’t get to Selia. Let me help.”
“Feisty.” Perame nudges my arm, but Greer glares at her, so she holds up her hands, spinning daggers in both. “I like it.”
Greer doesn’t take her eyes off Perame. She watches all of them.
Wilder grabs my chin, tilting my face to his.“Stay alive.”
“I’ll try.”
“Gods, you’re trouble, Starfire.”He steals a kiss.“But you’re mine.”
Wilder stands tall, directing his court before I have the chance to say anything back to him. There’s no time as the courtyard starts to crumble. A few of the guards have turned on the others, clearly not liking what they heard from their king. They battle alongside the Vaelier soldiers that made it through the Arch before it started to flicker.
A wall of Rior’s magic mixed with Callum’s is all that holds back the new wave.
I turn to Callum and Greer. “I’m going to distract Hazel.”
“Do you have a death wish?” Greer glares at me.
“She can only hurt me if her magic can get to me.” I flex my fingers. “I won’t let her get close.”
I wait for Greer to try to talk me out of it. The chances of going toe-to-toe with Hazel and winning are slim. But she doesn’t.
“Gods.” Greer shrugs off her shoulder guard. It’s cracked and stained in blood. She unsheathes her blade, spinning it around when her gaze cuts toward Wilder and his court, snagging on Atlas. “What are you looking at?”
“Something gods damn beautiful.” He winks, and Rior shoves his arm, pulling his attention back to what Wilder is telling them.
“Damn Vaelier warriors. Insufferable,” Greer grumbles. “Let’s go.”
The ground quivers as we step forward. Selia is busy with a group of Vaelier soldiers coming at the king from the other side. But Hazel’s attention is on me the moment I’m in her line of sight.
She spins her fingers through the air, letting black whisps float on the wind.
“Your magic has grown, Elorie.” A dark cloud brewsaround her, raining down and collecting at her feet. “You’re still not strong enough to take me on though.”
“We’ll see.” I smirk.
She sends a rush of shadow through the space between us, and Callum and Greer step back to avoid being hit. But I raise my hands, palms up, throwing out a wave of starlight. A steady stream that barrels out of my fingers. It pours from my chest in a steady flow, but it does nothing against her shadows.
They continue to surround me, collecting my magic like she’s drinking it from the source.
Flexing my wrists, I spill a little more, and it chokes her back a step.
“You’re learning.” She smiles, the shadows crawling all the way up her arms—her neck.
A spiderweb of black threads covers her pale skin until her eyes turn black, and she barrels into her magic again. When it flows out this time, it’s a wave that knocks the air from my chest.
I fight off the drain by feeding it. Pulling from the sky above. There is no limit, and yet, I feel myself butting up against one within me. My head swims as the snakes of her darkness start to creep their way in.
They slither through the holes in my magic and start to whisper.
“There you are.”A voice tickles my ear.
But it’s not Wilder. It’s nothing I’ve ever heard. It’s Hazel’s magic spilling out, speaking to me.
“I knew we’d find you.”
I stumble back just a step, but it’s enough for her to edge in a little farther. At my side, Greer fights off the guards who break through. Hazel takes advantage of my slip. Her shade wraps around me. It cloaks something in my chest, dulling my magic. Her shadowy fingers reach out, and even if she’s still feetaway, I feel them wrapping around my wrists, pulling me farther from myself.
