Fire surged from my palms, and my elemental magic ripped through the room. Flames abruptly coated the walls and floor, everything around us going up in cinders.
My uncle shrieked as the wall behind him caught on fire, and I took a look at Kole, hoping he would understand what I was doing and what chance I was giving him. Love for him surged along our bond, and his vengeance came back.
The vamfeers began to flail as my fire caught on their clothing. Everything would soon go up in flames, including my mate.
My uncle seethed and shouted, “Stop, Primelle! Stop using your magic now!”
My magic immediately ceased, but the fire had already started. It was burning on its own now.
Rage coated Arnel’s face. “Kill your mate, Primelle. I’m commandingyouto kill him.”
For a brief moment, his command coasted through me. Panic flooded me, but just as fast, my mate bond rose up and encapsulated Arnel’s command, shredding right through it.
Within seconds, his command fizzled into nothingness.
A triumphant smile spread across my face as my fire raged and flames licked all of the walls and spread across the floor.
Arnel seemed to sense that I wouldn’t hurt my mate a second before Kole flew himself on a gust of air, right over the vamfeers and straight for my uncle.
Kole’s sword cut through the air, just as the fiery floor gave out beneath us.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The floor disappeared, and my stomach dropped. We all fell, and my uncle reached for me, but Kole was there before he connected.
Assisted by his elemental magic in our downward plunge, Kole impaled my uncle as air swirled around us.
A slippery sound of spurting blood and tearing flesh came as Kole ran his sword through Arnel’s chest. A second later, we all crashed onto the dining hall floor in a pile of fire and splintered wood.
Arnel let out a painful wail, and I shoved piles of debris off me.
Clouds of flames and smoke wafted up around us. Ash obscured my view, and sharp wooden splinters cut into my skin. I pulled a jagged floorboard out from my thigh and activated my vampiric and sight sensory magic to see better.
Another groan came from my left. My uncle was clutching his chest as blood seeped between his fingers.
Fire continued to rage around us, and the vamfeers all flailed. Those that weren’t on fire went for Kole, but the warrior was already up. Potent air magic lifted my mate. The diningroom’s ceiling was so high that Kole soared above the remaining vamfeers, flying on his air element as his sword swung violently.
Heads rolled, and decapitated vamfeers fell into the quickly growing flames.
When the last was killed, I blurred toward Kole, my wounds already healed due to my vampire magic. He landed behind the smoke, his feet touching down, and out of the darkness, my mate emerged.
“Kole?” I choked.
Blood and dust coated his face and hair. Singed clothing and his burned skin were visible too. But instead of looking at me, his focus was entirely on my uncle.
My chest tightened as Kole whipped another blade from his waist.
My uncle coughed, his eyes widening in fear. Soot and ash covered his hair and face, and rubble still covered him. He tried skidding back along the floor, still clutching his stabbed chest, but his face had paled from blood loss, and the wreckage stopped his retreat.
Another cough came from Arnel. Rasping, he called, “Primelle, help?—”
Kole’s flash of speed had a scream of pain emitting from my uncle, halting his desperate command. Blood poured from between Arnel’s lips, and standing tall, Kole held up my uncle’s severed tongue from between his fingers. “Try commanding her now, Arnel. Words are a bit hard to form without a tongue.”
Kole threw my uncle’s tongue into the fire. It landed on the burning rubble, and it sizzled and cooked, bringing with it a stench I didn’t want to remember.
Fear filled my uncle’s expression, and he tried to rise. To flee. To command. All while blood poured out of him. Strangely, however, his blood held no allure to me.
Arnel mumbled, trying to speak, and lifted a hand.
