Blue eased up beside me. “Do you think you can do it?”
“Sure. Piece of cake.”
“Is that so?” She watched Viktor’s wolf at one of the terrace openings. “If you screw this up, we’re toast. Literally.”
“I know. But this isn’t something I can practice.” I attempted to tap into the power within me—to feel it. To understand how it moved. “Bring him over here. I want everyone to be next to me.”
Christian gripped Sparrow by the back of his collar and dragged him across the dirty snow.
“Is that a good idea?” Gem asked, trotting over. “What if you blow up? Maybe we should stand way over there.”
I found a good spot and stared at the grandeur of it all from the center. “I don’t want anyone close to the wall—stay in the center. If I accidentally cause it to close in on us or expand, I need time to correct that.”
Claude slowly looked straight up. “It might fall right down on top of us.”
Blue shuddered. “Don’t say that.”
Christian let go of Sparrow. “At least it’ll be a quick death. There’s always a bright side.”
While Gem yelled at Wyatt to back away, I stared at my fingertips, remembering what Sparrow had said about pulling the energy from the top and stripping it down. He had done something similar when building the wall, only his arms moved in reverse. But there was more involved than just waving my arms like a magician.
Christian gripped my shoulders. “You want him to answer anything else?”
“If I had to explain to someone how to steal a Mage’s immortality, I’d never be able to do it except in the simplest terms. Reaching in and pulling the cork. In this case, I have to pull the light into me and— Actually, ask him if I channel the light back into me or just scatter it.”
Without missing a beat, Christian straddled Sparrow and charmed him once more. After Christian asked the question, Sparrow replied, “Drinking it up will kill you.”
“Glad I asked,” I muttered.
Christian took hold of me and gave me a fervent gaze. It was as if in that moment, he could see right into my soul. When our lips met, we lived a lifetime in that kiss. His lips were a memory of every moment we’d shared, his warm embrace proof of his convictions. Could I do this? He had so much faith in me—more than anyone. If these were our last moments together, I wanted him to know that I never wavered. That I did everything I could.
When he stepped away, the others joined him and watched with fearful eyes. My heart raced. I studied the outline of the electric dome around the courtyard and engraved it in my mind. After a deep breath, I reached up with both hands, mimicking what I did when stealing light from another Mage. Only this time I had to open the channels all the way. Once I did, a painful humming filled my ears. Overhead, a blue thread of light detached from the wall and reached for me.
I’m doing this too slowly.
As it fell within reach, I gripped that energy and pretended I was unraveling a dress with a hard yank of a loose thread.
I swung my arms downward, commanding the force to yield as I simultaneously let go of the particle in my grip. It snapped outward like a whip and severed a tree like a hot knife through butter. When it flipped back in our direction, we hit the ground. The sparkling blue walls around us fell like the last moments of a summer rain. The wild thread of light ripped through an archway and cut across the yard before cycling out.
When the dome vanished, the frosty outside air hit us like an arctic wave. We could have never survived indefinitely in that bubble—not with a limited air supply. Once again, the sound of baying wolves and shouts cascaded over the walls and into the courtyard like a waterfall of violence.
“Amateur,” Sparrow snarled, nailing me with a sharp gaze. “You don’t deserve that power.” With alarming speed, he reached beneath him and speared me with a dagger.
The blade sliced through my shoulder, and I fell. No wonder he’d been so submissive. He was hoping we wouldn’t notice him swiping the dagger from the ground. A knife wasn’t enough to kill me, and he knew it. This was the equivalent of a child throwing a tantrum.
Christian pulled the blade out and stalked toward Sparrow.
“Christian, no!” I scrambled to my feet when it registered that Sparrow was baiting us to kill him. “Don’t do it! We need him!”
Christian dropped to his knees and pinned Sparrow’s head to the ground.
Sparrow scowled and clenched his fists. “What are you waiting for, coward? Finish it.”
Sparrow wanted to die. In fact, he was counting on it. This wasn’t the first time I’d seen a Mage give up after I’d stolen his immortality, but I’d taken something much more precious from Sparrow—his power. I knew it in my bones because I was drunk with that power. I had just torn down a fucking energy wall, and it felt unbelievable.
Christian pierced Sparrow’s neck, creating a rivulet of blood. With lightning speed, I gripped his arm.
“Don’t do it,” I whispered in his ear. “Hewantsto die so he doesn’t have to give us the answers. He wants to die so he doesn’t have to suffer in his mortal skin. Let him suffer.”
