“She would say,” he managed to hiss out, “aspurnum al jupari, you murdering bastard.”
And the air around them erupted.
45
Elyse
It was an explosion like Elyse had never experienced before.
There was no fire, no shrapnel or debris. Just a wave of magic that made her knees buckle. Her heart was shoved against her ribcage, her brain slamming into her skull. She clutched the nearest railing as her breath seemed to burn inside her chest.
She squinted through the settling dust to see what had happened. It only took a moment to discern. Every face in the stadium was turned toward the source. Even the Hellhounds had paused their violence to note the change in the atmosphere.
Three men were gathered at the very center of the arena floor. One of them was Lazarus. He clawed at his head with both hands, like he was trying to rip something out of his skull. Through the ringing in her ears, Elyse could barely make out his screams.
The other two men were Killian and Manny. Only, Manny lay terrifyingly still, and Killian was trying to rouse him.
Elyse felt a wave of pride, even through her fear. They’d activated the spell, and it had worked—perhaps even better than they’d expected. But at what cost?
Calling on her magic, Elyse vanished and reappeared near Killian. He was dragging Manny’s body through the dirt, trying to pull him across the invisible barrier and away from Lazarus. Manny’s eyes were closed, his body limp and heavy in Killian’s hands. But Elyse could see the slow rise and fall of his chest, signaling life. Killian’s gaze seemed locked there as well, as if his own life depended on Manny’s next breath.
She stepped toward them, slowly at first, as she was unaware of the magic barrier’s precise location. When she felt no ripple of magic, she dropped to her knees and grasped onto Manny’s shirt. “I’ve got him,” she told Killian. She recalled her promise to Sera as she yanked Manny into the void.
They reappeared in a room lit only by candles. The screams were quieter here, muffled by distance and walls. A mop of curly, auburn hair came into Elyse’s vision as Corin knelt on the other side of Manny.
“I—I don’t know what’s wrong with him,” Elyse whispered. The words seared her tongue. They felt like a confession, a wrongdoing. An admission of failure.
“Let me have a look at him,” Corin said with soft authority. She gently lifted Elyse’s hand off Manny, then began feeling around his chest and neck.
“We’ll take care of him,” Nina assured Elyse as she rushed to help. “You go take care of the bastard who did it.”
Elyse looked up at Nina. Her jaw was squared with determination, her eyes telling Elyse toget the fuck up and do what you do best.
Elyse nodded and rose to her feet. With one last look at Manny, she whirled herself back to the arena.
Chaos flooded Elyse’s senses as soon as her feet hit the dirt floor. It took a second to orient herself amidst the anarchy.
Killian was circling Lazarus, skirting him with a wide berth. His brows formed a hard line that hung low over his eyes. He shoved his hands forward again and again, pounding spells straight at Lazarus.
Lazarus was no longer hunched over in pain. He stood tall, pivoting with Killian as the two men stalked each other. His shield was up, fending off Killian’s attacks. He only dropped it for mere fractions of a second to counter.
Elyse leapt to the far side of the circle and began pummeling Lazarus with her own spells. She aimed high, low, left, right—anywhere that might catch Lazarus off guard. He was slower than usual. His shield lagged the tiniest bit, but it was still fast enough to block each of their attacks. Elyse kept her focus mostly on Lazarus, but from the corner of her vision, she could see Killian. His stubbled jaw was set as he poured every bit of anger into his magic.
Each of Lazarus’s spells hit the invisible barrier and spread outward, like a stone dropping into water, rippling out and fading away. Lazarus snarled with every thwarted attempt until he reared his head and let out an unearthly roar.
Finally, he gave up. He stood in the center of the hidden circle, his shield fully intact. He turned his head to face Elyse, peeringdown at her with his lip curled. He looked more rattled than Elyse had ever seen him. A lock of hair fell across his forehead, slipping between his mismatched eyes.
They were at a standstill. Lazarus would wait there as long as it took, never dropping his shield.
“Isn’t this the part where you try and convince me to take your side?” Elyse asked. It was a desperate attempt to stall, to keep him distracted as she thought of her next move.
Lazarus sneered at her. “Not anymore. You’ve become a nuisance, you and your friends. It will be more fun to see the misery on your faces when you realize you cannot defeat me.”
“Bold words from someone who’s hiding behind a shield,” Elyse hurled back at him.
That seemed to agitate him. “You’re doing the same, hiding behind your little wall,” he hissed at her. “Come and join me—or are you afraid of what I’ll do to you?”
“Fuck you,” she spat back at him. She shot off another spell, futile as it was. Lazarus only laughed as it ricocheted off his shield.
