My body trembles as I stare at the miscreant.
Destroy him!Enidwen shouts. Overwhelming heat pulses through me. It threatens to shatter me if I don’t release it.
My first blast of fire erupts at the man’s chest. His nasal screams fill the air as blood pours from his nose and fire eats through his tunic. The flames are immediately doused, smoke rising off his charred clothing. With a wave of my hand, black flames coil up his body. His screams are shriller, laced with unbearable pain.
What a beautiful sound, hmm?
A grin stretches across my face as Odgar and Valdis put space between themselves and my attacker. I strut toward the man, mesmerized by the shadowfire that neither burns nor blisters. His screams are endless—maybe he’ll scream himself to death. How long would that take?
Minutes?
Hours?
Days?
“Carys!” Odgar shouts, but I ignore him and all the people now gawking at us. Enidwen’s cackle reverberates in my head.
I narrow my eyes on the man as he sinks to his knees, hugging himself through the black blaze.
“Payback’s a bitch, isn’t it?” I ask him in a low tone.
“Carys … release him. Please,” Odgar says. “We’ll handle this.”
“No.” My voice comes out in a snarl.
“Carys …”
My head snaps to him and Valdis. Her eyes are wide, but she doesn’t dare to speak.
Odgar steps toward me. “You’re safe now. He won’t do you any more harm. Killing this man will only lead to a trial andyourdeath.”
“He attacked me.”
I swear there’s a blaze in his eyes as well. “I know,” he shouts over the man’s shrieks. “And I want to drive a sword up through his cock and into his heart, but there are laws. He deserves to pay, but not at the risk of forfeiting your life.”
I only increase the shadowfire, orange embers beginning to spark through the black flames holding the man in agonizing captivity.
Until ice cold water splatters against my face.
I gasp, my muscles seizing up and cutting off the shadowfire. Shock whitens my vision, and my knees buckle. Sharp pain jolts through them as they hit the ground.
Odgar’s at my side in an instant, an arm around me. “I’m sorry,” he whispers.
The growl that comes flying out of my mouth sounds awfully animalistic. More raging fire builds up inside of me.
I want to throttle Odgar. To burn my attacker. I want Uldarvik up in flames. Then Erleya. Then the world.
Tears sting my eyes as the thoughts swirl through my mind, parrying logic strike for strike. My limbs quiver with the mental battle.
“Look at me,” Odgar gently says as he pulls my cape around me, trapping my arms.
Everything around me is a blur, and even Odgar’s voice sounds so far away. But my attention is drawn to my hand peeking out from the cape. Thick, black veins crawl up my fingers and beyond my wrist. I shove my hand fully beneath the cape, my breaths coming in shallow, panicked puffs.
Go away,I say to Enidwen.
Heat only flares hotter within me. I flinch and clench my fists, trying to subdue the enchantress.
I said: Go. Away!I shout within my mind.
