She tries to dig in her heels, but the crystal surface is smooth and there’s nothing to latch on to. As the combined force of our energy drives her backward, golden light grows within her palms again, but it’s weaker this time.
That’s when Roman steps forward. I gasp at his appearance, and even Esta seems to freeze, her power jumping within her hands as if she got a fright.
Roman’s skin is now completely dark amethyst, his hair pure black, and his fingernails have sharpened to claws. A spiral of runes encircles his body, each rune appearing connected, like a string of script that looks like dancing prose. While his left hand remains free, he holds the weapon tightly in his right.
“Esta,” he says, shaking his head as he admonishes her. “You should have remembered what I’m capable of. Even your father was wary of my power.”
She takes a step back, and it makes me wonder if Roman has ever spoken a harsh word to her. When I first met Esta, she ran toward Roman, begging for his help. It was all an act, as it turns out. But he didn’t treat her with anything other than respect.
“You can’t interfere!” she shrieks. “You promised my father you would never meddle with matters of the crown!”
“My promise was to your father,” Roman says, a low rumble. “Not to a traitor like yourself.”
When Esta betrayed her father, she betrayed Roman, too.
And then when she hurt me…
The way he looks at her now makes me shiver with apprehension.
She swallows visibly, but her voice grows more confident again, as if she’s reminding herself. “You can’t hurt me.”
Roman’s lips rise into a cold smile. “Child, you overestimate your power. I may not be able to permanently end you—yet—but I can cause you more pain than you’ve ever imagined.”
With a click of his fingers, a final rune rises from his left wrist.
This one is a deep mahogany red. It swirls like blood in the air and crackles like the lit end of a stick of dynamite.
He releases it with a flick of his hand. It catches the end of the prose spiraling around his muscled body, and the entire string peels off from around him. The moment his power releases, his facial features darken even further, his eyes turning to black orbs, but now they’re lit with a crimson flame.
Esta’s eyes are wide. Her hands are visibly shaking, but she plants her feet and grits her teeth, bracing for Roman’s attack.
Roman’s runes pour toward her so fast that they’re like a snake striking, each rune separating from the string at the last moment and transforming into daggers.
Esta screams, throws out her hands, and blasts her power at the oncoming blades.
The golden wash of her soul light collides with the runes.
To my relief, the runes absorb her power so that it dissipates in the air, completely harmless.
The rune daggers fly onward, and even though Esta tries to jump out of their path, they adjust their trajectory and follow her.
She shrieks as the daggers impale her chest, arms, and thighs before she drops to her knees on the crystal bridge. Pain rinses her face pale. She gasps for air, screaming again, trying to take hold of the dagger in her heart and pull it out, but her hands slip on its hilt.
I’m frozen where I stand, uncertain about what Roman’s runes are about to do. She deserves all the pain in the world for what she has done, for all the deaths she’s caused, but it won’t help the gates to open.
In the next instant, he roars, “Ahlek!”
It’s the call for my wolves to attack.
I spin as they speed through the gaps between us and charge at Esta, running so fast that their bodies are mere blurs of darkness. Another shadow passes across me at the same time, and Taniya soars through the air, nearly as fast as my wolves, her talons extended toward Esta’s head.
It all happens so fast that I’m still catching my breath when Ace and Temple latch on to Esta’s shoulders, Blitz and Luca attack her legs, and Taniya grabs her head.
With a single, coordinated movement, Roman separates his hands.
The daggers rip outward.
Teeth, talons, and blades do their work and Esta’s scream cuts short. Within a heartbeat, her body is torn apart, a violent death that leaves her in pieces.
