Somethingwas angry.
“Lorant?” I whirled around.
He still stood in the middle of the room, peering around withevery muscle in his body coiled tight. The scar on his face seemed fiercer in the candlelight, a mask carved from gloom and warning. His eyes darted beyond me, scanning the corners of the room with a sharpness that made needles prick across my skin.
The lights guttered, quivering as if a great breath had swept through the room. But I felt no breeze. Things slid along the edges of the ceiling like living creatures, shivering and pooling together, darkening with every beat of my heart.
“Enough!” Lorant lashed out, rushing toward me.
The shadows surged faster, rippling across the tops of the walls like liquid ink. Frosty, cloying tendrils pressing down on my senses, trying to slither into my mind and seize control.
Something thick charged through the room, making my scalp burn. My breath caught, and I reached for power, summoning a single flicker of lightning on my fingertip. But instead of the satisfying crackle of energy snapping, waiting, my magic surged from the tip. It wavered, spiraling out of control. Whatever was inside the room with us latched onto it, twisting my magic into something wild before striking it back at me.
The bolt whipped through the air, searing toward my throat.
“Reyla,” Lorant barked, latching onto me and taking me to the floor. He rolled, coming up to stand over me, facing the threat. Power surged around him, and he snapped it out with one hand. The impact sent shockwaves through the room.
While the wind beat around us, I leaped to my feet, my blades hot in my hands.
Another torrent wrenched through the room, making my hair whip, smacking it against my face.
Then the wind extinguished. My hair whooshed down to land on my shoulders. Lorant lowered his hands to his sides.
“What the fuck was that?” I asked.
He turned and looked me over. “Were you hurt?”
I looked down as if I’d find slashes all over my body, but nothing had touched me. He’d stood in front of me to take whatever blow might be coming. “I'm fine. What was that?”
He gave a little jerk of his head and made a slicing motion across his throat.
“The wizard?”
He blinked.
“Why are they doing this to us?” I snapped.
One eyebrow lifted. “Us?”
Leave it to him to pluck that out of my question. “You. Him. You know what I mean.”
“Yes. I do,” he said, his usual cockiness restored. “Weare facing this together.”
Self-preservation confirmed he was right, but there was more inside me than my need to survive.
“Areyoualright?” I asked him.
“I’m unharmed.” His lips quirked up on one side. “Perhaps you’ve decided to stay here with me instead of leaving?”
“I’m out the door already.”
“A pity.”
I sighed. “I haven’t decided what I’m going to do about you. Him.” There was no hiding the creak in my voice. “I’ll let you know when I figure that out.”
As I left, he didn’t speak, though I was sure we were thinking the same thing.
There wasn’t much time.
