Thigh high leather boots rose up my legs, laced tightly.
He wouldn’t stay and help, but he gave me boots?
This was mad.
A fae? And tasks? He didn’t mean he was there that day, did he?
A loud crack jerked me from my thoughts.
“We have to get off the ice,” Blake said. “Now!”
He grabbed me around the waist and threw me over his shoulder, moving swiftly across the ice as it broke apart. It was melting rapidly, the bodies of the blood mages rising to the surface. The fireflies returned, and the ivy glowed as it swayed in the breeze, but amongst the blood and bodies, it wasn’t as enchanting as before.
Blake set me down, and I let out an unsteady breath.
“I want you to get out of here,” Blake said. “As far from the rift as possible.”
I shook my head.
“No way,” I said. “I’m not leaving the others. We have to warn them!”
“Anna,” Blake snapped, “You have no idea how lucky you are not to have been captured. Blood mages who take prisoners are not kind to them. You would be better off dead.”
“I’m not running away,” I said.
Blake's irises flashed like fierce storm clouds as lightning struck. He ripped his gaze from mine with a grunt.
“Don’t get killed.”
I opened my mouth to clap back but a bolt of lightning streaked so brightly through the sky that I had to shield my eyes.
“We have to hurry,” Blake said.
I ran, the thunder seeming to shake the earth as it rattled my bones. When we reached the forest's edge, smoke filled my lungs, and I saw an orange glow beyond the castle.
It was as unnatural as the layer of ash across the gardens. As we moved, Blake took my hand and guided me. I soon realized why.
Beneath the ash were bodies.
Blake didn’t stop. He pulled me along, refusing to let me stop. I couldn’t look away. There were so many. How did this happen? The face of an Initiate I took classes with stared up into the darkness, his hand outstretched and fingertips curling inward.
A silent piercing bolt of lightning struck near us as Blake jerked me toward him. The thunder that followed was immediate. It shook the ground beneath my feet, reverberating through my chest and down each limb. I shielded my eyes from the smoke, letting Blake pull me along with him, the shock still coursing through my body.
Then the downpour came.
Thousands of cold raindrops struck like bullets, drenching us. The steps to the ballroom’s balcony were slick. Dark spots were being rinsed away in the water as it gushed down the stairs. My stomach twisted in knots as my hand slipped from Blake’s.
So much blood.
It was hard to hear above the wind and downpour of the storm, but as we neared, screams and blasts were coming fromthe ballroom. There were many still inside, fighting cloaked mages. I was about to run in when Blake grabbed me around the waist, stopping me.
“We have to help them!” I yelled over the rain.
“Look!” he shouted.
I followed his gaze and saw it—a lone mage, cloaked and hooded, stood at the top of the grand stairway with his arms lifted high. His hands radiated with everi that burst from his hands toward the windows, connecting in sheer bolts of energy briefly. For a moment, nothing happened—then a fissure in the glass appeared. Then another, and another. It was spreading quickly like a spider’s web being woven by the wind.
CRACK.
