Odette seemed far less confident as she faced a Korva duplicate. The duplicate cast her arm out, and a horde of snakes materialized out of thin air. They wiggled toward Odette, hissing and flaring their hoods. Odette screamed, backing away until she tripped on a rug. Her screams grew horrified as the snakes began squirming over her skin.
“Don’t give in!” Theo cried out, and at her mate's words, Odette gained her courage. She forced herself to stand, ripping snakes off of her as she pointed her weapon at Korva. With a high-pitched scream, she cast out a stream of bubbles from the tip of her weapon. The stream of bubbles hit the duplicate, and forced it backward, tossing it through a stained-glass window.
The duplicate fighting Kiara was playing dirty, sending spears she’d materialized at our friend while simultaneously boxing her in with a ward, so she had little room to run or avoid the javelins. Kiara successfully dodged the spears, though one dinged against her armor. I winced as Kiara held a hand to her side where the spear had hit. Although it hadn’t pierced her side, the blow itself would leave a wicked bruise.
Kiara dug in her bag to grab a glass bottle. She threw the potion, and as it hit the ground, black smoke filled the area. Kiara ducked inside the smoke, and the Korva duplicate turned in place, trying to see where she’d gone.
Kiara emerged from the smoke with a dagger in hand that she’d conjured from her illusion magic. With her teeth gritted, Kiara stabbed the blade into the duplicate’s neck. The duplicate withered, floundering against Kiara’s knife until it disintegrated with the black smoke.
Delmare had backed the real Lady Korva against a wall. Years of frustration from being bullied by Korva had overcome Delmare, and she was going to let her old teacher have it.
“You know, I was always good at transfiguration spells,” Delmare taunted. “Too bad you never noticed.”
Korva raised a shaking hand to utter a spell, but Delmare was already half-way through with casting her own magic. Lady Korva’s scream turned into a squeak as her form shrank smaller and smaller, spinning in a whirl of color until Korva was nothing more than a rodent on the floor.
My jaw fell open in amazement. Delmare had changed Lady Korva into a rat.
“That’s my hot wife!” Stefan cheered.
Korva let out a few more terrified squeaks before she ran in a zig-zag motion along the floor, looking for an escape. Odette hit the rat with a stunning spell, and once it lay still, Kiara stepped on the rat with all her strength, crushing the creature beneath her foot.
The rat did not move. I found it a proper demise for Lady Korva. Underestimating her students had always been her biggest downfall.
With Lady Korva’s death, the bonds holding us back broke. I rushed to Emma’s side, falling to my knees. By this point, Emma was turning pale, and spittle had formed on her lips. She had minutes.
“Kiara—” I burst out, but she was already there, tipping a vial past Emma’s lips. Emma drank greedily, until I felt the weight on our bond subside. I didn’t feel relieved until Emma had drank every drop, and her life force through our bond was beating vibrantly once again.
The moment she got her breath back, Emma sat up and spat, “Fuck your mom, Ethan. Even dead, she’s still giving us problems.”
“She nor her sister will bother us again,” I said as I helped her up. “Can you stand?”
“Better, I can fight,” Emma said. “I almost feel as good as new. What wasinthat potion, Kiara?”
“My own recipe,” she said proudly. “Queen Antonia was a talented alchemist, but she’s got nothing on my antidotes.”
“Impressive, to beat my mother at her own game,” I noted.
“I figured we’d need stronger stuff if we were going to fight Droga, so a couple of standard antidotes needed tweaking,” Kiara said. “But that was all I had, so the rest of you better not get poisoned again.”
“Like I planned on it,” Emma grumbled.
“The armory is so close,” I told her. “We’re nearly there.”
Emma took a few more breaths, then gave a heated growl as she led the way forward.
As we came to the third staircase, Arthur’s voice broke into my mind, echoing across the miles.We’re unable to hold them. Our forces are on the retreat. The fighting’s spread all over the city!
Do whatever you have to. We still aren’t done here,I told him.
Arthur barely gave a semblance of acknowledgement before he was distracted with more pressing matters. My anxiety increased. We were already short on time, and now, we had even less of it.
“Our army’s scattered,” I told the group. “It won’t be long before Droga gets bored and makes his way over here.”
“Oh, that’s just great,” Stefan commented. “Let me roll out the welcome mat for him.”
Just before the staircase, I heard a couple of pathetic whimpers coming from a closet nearby.
Out of mere curiosity, I opened the door. My mouth soured with distaste. Lord Zlodia and Steward Solomon were both hiding within, cowards they were. The two shifters were crowded against each other, panting heavily in the small space.
