She lunged at me, her expression unhinged. Ignoring the stabbing pain, I pulled the dagger from my shoulder and dodged the dark mage’s attack. Gripping the dagger tightly, I jammed it into her lower back, right in the location of her kidney. She screeched, but I didn’t slow, the power and bloodlust rising in me.
Yanking the dagger out, I twisted her and turned her around, then pierced her chest. Using my other hand, I forced the blade in farther, bringing her to the ground and pinning her between my legs. I let go of the dagger, placing my hands on either side of her head, and let the flames roar.
There were only two ways to kill a dark mage. Decapitation or setting it ablaze.
The ear-piercing screeches of the dark mage below me faded as another guttural roar took its place. I glanced behind me just as my creature turned to ash, the black-cloaked mage standing in its place. Movement toward Viv caught my eye as the other dark mage moved toward her in a jerky motion. They pulled a knife, reaching it high in the air, aimed at her chest.
“No!” I screamed and pulled the dagger from the dark mage below me, and using magic, sent the knife toward the dark mage in the brown cloak. It struck their back before they could finish their attack. If they’d been human, the strike would’ve killed them in seconds.
Vivian cried out though the knife never reached her. I was about to run to her when the hood of the brown cloak fell, revealing a beautiful floral crown set upon short red hair.April.Tears ran down my sister’s face.
April fell to her knees, the knife sticking from her back. I stood frozen… horrified… as David passed me and knelt over the dark mage behind me, I imagine making sure she was truly dead. I assessed the other dark mage, who stood unmoving.
“Dear Enid, your death is of your own betrayal.” David’s voice was gentle yet stern. “You took more than what you were capable of, despite my assertions.”
Who in the dark magic wasEnid?
I made my way toward Vivian in a daze. Blood flowed from my shoulder wound, and I wondered whether the combination of blood loss, fatigue from fighting, and the shock of what I had just done had caused my ears to imagine his words.
I killed April.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Selene
Icarefullywatchedtheotherdark mage as I used magic to burn away the ties holding Vivian. She was strong, and I wondered why she hadn’t used her own magic to free herself. But I felt dark magic disengaging, like a spell had been broken. The last of her bindings fell and she dropped to her knees, making her way to April, who lay lifeless on the ground. Turning her partly over, Viv sobbed, her body shaking as her hands covered April’s wound even though she was already gone.
My chest tightened; the emotional pain was more consuming than the open, bleeding wound on my shoulder. I was the reason for Vivian’s pain. I had killed someone she loved. Yet, something else sickly and dark twisted inside me, growing like a dark vine full of power… power that felt invigorating.
I had killed an innocent.
But I didn’t know it was April. I didn’t know they were being controlled by… my brain buffered, puzzles of the pieces tryingto fit together, but it was too focused on controlling the internal war inside. The guilt for taking April’s life was being consumed by the dark inferno raging inside me, the guilt withering away.
A black shadow streaked across the sky, casting a shadow. It barreled into David, tumbling into a mess of claws and fists, fire, and spewing magic. They broke apart, Chaos on all fours, hunched and hissing, and David, his eyes as black as Chaos’s scales as he casually stood with a dagger in hand—its blade silver and black.
“Selene.” A hand rested on my shoulder and I turned.
“Dad,” I whispered, horrified at his concerned and wary expression.
“It’ll be okay, Sal. You will be okay.” My dad’s gaze darted from me to Vivian and April as he held up a hand, beckoning me to take it. His usual calm mask cracked for a split second before darkening. “Stay away from my girls.”
“That’s unlikely as much as it is impossible.” A dark laugh came from behind me, and I whirled around to see David a few steps closer to me. Chaos stood off to the side, tracking his movements and ready to pounce. “I see you were able to free the dragon mutt. Smart—he is now your only chance.”
I took a few steps back, everything becoming too much, all-consuming.
“Take your clan and leave the academy.” My dad’s voice was hard, edged with a warning that would have made most mages duck their heads.
David hovered a hand over his palm and spoke an enchantment. Less than a second later, the clan mark appeared. My stomach soured.
“Not until I have my consort by my side.” His head tilted, his gaze drifting to me. An excited thrill shot up my spine at the same time I felt sick. “You’re powerful, Selene. A level five ether mage. I have waited one hundred thirty-two years for an ethermage who was worthy to stand by my side. To think there once was a time when I wanted to siphon your magic and dispose of you without knowing appalls me.”
“How?” That was the only word I managed to get out through clenched teeth. The books had said the leader of the clan had been a level four ether mage. He was old and powerful, and with dark magic, he may as well have been a five. Was that why he wanted me?
“How did I infiltrate the academy, or how am I over a century old and do not look like a decaying corpse?” His gaze shifted to the front door of the academy, where Priscilla helped support a blood-covered Ender down the steps. Aura ran out behind them, her white fur covered in dried dark red blood. Her little beady eyes landed on Vivian hovering over April, and she ran over to her.
“It comes with territory of being a dark ether mage.” David’s gaze locked back onto me when I didn’t answer. “The irony of having to consume ether magic and killing its host to grow our strength, yet being a dark ether mage is the ultimate power. Healing is a part of our capabilities. The more power we siphon, the younger we look. It takes a powerful magic from an ether mage to obtain this level of preservation.”
“My mom…” I whispered, realizing it had been her magic that made him like this.
