It crashed into her, knifing through her skin to return to her innerbeing.
An inhuman scream ripped fromAngelique.
Her entire body flared withpain.
Her magic raced through her veins with a blistering, burning sensation. Even the tears that fell from her eyes lit her skin on fire as if they were glowing hotcoals.
She had never felt such awful pain, and never before had she wanted to die sobadly.
It was more than she couldbear.
All around her, silvery magic clashed with green, colliding in an explosive conflict that shot magic into the sky and eclipsed the sun as the entire plateaushook.
Something cracked, offering Angelique a trickle of relief as she collapsed face-first on the unforgivingrock.
Her body spasmed with pain as the last of her magic returned, seeping under her nails and skin, leaving only awful, unendingpain.
Her ocean of magic roared, but it sounded distant and muffled. All Angelique was aware of was searing pain that made her limbs twitch and her entire bodyshudder.
Just as the mist of magic started to clear and the first few rays of sunlight pierced the fog, it was too much for Angelique to bear, and she fellunconscious.
Chapter 27
Evariste openeda portal and lunged through it without waiting for the others. Fear flooded his mind.She can’t be dead—she had to have made it through…that.He groaned, the hopelessness of the situation assaultinghim.
“Angelique!” He staggered when he landed in the new location, moving carefully as he blindly crossed thepeninsula.
The haze left by Angelique’s silvery magic and the crystal’s green powers permeated the air like smoke, but Evariste could at least see his feet and the path directly in front ofhim.
Why did she do this? Didn’t she know what it would do to her?He cursed under his breath when the nagging voice at the back of his mind reminded him that she wouldn’t care. Angelique was reckless in her blind and unnecessary desire to protect others fromherself.
Everything smelled sulfuric and perhaps a bit metallic. He squinted, moving faster when the peninsula opened up into the circular testingarea.
The dragon crest was starting to fade, but it glowed enough that Evariste could make out the one unlit area, smudged out by Angelique’sbody.
His heart stopped, and for one horrifying moment, his worldcollapsed.
“Evariste?” Clovicus called from somewhere behindhim.
Evariste threw himself to his knees next to Angelique and carefully rolled her on to herside.
She looked terrible. Blood dripped from her nose, her skin was unnaturally flushed, and her forehead was crusted with dried sweat. But she wasbreathing.
She’salive!
He almost sagged withrelief.
Her magic had done a number on her when she had wrestled it free. More correctly, fighting with the ancient—untamable—magic in the green crystals had nearly killed her. But her breath was strong, and her heartbeatsteady.
His hand shook as he swiftly channeled and twisted his magic, forging a powerful healing spell. He applied it to Angelique the second he could, trying to provide relief to her shocked and woundedbody.
The magic in the air continued to settle, but the sun was able to reach deeper, making it easier tosee.
Clovicus staggered into the testing circle. “Did she makeit?”
“Yes.” Evariste winced when he shifted Angelique slightly and saw a rock dig into her cheek. Keeping the healing spell applied with his right hand, he carefully maneuvered Angelique, scooping her off the ground and tilting her so she leaned against hischest.
You little idiot, he thought as he clutched her, pushing as much as he dared to into the healing magic.I am going to wallop you with an ethics book when you wakeup!
