“That remains to be seen,” Lucenna replied. Her manner wasn’t that of a gracious host, but she didn’t care. Their presence agitated her Essence. It hovered under her skin, instinctively ready to attack should she need to.
“Those crystals.” Lord Norrlen glanced above him. “They have many uses, I imagine. One being a truth indicator. Have they notified you we speak lies?”
She didn’t reply, both of them knowing the crystals had done nothing but provide light so far. Even so, she would trust no one but Lucien.
But … this lot held their own against Elites. Lucenna pursed her mouth as she studied them with new consideration. Perhaps they could be useful. She’d been headed to the fjord before all this. It would require more hands to get those grindylow scales safely.
“We were on our way to The Port of Azure when we heard your battle with the mages,” Dyna said, glancing at Lucenna’s bruised wrists she’d been absentmindedly rubbing.
Both were tender, her skin mottled from the enchanted bindings that Ignatius used to pin her. He was a gifted mage of the Sun Guild, who quickly worked his way into the Archmage’s Royal Guard before becoming an Elite Enforcer. He wanted what every mage did. Power. She tentatively touched the tender bruises on her neck, and something cold sunk through her.
Lucenna lowered her head, her long hair curtaining her view of the others. She took several shallow breaths, trying to control the Essence heating in her veins. “I ask that you tell me what happened on that field,” she murmured. “Exactly as you saw it.”
They took turns speaking of the battle. When Rawn described her losing the fight, his expression tightened with sympathy. His tone became soft and careful as he described Ignatius laying on top of her. Lucenna’s head rushed with a noise like screaming wind, and Lord Norrlen’s voice faded beneath it in a dull hum. Ignatius’s face marred her memory, and she could feel his hands on her body. He’d laughed in her face, enjoying her terror.“I have come far for you, Lucenna. Before I take you back, I seek to transcend.”
Ignatius had grabbed her throat, and power peeled from her as he siphoned it away. Her chest heaved with a churning horror.No.
Lucenna searched inside and found a collapsed Essence Channel where he had stolen some of her magic. Stolen a piece of her. The loss ripped through her heart. From the tired depths of her body, magic flared to life and thrashed inside of her, ready to combust. She should calm herself before she attracted more Enforcers, but purple coils of electricity crackled around her body as she bent under its pressure.
She’d spent her life running from men as she ought to protect the one thing that was hers. Yet in the end, a mage held her down, took away her strength, and consumed her power for himself simply because he could. The violation coated every part of her, a degradation she couldn’t see but keenly felt. He’d taken a part of her, and she could never recover it again.
A scream of rage tore out of her, and Essence burst free. Purple shot out, rushing across the ground like thunder clouds. A vortex of a raging whirlwind and lightning spiraled around her. Her hair whipped into her face as books, scrolls, and anything not anchored in place became a projectile.
Someone shouted at her to calm down, but she couldn’t. Uncontrollable purple mist poured out of her, feeding on her pain. Rampant magic howled through the tent, threatening to tear it into the sky and take them all with it.
Chapter 8
Zev
Violent streams of electricity seared the air, burning Zev’s skin. He shoved Dyna into Cassiel, and the prince shielded her with his body and wings. Leaping to his feet, Zev and Rawn made a wall in front of them, bracing against the raging wind. God of Urn. The sorceress would kill them all. Her eyes glowed vivid purple, light encasing her entire being. The storm of her power filled the air, bearing against them. Lightning struck and thunder boomed. Electricity bouncedoff the canvas like heated oil on water.
“You must calm yourself!” Rawn said above the magical storm. “Rein in your power!”
Lucenna gripped her head, squeezing her glowing eyes shut. The fierce sorceress Zev had seen in the field now folded into herself as if something had torn inside. He knew what that was like. Feeling so broken and afraid, you lost all form of control.
“Lucenna!” Dyna called out past Cassiel’s arms. Determination rose on her face. “Lucenna, it’s all right!”
“Stay here!” Cassiel held on to her when she attempted to wiggle out from him.
She scowled and rammed her knee into him. He jerked back with a grunt, releasing her.
“No, Dyna!” Zev lunged to grab her, but she ducked under him faster than he expected.
She ran towards the magical tempest, tackling Lucenna in an embrace. They fell in a heap, and the swath of purple vanished. Everything caught in the wind crashed to the ground as the tent went still. Soup dripped off the tent walls. The cauldron tossed over a pile of books. Zev breathed heavily where he crouched, his wolf ready to burst forth.
He heard nothing but the beating of racing hearts in the tent and the gentle patteringof rain outside. Slowly, he retracted his claws from the ground, and his fur receded into his arms. He inhaled deeply to calm his wolf, inadvertently breathing in more of Lucenna’s scent. It was one hundred times more concentrated in this enclosed space than it had been in Corron, nearly overpowering everyone else’s. She smelled of wild magic, like lightning cutting through the air. Beneath it were the traces of something else he hadn’t noticed at their first meeting.
“Nothing happened,” Dyna spoke faintly in Lucenna’s ear, but not much could be hidden from Zev’s hearing. “Lord Norrlen stopped the mage in time.”
Lucenna covered her face, shuddering as she wept. Tears leaked through her fingers and trailed down her temples. “He took from me … he took some of my magic…”
Dyna stilled and gave Zev a pained look. The mage. His hands were glowing when he grabbed Lucenna’s throat.
He’dsiphonedher.
They had assumed he intended something else, but this was no less foul. There was no telling how much the mage had stolen from Lucenna before Rawn put an arrow through his neck. Zev balled his fists, wishing he’d been the one to kill him. He couldn’t imagine all that she’d endured as a refugee. Then for this to happen to her was simply unfair. When he’d seen her on that field, fighting with all her might for the freedom those mages intended to steal, he hadn’t thought twice about defending her.
Admit it, you enjoyed the kill,the Madness hissed.Their screams. The sweet crunch of their bones. The smell of their blood, so ripe and warm.
