So did Kerry.
Without hesitating, Finn lifted her into his arms. “Move back!” he roared.
The third protection spell was mere feet from where we stood. Close enough that I could see the triumphant expression on Rhiannon’s face as she and her creature attacked the shield with gusto.
Everyone backed away, heading for the house.
Except for me.
I stepped closer until the thin, invisible barrier was mere inches from my face. She mirrored my motions, but there was a smug smile playing on her lips. It ruined the beauty of her features. Most of her expressions did.
“You chose the wrong side, Macgrath,” she stated. Her head tilted to the side. “Or should I call you Alaunus,” she taunted.
Rage filled me now that I was faced with her. I wanted to slam my fist through the barrier and into her chest. I wanted to dig through tissue and bone until I held her heart in my hand. Then I would rip it from her body. Just as she had ripped the heart from mine.
Her smile only widened. “Did you think I wouldn’t feel it when you and the witch broke my curse?” She inched closer until I could see the cold fires in her dark eyes. “Oh, the rage you’re feeling. The hatred. My creature could have used that before we came here. There’s enough there to make him twice as powerful as Rhys.” She shuddered in obvious delight. “It’s delicious, you know. All that anger.”
I understood then why she was stronger. She was using the creature exactly as she had planned to use Rhys months ago—to feed her own power. He would suck the emotions, the very soul from people, and in turn, she would feed from him until she was glutted with magic.
“You will not win,” I whispered.
She laughed. “Of course I will. I will win because you’re weak. All of you. You aren’t willing to do what is necessary to take your place above these puny humans.”
It was my turn to smile, but I knew my eyes remained cold even as they glowed brighter with my anger. “It is you who is weak, Rhiannon. You’re like a child, destroying everything in your path because you could not have what you truly wanted.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and cocked a hip to the side. “Please enlighten me. What did I want?”
My eyes moved over her face and I knew that I was right in my calculations.
“Acceptance. Unconditional love. You assume that power will gain you those things, just as a child does. But it won’t. It will only breed more hate, more rage, and more unhappiness. It isn’t I who chose the wrong side, Rhiannon. It was you.”
She laughed, a harsh, grating sound, but her power faltered for a split second and I knew my words had pierced her.
“I will enjoy killing you,” she stated.
Her magic returned to full force against the ward. I could feel the spell cracking. It would only take her a few more moments to break through.
“I could say the same to you,” I growled at her. “I guess we’ll see who’s the strongest after all.”
Before she could reply, I traced away and back into the house. Nothing irritated Rhiannon more than someone else having the last word.
As soon as I was within the walls again, the power inside nearly brought me to my knees. I could feel the wind battering the windows and the doors. Ava’s power created the storm and it was building.
“She’ll be here soon,” I called over the howling wind.
Just as I spoke, the final ward crashed and there was a low boom from where I’d been standing moments before.
Ava lifted her gaze to mine and the breath left my body. Her eyes were pulsing and sparking as the petals of the flower in her hand did. Her hair flowed and lifted around her like a golden aura, shimmering with magic.
If I thought she looked like a goddess before, I was wrong. In this moment, she was power personified. The magic cloaked her, drifting in the air all around us. We were cocooned in her warmth, her magic, and her love.
“I’m ready,” she murmured. “Let’s meet the witch who would replace the Goddess and show her the true meaning of power.”
Without waiting for us, Ava walked out the front door and into the maelstrom of magic.
