We were going to needa lotmore than a third of Mealioria’s army.
“How many are there?” Kade asked when Sebastian had seemed to lose his voice.
Beaumont shrugged. “If I had to guess, I’d say a few thousand, but ever growing.”
I had seen the look that displayed on Sebastian’s face enough times now to know that his heart had just been frozen and cracked into teeny, tiny pieces.
“Okay. So the one hundred forty written on the notes Leighton showed us was definitely referring to something else,” Kade muttered under his breath.
With a harsh hand clap, Beaumont cheered. “Well, that was a sweet little story time. But let’s hurry this along, shall we?”
“Let her go,” Sebastian ordered, as if he suddenly remembered that Marcileena had me restrained. He marched towards Cyprian, angling the tip of his blade at his throat. “Let them all…” he gestured to myself and the others, “walk out ofhere unharmed, then you and I can finish what we started in the dungeons.”
Beaumont let out a hearty chuckle, gesturing to the three armored men still on horses behind him. “You mean when my soldiers and I almost killed you time after time? Oh, I wouldloveto recreate that.”
My body was useless, frozen in time. But my mind was as active as ever. I pulled at the power within my souls, grasping at the minuscule piece of calm buried within the chaos.
“Don’t hurt him,” I ordered the command to Beaumont and his prodigy, forcefully managing to crack apart the mental shields of two powerful wielders.
“Marcileena,” Cyprian growled again, not removing his attention from Sebastian.
Then, with something like a hum of a poem and a flick of her fingers, the dark shadows forced themselves into my mouth and down my throat.
My brain tried to force my hands to work, trying with every muscle fiber to bring my fingers to my opened mouth as air became sparse. I coughed and choked, a silent, useless observer.
Marcileena’s darkness slithered to Sebastian, pinning him against another tree, though unable to hurt him as I clung to my magic.
Two of the three soldiers dismounted their steeds and lunged for Kade and Pia.
Kade’s instincts were as sharp as the sword he ripped through his attacker's arm, slicing the limb off of the soldier who made his way towards him.
Shrieking and wailing, the Draemornian fell to his knees as exposed bone was painted with blood.
Before Kade could assault the other, the soldier had Pia firmly by the shoulders.
Kade charged at the man, but with another crack of Marcileena’s fingers, he too became a victim to her shadows. She fastened his body into the dirt face down, holding him there sightless.
I tried to scream, but my voice had been swallowed by the shadows.
The final soldier jumped free of his horse to assist the one holding Pia, dangling a blade an inch from her vital artery.
Pia grabbed at his wrists, trying desperately to keep the sharp edge of the blade free from her flesh.
“Don’t you fucking dare!” Sebastian and Kohen roared in unison, both flailing against their prospective bounds.
“She has nothing to do with this!” Sebastian added amidst a growl.
“Of course she does. Youalldo. This could have all been left for Maeve and I to unravel, but you all managed to butt into business that never should have been yours. And now, someone must pay for that—I must get my point across.”
“You can have me,” Sebastian pleaded. “I will do whatever you ask of me. You don’t need Maeve. I am one of the most powerful soldiers on this continent. I can do more than she ever could, even with her magic.”
A bluff—we all knew that. But that was Sebastian Hawthorne—offering his own life in the place of mine.
“Oh, I know that. But I don’t need someone who is efficient with a sword. I need someone with the power of the gods, not just a sample of that power like you hold. And while I have you all here and you're all still breathing, let me fill you in on what's going to happen. I’d hate to leave you wondering.” Beaumont's hollow eyes swallowed me whole. Still voiceless, I was forced to listen instead of interjecting. “In case you haven't yet figured out what those markings in your skin mean, they mean that Blythe’s soul now lives within your mortal shell. Her soul hasnot replaced yours, though it has amplified your powers. You have most—if not all—of the abilities she had. What that entails exactly, we don’t know, but you and I will work together to find out.”
Marcileena stepped towards me and tilted her wicked head as she smiled. “I am much more experienced in enchanting and dark magic than the one before me was. I am confident that with the aid of your power, I will be able to create even stronger children.”
I thought they wanted to turn me into a Hykah, not use me to make more. My face must have implied my confusion, because she furthered her explanation.
