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“I don’t know. Pride? Viciousness? Maybe they just don’t like that we got ahead of them—”
Boom!
The blast impacted them hard, forcing Onnika to grab Aidan’s shoulder for support while he struggled with the controls. “Shit. They’re on us.” As soon as he gained control, another boom rang out and the ship listed to the right. The next blast shook them so hard, he was sure the ship would break apart around them. “Fuck!” What could he do? They were all out of tricks.The Condemnedwas bigger, stronger, faster. If they wanted to take out a little defenseless craft, there was nothing to stop them. The others seemed to have come to the same understanding, growing quiet and solemn.
He turned his gaze to Onnika, taking her in for potentially the last time, soaking in every nuance. Her hair was bed-rumpled, her expression drawn tight with worry, her eyes red, probably from crying. And still, to him, her beauty was ethereal, perfection, blinding, like staring into the awe-inspiring light of a supernova. If he could die looking upon her lovely face, he’d go happily.
Her disbelieving gaze darted around the room to each of them. “You’re all…giving up?”
Her disappointment gutted him. “I’m sorry,” he breathed.
She muttered something under her breath. He thought she saidno.She was shaking her head. He just wanted to hold her. When he tried to stand, the ship rocked violently from another blast, throwing him back into his seat.
Onnika stumbled to the floor and cried out, “No. No. No! It’s not over.”
He thought he’d begun to hallucinate, or maybe he was already dead—had the ship blown up without him realizing?—because her skin began to take on a slight glow.
“Stop. Stop. Stop it rightNOW!”
Onnika felt her body grow hot, as if a hungry forge had blossomed in her belly. The blood in her veins began to rush with molten purpose. Her thoughts focused, laser like, on a single soul-searing invocation for the crew ofThe Condemnedto cease their attack. She’d never felt this way before. This sensational potentiality, this astonishing force so potent and formidable, conjured as though straight from the realm of divinity. A power no mortal should possess. Foreign, frightening, yet seductive, and so powerful, she worried that if she called upon it now, used the offering, it might rip her molecules open at the seams.
But she had no choice. She would not allow the people she had grown to love to be pointlessly destroyed. Whatever this new magic was, she embraced it, fed it, gave it sustenance from the marrow of her very essence. It could easily sear her to ash.
Pure power coursed through her, lighting her up like a midnight thunderstorm. Pressure built in her mind and seeped through her burning body, expanding, magnifying, growing to a fever pitch, filling her up with untenable energy and locking down her muscles. She thought she heard someone yelling her name, but an unyielding light coated her vision, the heat in her body igniting beyond reason.
Then, all at once, the power exploded forth, rippling out on a wave of unyielding power. In the sudden absence of the extreme heat, terrible shards of ice splintered every cell in her body, and she begged for death to come quickly.
She felt a ghost of warmth on her cheek, the muttering of curses and pleas. Someone was hovering over her, holding her. There was no energy left in her body to respond. Her eyelids were no longer serviceable. She felt herself drifting in a pocket of weightlessness, the pain melted away. Slowly, a feeling of freedom came over her. Serenity in its purest form. No more worries burdened her. She’d given them a chance. She knew whatever the magic’s objective had been, it had succeeded. She only wished she could have kissed Aidan one last time…told him how much she loved him.
By degrees, darkness settled over her.
