A crash came from somewhere else in the suite, then grunts and banging.
Stars Above.I rushed out of bed too and dressed hastily, then ran out of the room after them.
Hurrying, I was still trying to get my hair tied up and out of my face when Lars flew through a door into the hallway right in front of me. I skidded to a stop.
The redhead’s body slammed into the wall and fell to the floor. Dust wafted up in the air around him.
Gaping, I stepped toward him, but before I could ask the groaning guard if he was okay, Bastian was standing in the hall, having charged through the broken door after Lars. He was only three paces in front of me.
Warily, I met his gaze.
Standing tall, he was as imposing as Jax. I took a step back, then another, and Bastian’s head swayed. His antler rack brushed the ceiling. Dead-looking eyes regarded me, as if he didn’t really see me.
“Bastian?” I said tentatively.
He abruptly moved, bending low as if about to charge. His gaze locked onto mine, but it was as though he looked right through me.
“Bastian?” I stumbled back more, but he positioned his antlers to strike.
“He’s in the hall!” someone yelled from elsewhere in the suite.
Bastian charged.
I leaped back as he barreled toward me.
Jax, Phillen, and Bowan flew into the hall from a hole in the plaster in another room.
There was a hole.
In the wall.
That was big enough for fae to fit through.
“Elowen, get back!”
It was the only warning I got before a rush of fire erupted from Bastian’s hands. The fireling half-breed’s flame shot toward me at an impossibly fast rate while his antlers were only inches away from penetrating my stomach.
A wave of Jax’s magic exploded out of him, but before Jax’s power could reach his brother, my own magic reacted.
Potent lorafin energy rushed up from my internal well and engulfed me in cold shadows.
Bastian’s fire hit my magic in an explosive array of flames just as his antlers tried to pierce me. Fire licked against my magical barrier, and the scraping of his antlers shoved and searched for a way in, but even though I could sense his fire and bone-like antlers, I didn’t feel them.
Coldness seeped from my pores, dousing Bastian’s magic and strength. In a blink, my magic overpowered his, tempering his flames and halting his efforts to impale me.
It was enough time for Jax to throw himself on top of his brother. Phillen and Bowan quickly followed, piling on top of the half-breed. All three of them had cuts and bruises on their faces and bodies that were quickly healing, and a look of anguish twisted Jax’s expression as he attacked his brother.
Panting, I calmed my magic, and my shadow magic disappeared.
But even though three fae held him down, Bastian began to rise, his face entirely impassive, his eyes glazed.
It was as though a puppeteer was commanding a puppet, and Bastian wasn’t even aware of what his body was doing.
“Hold him!” Jax yelled through gritted teeth.
“I...can’t.” Bowan’s jaw ground together. “Dammit, when did he get so strong?”
Phillen grunted.
