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Crap.Read the room, dude. Read the room.
“I hesitated to kill the sen—”
“No. What happened with the Warlock King?”
Oh. “You noticed that?”
Her back straightened, eyes widening like she couldn’t believe I had the gall to joke. This was definitely not the time for my mindless mumbling.
Evie stood. “Braxton, you went after him like a maniac. You swung the sword in a killing blow, but the instant his staff struck your blade, the two of you froze and his army came to life around us again. You two were static for nearly half a moon-hour, while we desperately tried to get to you. Yes, I think it is safe to say that I noticed.”
Damn it, Braxton.
“Half an hour?” I asked, perplexed, and she nodded, concern seeming to undermine her ire briefly.
Letting out a conflicted sigh, I stepped closer. “Honestly? I snapped. But I have no idea what happened afterwards.” I shook my head, trying to make sense of it. “One moment I was attempting to slice him open, and the other I was inside the Hollow, standing all the way up in one of the towers.”
“He used his magic to trap you in his mind,” she answered knowingly.
“I was inhismind?”
Evie nodded. “He is a very powerful Warlock.”
“At first, I thought I was actually in the castle,” I confessed. “Everything seemed so real. My feet on the marble floors, the windows, him standing in front of me as he drank mead. He even showed me the battle that sieged below us, and I saw you guys fighting while our Dragons remained frozen in his control. That’s when I realized it wasn’t real, because I could see myself still standing in front of him below us, my sword clashing against his staff.”
“What did he say to you?” Evie anxiously questioned, coming closer to me. “Why did he take you there, and why did he let you go?”
I considered my answers for a moment. So much had happened in that room. “He got into my mind, unlocking memories from my life. He was trying to figure out who I was.”
Her eyes widened with dread and fear. “He, what?”
“I was able to block him for most of it,” I added, before she freaked out even more. “I tried to protect my parents, protect you, but it was hard to go against him. He knows I came from the Mirror World and he knows you and I are together.”
“Gods!” She began to pace the room, probably going through all the possibilities. “I don’t understand. I was right there. Kingston was right there. Why would he go after you? Why would he captureyouin his mind?”
I had the answer, but before I got to that, there was something else she needed to know. “He knows where we are.”
“Braxton!” she shouted, horrified.
“Not because of me,” I blurted, before she killed me. “He found the ravens that contacted Nikau and killed one of them, replacing it with a cursed one that made its way here, allowing him to see our hiding spot.”
“Then why hasn’t he come for us yet? He could have attacked us. He—”
“Because he’s not interested in the people he lost, or even you… not anymore.”
Brows wrinkling, she halted, and faced me again. “Why wouldn’t he be interested in enacting revenge after everything we have taken from—" Evie’s voice drifted away as she blinked, her skin becoming ashen. “Raithian wants you, doesn’t he? He knows you have powers.”
Reluctantly, I nodded. “He said he can feel them in me and wants them for himself.”
Forcing herself to take a settling breath, she thought about it. “He could have sensed them in you the first time you spoiled his plan of taking me prisoner, or when you and the Elevated Warriors confronted Azazel.”
“But he wasn’t there when we fought Azazel,” I rebutted, until I remembered the extent of the Warlock King’s abilities. “He commandeered Azazel the same way he did the raven…” I whispered, shocked. “He can see everything Azazel sees under his control.”
Evie nodded. “We suspected as much, and after seeing him stop Fire Fury, Luna, and Spartan all at once, who knows what else he can do.”
Oh God. “Do you think he got into their minds as well when he froze them? Like he did me?”
“It’s very possible.”’
