Not again. Never fucking trapped again—
Hands, so many hands on him, tearing at his clothes—he would kill them—kill them all!
An unmitigated roar of fury tore free, the heat around him ramping.Crackling flames shot out, riding the walls, filling the arena like in a tornado. Voices rose in panic.
“Fuck! Do something!” someone bellowed in the distance.
Streams of ice swirled around him—
No, no, no—a trap!Týr fought harder. A giant fist crashed into his jaw like a sledgehammer. He fell and terrifying darkness stole over him…
* * *
Kira leaned back in the armchair in her castle bedroom, unable to focus on the movie. No matter how hard she tried to shut her thoughts off, Týr’s taunt after she’d taken his sweets rolled inside her skull like a relentless drumroll, even hours later.
You’ll pay. And you can be sure I’ll take every last one back…And that stare.
Ugh! She bit off an exasperated growl. Surely, this must be some new way he’d found to torture her when he wasn’t around. She couldn’t afford to let him get to her.
Kira flexed her tingling fingers. She had too much to worry about with her ability suddenly going haywire—changing colors of candies now? Usually, she could apply her talent to herself. And then there was Tomas.
Echo had been curious as to why Týr had come after her—as if her friend would missthatanomaly.
To make my life miserable!Yup, those words had shot out before she could think, then she’d hastily tacked on that she’d asked Hedori to bring her back to the castle instead of waiting for him. At least, it wasn’t a total lie.
She’d then told Echo everything regarding why she hadn’t been around much in recent weeks. About finding Tomas, and his crush on her. Now, he was out there all alone, again.
Kira understood what it felt like to be an orphan. The emptiness, the loneliness she endured growing up after she’d lost her parents in a plane crash. At least she’d had her grandmother. Though she’d made friends easily, she hadn’t been able to form the deep bonds of friendship with any of them. Until Echo.
Her attention slipped to her best friend, who sat on the opposite couch, frowning at the aged, leather-bound book on her lap, her fingers absently tugging at her emo-styled short hair as she read whatever text her tutor, Lore, had given her to study.
Echo had changed so much from the withdrawn, skinny girl she’d once been, but in her, Kira had found the friend, the sister she’d always wanted. Not because they were both a fusion of mixed ethnicities, or even because they looked alike. No, it was something within them, a kindred spirit that cemented their bond. And the fact that they were both a little psychic, even if Echo had turned out to be so much more, just bound them tighter.
“I’m sure Týr will find him, Ki,” Echo said softly, looking up, her over-long bangs falling into her striking mismatched eyes. “The Guardians keep their promises.”
“I know.” She sighed. “But Tomas thinks I lied to him.”
“Hey…” Echo got up and dropped to her knees in front of Kira. She grasped her cold hands, her expression warming with compassion. “Youhelped me. Loved me all those years ago in spite of how distant or reticent I was. I felt it the moment I stepped into your house for the first time—your warmth. I will never forget it, and neither will Tomas. He’ll realize soon enough that you care about him.”
“You don’t understand,” Kira burst out. “This is different. He saw…” Heat rushed across her cheeks, recalling what had happened in the alley.
“Saw what?” Echo’s eyebrow arched. “From the way you’re blushing, I’m really,reallycurious.”
“I’m not blushing, just frustrated. The man’s utterly impossible… Ugh!”
A grin started. “Man, huh?”
Snorting, Kira pushed her friend.
Echo landed on her backside, laughter spilling free. “C’mon. C’mon, don’t leave me in the dark!” She drew up her knees and wrapped her arms around her jeans-clad legs as if settling in for story hour. “Who is he? Someone you met at the bar? It’s been a while since you dated.”
Darn. Kira rubbed her face. “I was searching for Tomas at his old hideouts…” She filled her friend in about coming across a demon hauling away a homeless child and the ensuing fight.
“What?” Echo gasped. “You could have gotten hurt!”
“Well, I did, a little… Nothing serious,” she hastily added when Echo’s mismatched eyes widened in distress. “Anyway, more demons appeared. We were hightailing it for safety when the Guardians showed up. I crashed into one. He smelled the blood and yelled at me before licking my wound better—”
“Who?” Echo squealed, jumping up with a little too much excitement, her concern apparently stomped into oblivion. “Aethan did the same to me when I first got hurt—on my lip.”
