“Five years,” Angelique saidabruptly.
He squinted at her. “What?”
“You’ve had Evariste for five years. I’m going to get himback.”
The war mage scoffed as he forged another batch of daggers out of shadows. “You’re not in a position to say that.” He nodded at the soldiers, where black swords hovered directly abovethem.
Angelique raised her gaze and felt the moment her illusion that colored her eyes evaporated. “And I’m not going to let you escape,either.”
“Turning your back on those in need after all your high-and-mighty words?” he laughed. “It seems you’ve finallycracked.”
“No,” Angeliquesaid.
He finally met her steady gaze. The muscles at the corner of his mouth twitched, and he stood taller. “Haughty words from…” He trailed off as he tried to pull his weapons back, but they didn’tbudge.
Angelique felt her magic drift restlessly like fog as it held his swords and daggers anchored in the air. She tilted her head back and studied the war mage, her eyes at half-mast. “For Evariste,” she said, her voice just above a quietwhisper.
The war mage scoffed. “As if youcould—”
Angelique released her war magic, flooding the area with silver light. Its release stirred up a wind and pushed the treesback.
The shattered glass of the broken vial and the soldier’s weapons rose into the air. Angelique felt her magic surround every individual shadow weapon. The war mage’s angry magic spit black sparks that burned at hersenses.
A nudge to her powers made them slide tighter around the weapons. Then, like a dragon devouring its prey, it clamped down on the weapons, swallowing the foreignmagic.
Angelique smiled as she felt all the shadow weapons—from the polearms in the ground to the needles protruding from the shield she still had in place over the soldiers—fall under hercontrol.
Slowly, they floated higher and higher in the air, but Angelique’s magic wasn’t done. It skulked around the war mage, drawing closer and closer tohim.
He took a few staggering steps through the mud, his eyes wide with panic as he forged another saber from the shadows and pointed toAngelique.
The saber didn’t even get a chance to move. Angelique’s magic pounced on it, taking control so it floated with the otherweapons.
The way the world lookedchanged. Everything grew a silvery overtone, and she could feel so much more. In fact, she could even see his magic clustering at the palms of hishands.
She was also vaguely aware of her warmagic.
Freed, it invaded the forest, flowing outward and leaving Angelique at the epicenter. Soon, she could feel rusted weapons, branches with sharpened or pointed edges—anything and everything with a sharpened edge that had been left in theforest.
It wasenthralling.
“No!” the war mage shouted, drawing Angelique’s attention back to theclearing.
Angelique shifted her gaze to him, and all of his shadow weapons, the soldiers’ weapons, and everything under her control shifted to get a clear shot at the panicking blackmage.
Silvery strands of her raw war magic twined around him, slithering toward hishands.
He tried to create more shadow weapons, but before he could even finish making them, Angelique’s magic snatched them up, drawing them under hercontrol.
When he started to create a bow and arrow, her magic latched onto his hands—bright and unforgiving. As she watched, her magicdevouredhis. It didn’t overpower or push back…it floated over it, swallowing itwhole.
Angelique thoughtfully watched as he screamed, and her magic slowly crept up his body. His legs were stuck, trapped under the swamp of herpower.
His hands were clumsy as he fumbled with a pouch at his waist. Her stardust magic covered his fingers as he plucked a black gem from the pouch. He dropped it and shoutedsomething.
A portal sprang to life—this one was gold with creamy white marble. The blue fire inside it flickered before displaying a vision of goldendunes.
Baris.
