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Wynvail looked him dead in the eyes and finished, "The unexpected."
I was ninety percent sure he was going to say something different but changed it just to piss Kai off.
"Choking only," I sighed when Kai threw himself at Wynvail, who only tucked his hands in his trouser pockets and waited for the blow.2"Andyou,don't hurt my mate."
Something flashed in Wynvail’s silver eyes, his mouth flattening. "I'll do whatever I want, honey."
Kai threw out a hand, lines of inked text winding around his arm, and Wynvail grunted as a snake wrapped around his throat. But his expression didn't change, not even when Kai yelled, thrown back by a sudden flash of white light. It was alarming that Wynvail could push him away without taking his hands out of his pockets.
"Go on, then!" Kai snarled, the whites of his eyes showing. Shit, he was panicking, and I'd been so wrapped up in the Labyrinth and Cronus that I hadn't even noticed. "Kill me. Obey your master like a good little dog."
"Kai," Emlyn warned, his voice low and rumbling as he stepped up on Kai's left, his stare unwavering from Wynvail. His broad shoulders were hunched, arms crossed over his chest.3
"You'd love that, wouldn't you?" Wynvail said to Kai, not looking away from him. His expression was as hard as granite, and he didn't spare a single glance for Emlyn. "Killing you would prove you right that I'm evil."
I stalked closer to them, bracing the crackling magic around my volatile mates.
"Youareevil," Kai laughed, spreading his arms, magic spiralling faster. "Go on. Take the first shot; I'll allow it."
"Malakai," I growled, grabbing the back of his neck in a rough grip. "What are you doing? He's not fucking around; hewillkill you."
Kai just laughed, bitter and low.
"Don't," I told Wynvail. I went against every instinct to send a brief, tentative brush along the bond between us. He jerked like I'd electrocuted him.4"Don't," I repeated, not voicingpleasebut projecting it into my voice all the same.
Wynvail laughed, shaking his head. "I'm not going to kill him, honey. He wants it too badly."
"Kai?" My shoulders slumped, a heavy despair crushing my chest. He wanted to die?
"I don't actually want him to kill me," he groaned. "I'd kill him before he ever touched me. I just wanted him to try."
I remembered Kai trying to attack Wynvail when he dove into the Wailing Caves river. Not a single snake had penetrated Wynvail’s shields. I wasn't sure who'd win in a fight, and I wasn't willing to find out.
"Trying to put me in my place?" Wynvail drawled, a deadly glint in his quicksilver eyes as he leant back against the mammoth wall. Lazy, cruel, and unbothered. "In the hierarchy of her mates, I'm fully aware of my standing. This—" He removed a hand from his pocket to gesture between him and Kai, "was pointless. And just wasted our time. Well done."
Kai slipped from my hold and launched himself at him, this time with his fists. Wynvail had already had a broken nose today,5but Kai seemed determined to rearrange his entire face. Probably because of Wynvail's smug tone.
I reached for Kai's arm to stop the blow, but my hand moved impossibly slowly. Unease pulsed through my heart. It was like pushing through tar; the air resisted me, fighting me back. I growled, but the sound dragged out, sticky and long.
What the fuck was happening? My fingers brushed Kai's arm but he was already swinging forward. He moved insanely fast, like he was a cheetah and I was a snail. I blinked, and Emlyn had yanked him back, Harvey stepping between them and Wynvail, who hadn't even moved.
They spoke, but their words were too fast and high. They were like mice squeaking at each other. I opened my mouth, but my lips moved so slowly I just gave up on speaking.
Emlyn spun dizzyingly fast, scanning the stone corridor. His eyes shot all around the Labyrinth passageway. My stomach dropped.
He looked right through me.
"Em…"
His head swivelled, panic growing. His lips moved rapidly but I knew what he asked this time.Where's Haley?
"I'm right here!" My voice was slow, dragged out. Not my voice at all, too deep, too strange. What the fuck?
But Iknewwhat—Cronus. He was the god of time, and he controlled this whole Labyrinth. He'd fucked with the time in here, made me slower than everyone else.
"Bastard," I growled and hope he heard me.
My mates flipped from fighting to panicking in a millisecond. Kai went pale, his gaze darting around, nostrils flaring. Harvey raced back to where we'd come from; Emlyn growled and followed him. Wynvail just stared around, his jaw clenched and hands curled into fists.
