AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Another laugh came on the wind. “It would appear not, especially with that unfortunate injury of yours.”
“Really? I disagree. Injuries only make me more determined.” I circled the tree, flexing my charred wing and forcing it up even though the movement made me nauseous. I kept myself low to the ground again, making myself a harder target to hit as I listened carefully. “I’ve lived with bullies my entire life. You’re no exception. I’ll deal with you just like I dealt with them.”
“Big words for a little girl.”
“I could say the same for you. Big words for a little boy. Only little boys hide.”
His snarl resonated through the air. It lasted long enough that it gave me a hint of his whereabouts, and a burst of satisfaction hummed through me that my taunt had hit its mark.There.
I spun on a burst of my warrior affinity and flung out my fire element. Fire arced through the air and reached the area I suspected he had hidden before I could blink.
A cry of pain erupted, and then the warlock appeared before me, whatever magic he’d been using to cloak himself gone as my fire raged around him. I increased its temperature, trapping him within a dome of flames while letting it lick his mottled gray skin. My breaths came faster when the warlock shot spells and curses at my flames, but I quickly erected a solid Shield of air outside of my fire, trapping him completely within, but each of his hits on my Shield made me shudder. Mother, he was strong.
The warlock bellowed in fury just as the prince, the hunter, and all four of his guards reached me.
Panting, they ground to a stop.
Wildness filled Norivun’s eyes. “Your wing!” His aura pounded into me, and then his lip curled as he shot the warlock a murderous glare.
“I know.” My rush of excitement from ensnaring the warlock dimmed as pain radiated along my wing anew. “I don’t know if a healer will be able to save it or not.”
“I saw you fall. I saw him hit you.” The prince’s fists pumped, and his jaw muscle flexed. “I’m going tokillhim.”
“Nori.” I grabbed his arm. “No. We need him alive and talking. Remember?”
“Butyou’re hurt.”
“Yes, but we don’t have time for that right now, and it’s not a lethal blow. I’ll get to a healer when we’re done. Until then, we need to finish here.” I locked down the agony at what had happened to my wing. I had no idea if a gifted healer could repair so much burned flesh or not, but with any luck, Murl or someone the SF knew would be able to help me when we finished. But until then, securing proof of what the king had done took precedence.
“Please,” I added quietly when Norivun’s expression remained torn. “I’m asking you to put our continent first right now. I’ll be okay.”
His jaw clenched tightly. A few moments passed as the muscles worked, but he finally gave a curt nod. “All right.”
In a blink, the hunter shifted back into his human form. He was naked, but he didn’t seem to care as he casually pulled on a pair of pants that he’d strapped to his leg. He must have done it before shifting while I’d been flying away. Following that, the Fire Wolf tried to push his hands through my Shield, but my air stopped him.
“Do you mind?” he asked casually.
I cocked my head but did as he asked, releasing my solid air Shield only.
“Thanks,” the hunter replied just before he shot his arms through my flames and around the warlock, not even flinching under my fire.
I gaped.
The Fire Wolf whipped out a pair of blazinghandcuffs from his back pocket and cuffed the warlock’s wrists behind his back. Blue light blazed from the restraints.
Since Norivun had released us from his illusion masks during the fight, I nudged his attention toward the looking glass in his cloak. “Shall we use that?”
A hint of sanity rolled across Norivun’s features even though he kept looking at my ruined wing. He took another deep breath, his chest heaving, before he extracted the looking glass from his cloak.
“If you don’t release these flames soon, you’re going to torch him,” the hunter called casually.
The Fire Wolf’s pragmatic reminder had me abruptly releasing my fire elemental affinity as it struck me anew that the hunter was resistant to my flames. He’d also been immune to Norivun’s dragon fire, and nobody was immune to that.What is he?Apparently more than just a werewolf.
The hunter leaned down and sniffed while the warlock hissed in pain. “Fuck, you stink,” the hunter said quietly. “Has anyone ever told you that?”
The hideous warlock’s lips peeled back, and he snarled in the hunter’s face. Not deterred, the Fire Wolf shoved him forward until the warlock was on his knees in the snow.
The hunter glanced through the trees, then scented the breeze. “Nobody’s around for miles. I figure if you want to do an interrogation, this place is as good as any.”
