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“One brother ruined by power. The other by revenge.” Raz’s coal-black eyes slid to mine and my heart stopped beating completely. “This world will soon have a new queen. One this world deserves. One I shall follow even into death. Your time is over.”
I didn’t even see the steel sword in Raz’s hand, not until the blade was arcing for Carex’s throat, then the king’s head and body crashed to the ground in two different directions. The Mistress’s low wail brought me no joy, none at all. I shoved the stone into my pocket, wanting to get further away from this demon with black eyes who only looked like the male I loved.
But I was already flat against the wall. I had nowhere to go.
Holy gods.
Raz yanked his magic back and turned on his heel. He bore down on me, dark tendrils of power wrapping around me like the ghosts of the thorned vines I’d cast over my father just days ago. “Raziel?” The gleam in his obsidian-black eyes only grew wickeder as his big strong arms caged me in, trapping me between his body and the wall.
“Raziel.” I pressed the point of the knife against his chest. “Raz…can you hear me? Where is Zor?”
My terror mounted. There wasn’t a shred of emotion or even recognition as he stared down at me, his gaze consuming and endless and utterly void. With a wicked, empty grin, he leaned in closer, the point of my knife sinking in, red blood welling around the tip. I yanked the blade away, my heart lurching. Raziel was a dark god, enough shadows spilling from him to fill the room, not a shred of white in his eyes.
And his collar…
“Raz.” I sheathed the knife then brushed my thumbs gently over his cheeks, willing him to listen. “Raz, where is Zorander? Where is your friend?”
He blinked, and in that split second, I glimpsed warm brown eyes—the next, they were empty black as if I stared straight into the abyss. Whatever his magic was, his power gripped him with tight claws, that much was clear.
There was a scuffling behind me, and two mages cast their magic in a flash of white. Raz wiped them away without even breaking eye contact, their bodies cleaved neatly in half.Oh gods, what kind of magic was this?
“Raz, please. Where’s Zor? You took your collar off.” I gripped his face tighter, giving him a shake, ignoring his soft growl of annoyance. “The price of removing the collar was Zorander’s life. Do you remember?”
I couldn’t stop the tears then, couldn’t stop my voice from breaking. “Why can’t you remember?”
He blinked slowly, every one erasing a little more of that cold blankness and bringing back the Raziel I loved. “Anaria?” His confused whisper was pained, fingers digging into my arms as he leaned into my palms, a bone-deep shudder ripping through his body.
“You’re alive,” he muttered. “I thought you were dead. I thought…”
“Where is Zor?” My voice wouldn’t stop shaking, my heart shattering at the truth I already knew. “What did you do, Raziel? Why did you break the collar and the Shadow King’s spell?”
He reared back, confusion clouding his eyes. “You…They took you. After everything…after fighting the Reaper army…you had no magic, Anaria. None at all.”
He frowned at the galaxy of stars surrounding us. “The Reapers carried you away. You were…I thought you were helpless.” His gaze skimmed over the room, catching on what was left of the Fae King, the dead mages, the blown-out wall of bookcases.
“I thought you were powerless,” he said more steadily. “Zor and I figured your magic was depleted and the Reapers were taking you back to the king.” His gaze slid over to Carex’s decapitated body. “We were coming to save you…but we couldn’t get here fast enough.”
We were still trapped in the center of Raziel’s magic, effectively stuck in an inescapable bubble, but some of my fear faded away as more and more of Raziel seeped back. His magic was the most dangerous, powerful thing I’d ever seen, tasting of brimstone and darkness, but his face softened as he looked down at me.
Raz reached for me then dropped his hand, anguish written all over his face. “We knew we’d be too late to save you. So we made a decision.”
The Mistress pressed against the bubble, her eyes flicking from me, then to Raz, to the king’s blood staining the floor. But she couldn’t come closer, her face a mask of frustration, her screamed threats echoing dully, as if the words came from far away…I will find you. I will kill you.
Tendrils of darkness hung harmlessly in the air, along with my own magic, coiling and twisting, the room thick with the smell of spent magic as those tendrils slowly spooled back into Raziel. The darkness in the room faded, the sky overhead finally visible again.
Thankfully, the Mistress couldn’t get through, still pacing and pacing as she screamed.
“Where is Zorander?”
“I…I left him in the forest,” Raziel finally answered my question. “He is…He was…” He swallowed, his silver-lined eyes filled with pain.
“I’m sorry. You didn’t…We thought you didn’t have any magic. But you didn’t need me to save you after all, did you?”
I didn’t answer his question. Could I have killed the king alone?
What if my magic hadn’t refilled in time and I had been helpless? Would I have ended up under Carex’s knife after all?
I didn’t know. So many things might have gone differently, but it was too late to ask those questions. “Take me to him.” I grasped Raziel’s hand. “Take me to Zorander.”
