“Animabus suscitate et venite ad me.” His solar plexus filled with a warm pool of magic.
“What are you doing?” Ruelle glowered at him, taking a step. Her knuckles went white as she constricted her grip. The threads cut further into Finnian’s flesh.
“Animabus suscitate et venite ad me!” He chanted it louder.
Ruelle lifted her head towards the beings flooding in behind him. Souls of men, women, children, jungle cats, dogs, birds. Finnian recognized their energies. His magic never forgot the touch of a soul. Each one, he’d lulled back from the dead in his city.
Two came around him and stood on either side of his head. A woman with untamable curls and another with ginger locks, their sights set fearlessly on Ruelle.
Tears stung Finnian’s eyes as he said, “Help me. One last time.”
“Even in death,” Isla murmured without looking down at him.
Eleanor slapped her hand on her chest, over her heart. “Even in death.”
30
CHAOS
Cassian
Cassian frantically foughtagainst the chains constricting him to the fence, his heartbeat wildly surging in his chest.
She is going to kill him with what’s left of the blood.
He shouted through clenched teeth as he strained his muscles and pushed against the chains.
The battle razed over the rubble and embers of Finnian’s Grove.
It played out quickly.
The souls charged Ruelle.
Isla crouched at Finnian’s side and murmured an incantation. The thread bound around him set ablaze in bright green fire.
Ruelle secured the syringe around her waist with a thread and thrusted both of her arms out. Gilded webs sprung from her palms and entrapped several souls at once. She was a goddess seasoned in her divine power, ensnaring soul after soul, barely flinching.
Eleanor prepped her middle finger and thumb before striking a quick snap towards the enemy. Starlight purple sparks shot from her fingertips, nailing Ruelle on her shoulder. The force skidded the High Goddess back on her feet.
Ruelle twisted her head in Eleanor’s direction, her glare lethal.
Cassian’s attention shifted to the two souls appearing before him—young women who had once been citizens of Hollow City. Both rushed to unbind the chains from Cassian’s limbs.
“Ruelle!” Acacius roared from Cassian’s side. His mask had been cast aside during the harsh hit he took against the fence. The cords of his neck bulged, the muscles in his arms straining against his own set of chains.
Ruelle spared him a glance as she spun and swerved around Eleanor’s bright, explosive attacks zipping across the air.
Cassian’s pulse spiked as he eyed the souls working quickly to untangle him.
Ruelle threw out one of her arms in Acacius’s direction. A silk-like stitch traveled from her palm. The end coiled around Acacius’s chains and pulled. They released their grip and fell to a pile near his feet.
The two souls removed the last of the chains from Cassian’s legs.
He pushed off the fence with his sights set on Ruelle, but his shoulder collided into a sturdy form that matched his own strength.
“Cassius, stop this!” Acacius shouted.
The soles of Cassian’s feet dug into the terrain, solidifying his stance against his brother.
