“Go!” I shout. “All of you!”
Reisha’s determined face fills my field of view. Like Jordan, she is bloody, her blond hair streaked dark red. “We won’t leave you.”
“Priscilla wants to hurt me by killing you. She will target you until you are all dead and then my heart will break.” I draw breath, trying to contain my emotions. “She is mine to fight.”
Reisha begins to argue, glancing at the rest of the Storm Command. That’s when I see the bodies lying at the side of the platform. Five of my ladies have already fallen. Pain shoots through my heart.My ladies… my friends…
“She attacked us while you were gone,” Jordan says, quietly standing beside Reisha.
“Jordan. No more. Please.”
She nods, taking Reisha’s arm when it looks like the other female is going to persist. “We will go to safety now. But we will join the Outliers. If the elves break through, we will defend Erador to our dying breath.”
I breathe out my relief. Knowing they are safe for now is all I need.
“You too,” I say to the gargoyles and I’m relieved when they don’t argue with me. Sebastian joins them as they race after my Storm Command, forming an extra barrier of protection around my ladies. Elyria and Jasper are the last to leave.
Elyria hugs me suddenly, whispering. “Don’t forget what I told you.”
She told me I would have to kill Grayson. I can’t forget it.
Jasper and Elyria follow after the Storm Command, deftly navigating the rocks and disappearing down the safe side of the mountain.
I check Baelen in the distance. Now that my Storm Command is gone, he’s moving in my direction, drawing the fight with Elwyn toward me.Good.The only Elven Commander I don’t have a location for right now is Osian Valor, but I’ll have to focus on one at a time.
My tornado breaks and Priscilla drops to the cliff top. Her hands fly out and a rope of light whips around my waist, yanking me closer to her.Does she really think that’s a good idea?
The rope tightens, winding around and around me as she circles like a panther. I let her think she has imprisoned me for now. It’s better if she underestimates me.
She says, “It’s time you and I had a chat.”
I take advantage of her arrogance to assess how much power she has left. All I need to know is how much it will take to end her.
She says, “I noticed that your spellcaster friend is alive after all.”
I freeze a little but force myself to relax. She means Elise. They dumped Elise’s body in a shallow ditch after they thought she was dead. And then Grayson came to tell me about it.
Priscilla smiles, tilting her head, pausing. “I thought it would be too cruel, but Grayson was determined to figure out what would make you cry. It turned out that killing your friend—or at least telling you about it—was enough to turn you into a blubbering mess…”
She’s trying to make me believe that it was all Grayson’s fault. I narrow my eyes, but don’t respond.
She sidles up to me. “You’re very quiet Marbella.”
“Because every word you speak tells me how insecure you are. I know Grayson had nothing to do with Elise’s treatment.”
An angry edge enters her voice. “Okay, fine. Grayson didn’t know about it.” She shrugs. “You can’t blame me for trying to mess with you. I hate the way he looks at you. And you… the way you look at him.” Her voice turns into a sneaky whisper as she runs her finger across my shoulder. “I wonder if Baelen Rath knows what happened in Grayson’s bedroom night after night…”
Okay, that’s it.
I break the rope and grab her arms. She screams, shock shooting across her face as she tries to leap away from me, struggling against my strength, releasing a shot of power into me. Her eyes widen when I don’t flinch, let alone release her.
“You thought that would hurt me.” My power builds, glowing and sizzling from my headpiece all the way down my arms…
Sudden terror fills her eyes. She opens her mouth to scream again.
Before I can release the killing strike, a voice shouts, “You’d better not do that.”
I spin to find Osian Valor riding a griffin that touches down on the other side of the cliff. The beast paws the stone, its beak and claws dripping with blood. Osian is splattered with gore that chills me to the core. He reaches behind him and drags someone off the griffin’s back… a female whose wings flop at her sides, her hair spilling around her face, her body limp. I shove Priscilla away from me, fear spiking every nerve in my body.
