Page 146 of By the Flames of Her Fury

“Enough.” The word hit the chamber like steel on stone. Vera’s eyes moved between the three of them, and a muscle in her cheek twitched. “You became my enemy the moment you took what’s mine.”

She slashed a hand through the air, sending sharp bolts of light to me. They cut through my restraints, and I lurched upright on the altar, gasping as blood rushed back to my hands.

The Elders moved instantly. Julius flung a wall of shadows across the chamber. They slammed into Vera, sending her skidding sideways across the floor. She caught herself on one knee, wings fluttering to absorb the impact.

“Do not let them leave,” Arcadia commanded.

I swung my legs off the altar as Maeve lunged forward, vines erupting from the ground and coiling around my ankles. I grabbed the edge of the altar and wrenched myself forward, but her magic was strong. I grunted, “Vera⁠—”

She was already moving. Pulling a dagger from her waistband, she tossed it toward me. I caught it and sliced the blade through the vines in one smooth motion. She ran to the platform and helped me stand. “Can you walk?” she rushed out.

I nodded, even as my legs trembled from shock. Arcadia raised both arms, and the shadows in the chamber thickened and funneled around the two of us, forming a billowing barrier. I could barely see past it, but I made out three wavering forms on the other side as the Elders converged.

“We don’t want to hurt you, daughter,” Arcadia’s voice called above the rustle of wind.

“That makes one of us,” Vera muttered. She shot a beam of lightning through the shadow wall at one of the silhouettes. It sliced through the shadows, but the figure moved quickly, and her lightning struck the cave wall. Every time she attacked, the darkness grew thicker, pulsing around us close enough to suffocate.

With a snarl, Vera flexed her wings and drove both hands into the ground. Flames erupted outward in a ring, racing along the floor and up the shadow wall, consuming the magic caging us in. Her fire ate away at the shadows to reveal the three Elders on the platform.

Arcadia’s composure finally snapped, golden eyes that matched Vera’s now filled with rage. “Subdue her!”

They threw shards of both shadow and light at us, but I batted some away with my dagger as Vera’s fire devoured the rest. The entire cavern shook with the force of their combined magic wreaking havoc on the chamber. When the ceiling trembled, Vera’s head snapped upward. I followed her gaze, eyes landing on a network of old, dusty support beams running through the rock above us and over the platform.

She met my eyes. “Do you trust me?”

“Always.”

She grabbed my hand, then sent a burst of flame straight at the central beam. The crack was deafening. Stone and wood groaned as the first section of ceiling came down between us and the Elders in a cascade of rock and dust. Through the ringing in my ears, I heard their muffled shouts behind the wall now separating us. The two of us raced down the tunnel, past more chambers identical to the one I was held in.

We reached the end of the corridor where a set of stairs led upward. I paused to catch my breath, leaning an arm against the wall. “We should keep going,” I panted. “That won’t hold them for⁠—”

Vera barreled forward, colliding into me and throwing her arms around my neck. I caught her and staggered backward into the wall with a grunt.

She immediately released me. “I’m so sorry. Are you okay? Did I hurt you?” Her hands roamed over my chest, then up to my neck, and her eyes landed on my forehead. I could still feel blood from my wound trickling down my nose and catching in my eyelashes.

Her lips parted on an exhale. “Oh, Everett, I’m so sorry.” She raised a hand and gently brushed her thumb along the gash, whispering a healing spell. I felt it snap into place around us, felt the skin on my forehead stretch tight as it mended itself. She took my hands and repeated the healing spell over the dagger wounds there, then the one on my chest.

I balled my hands into fists at my sides, trying to hide the way they shook. Even though they were healed, I could feel that dagger carving the runes into my flesh. Could still see the burnt bodies around me, could barely breathe through the sensation of life being sucked from my chest.

“Just breathe, Swift,” Vera murmured, hands cupping my neck. “I’m right here. I found you.” I lifted my gaze to hers and let out a shuddering exhale. Ash and dirt clung to her skin, and her hair was in a fierce, wild frenzy around her head. But her eyes were steady. Grounded and sure, tethering me to her.

I nodded, then pressed my forehead to hers one last time, taking another deep breath to push away the images.

“We need to go find the others,” she said gently.

I leaned back. “Others?”

She laced her fingers through mine, lips curving into a small smile. “What, did you think I was the only one who wanted to rescue you?”

We started up the steps when an enormous boom rang through the tunnel at our backs. I whirled to find a wall of fire racing toward us from the collapsed chamber down the hall. My eyes widened when figures emerged from the smoke.

It wasn’t the Elders.

But Arcadia’s voice thundered from the cavern, echoing in the fire even though I couldn’t see him. “Do not let them get away!”

Dozens of floating forms appeared in the flames. They all had contorted faces with eyes like coal and hair like a forest fire. They rushed us, leaving an inferno in their wake that consumed the hallway.

I tugged Vera up the stairs. She shouted a spell, and a shimmering shield burst into place around us. The flames bounced off it as we reached the top of the stairs and bounded down the tunnel. Bodies as tall as statues lined the walls, the same victims I’d seen in Arcadia’s dreams. The figures made of fire were still chasing us, and their flames shot up the hall, dancing over the dead bodies until they crumbled to ash.