It appeared they were almost equally matched, until Asher broke from the magic fight, taking two steps forward to slam his fist into Connor’s face.
Connor flew back across the room.
I rushed toward Asher, only to be hauled back by an invisible force. My back hit the wall behind us and I groaned. Asher’s gaze locked on me, and there was lethality in that one look. I barely recognized him as the same supe who had been sexily flirting with me at the party. This Asher was scary.
“I’ve got you, Maddi,” he rumbled. “I won’t let him touch you again.”
Asher’s scent, sun and light and fresh air, increased as his power started to fill the courtyard room. It was both palpable and visible. Blue and white wisps sent my hair flying as wind whipped around us. Connor was back on his feet, standing in front of me, his power still holding me to the wall. The immobility wasn’t freaking me out like it should have been though, because I was focused on Asher.
“Enough!”
The voice was female and unfamiliar. Straining to see who it was, I could barely move an inch, which had my fear finally kicking in. The heat in the center of my body expanded in response, and for once I pushed harder at it, needing to be at full strength.
“How is this possible?” Asher said, his voice dead of emotion. Which made me look closer at the woman. No emotion was usually when Asher was feeling things the strongest.
She stepped out of the shadows. The first thing I noticed was her black hair with a silvery sheen, and then when she turned her green eyes on me, I gasped.
The woman looked just like Asher. Did he have a sister?
“Nice to see you again, son,” she said, as emotionless as him.
Son?What in…? How in the fuck?
“There’s a lot you don’t understand,” she said. “I promise to tell you everything soon. But first we need to take Maddison to the Greek Islands. We need her help to bring our Atlantis back.”
Asher’s power increased, and the woman looked pained as she tried to push forward. “Son, you know this is the right thing,” she shouted. “We have no other option.”
“You’re not my mother.” Asher snarled, his voice lashing out like lightning, striking each of us in the room. “She died a long time ago. I don’t know how you’re mimicking her face, but you do not have me fooled.” His chest rumbled. “If you don’t want me to destroy this building and everyone in it, then Maddison will be returned, unharmed, to the Academy, and you will never involve her in any of your or the Arterians’ schemes again.”
His fake mother gasped, long and dramatic, and I could tell by her expression that she really was shocked. “How … how can you say that? You would damn us all to save her?”
I wanted to sob as Asher’s eyes caught mine. “I would,” he said. “You and everyone else.”
Connor, who was fighting his way through Asher’s power, reached the woman’s side. “Is there another way?” he asked.
She paused, a thoughtful look crossing her cold features. She was as beautiful as Asher, there was no denying it, but the fire that lived inside of him was missing from her.
She was cold and broken.
Could it be an imposter wearing her skin? That was kind of horrific to consider.
“There’s one other way, which Asher knows about.” She waved a hand at him. “I left him the letter, which he chose to ignore. He has ignored his destiny.”
Asher scoffed. “Most people would ignore a letter from their dead mother.”
She smirked; she knew she had him.
“Asher…” I managed to choke out. The hold was making it hard to speak. “Don’t. Please.”
His dark eyes met mine, and what I saw there scared me: resignation.
Pushing at my power, I struggled to get free, because I couldn’t let him do this. Whatever his evil fake mother wanted, I had to stop him.
But I couldn’t break the shield over my powers; it was too strong, and again, I was not enough.
A sob escaped me as Asher and I exchanged another long look. “I agree to your terms,” he said, never turning from me. Some of his power faded from the room.
“No!” I cried, my chest aching. I didn’t know what he’d agreed to, but I knew it was bad and he’d done it to save me.
