A flash of brilliant white light cut across the room, aimed at the ward, fizzling against the sheer wall separating us. The sound of static hummed, echoing louder and louder against my ears. A ceramic vase toppled from the table, shattering on the floor. The barrier rippled before fractures splintered across its surface, one after another, as Reagan’s power carved through it like brittle paper.
The staff joined him, sending flashes of blue and red light colliding with the ward. Gwin’s power seemed to tear the thin membrane apart bit by bit, widening the hole her brother had created in the barrier. The sharp static was deafening. In response, the Scions wielded their own streams, trying to cover the cracks.
It wasn’t enough. They were breaking the ward faster than the Scions were putting it together.
Varian spun, staring directly at Caius and me. Then, moss-coloured ribbons lifted another transparent wall around the Scion and me, separating us from the rest.
The large ward, the room ward, had finally drifted to the floor like a fragile veil, its tendrils of mana undulating until they dissipated into nothingness.
Reagan crossed to where Varian was, sending his cousin to the wall with bone-breaking force. The other Scions, Goyle and Dexter, advanced on the emissary and battle mage.
Gwin was fast. She had one of them on the ground, frozen just like I was in the corner of the room. Finn didn’t wield. Instead, he deflected a spell’s blast with his own power and decided to go for a physical restraint. He jabbed the mage, twisting him with skill until he had his knees on his back. The Scion was pinned to the ground with a surge of royal blue power.
Reagan’s voice cut through the hum. “Tell him to release her,” he rasped, his tone murderous, his hands gripping his cousin’s neck.
Another wall they had to break to free me. I could still be used as leverage until then.
Varian, who held both hands to Reagan’s wrist, only said, “I’m the only reason she’s alive. If you kill me, Caius knows to kill your human and fling out of here.”
In response, Caius’s hand pushed my chin upward, exposing my neck, until the cold surface of the blade pressed against it. I swallowed, looking down my nose to see Reagan’s face with cold rage, his fingers closing tighter around Varian’s neck, who seemed to struggle to breathe.
I dreaded the sharp blade that could so swiftly kill me, dreaded how easily Varian toyed with my life, my whole body throbbing in pain, stretched to the limit. But it was the fear of not knowing whether it would be enough to halt him—his need for blood, his need to act—that had me bracing for that unforgiving blade.
A choked noise left Varian’s mouth. Despite the lack of air, his voice managed to get out. “What’s it going to be, cousin? Your revenge or her life?”
Reagan held his cousin’s stare. Thinking, I realised. But Varian didn’t wait. He lifted his gaze to Caius, giving the mage a meaningful look.
Caius turned his head toward me, his face splitting into a sinister smile that made my heart plummet. In the next instant, the knife went through the side of my stomach.
Sharp, agonising pain surged deeper than any bruise, stealing the air from my lungs and leaving trails of fire in its wake.
I screamed without a sound, eyes squeezed shut as if that could stop the blinding pain. There was no air. My wristsstrained against the invisible binds holding me, but there was no escape.
“Enough.” A voice, distant and frantic, drowned out by the storm and the agony roaring in my ears.
The pain didn’t stop. Not immediately, not in the next heartbeat. And then, without warning, it vanished.
Air rushed into my lungs, ragged and unsteady. Then I retched, my head bowing violently as if my very insides were spilling forth, soaking into my dress and pooling on the floor. My ears rang with the echoes of screams.
“Pathetic,” Caius sneered.
The blade, still hovering before me, was pristine, its edge clean, untainted by the blood I was certain had spilled.
I looked down, expecting to see crimson streaks or torn flesh. Instead, my body was touched only by previous wounds and my own purging, nothing to explain the searing agony that had just torn through me.
His power healed me. The thought made my breathing ragged, imagining how many times he could do it, again and again.
Varian had healed me before, so it seemed the rune blocked only harm. Healing still found its way.
As the ringing in my ears faded, words filtered through.
“...is alive. Now release me, and if you try anything again, I won’t guarantee her life,” Varian said. He was still on the wall, but Reagan’s grip was no longer on his neck. “One move.”
Reagan’s eyes were wide, his body stiff. But he took a step back, and another, until he was on the other side of the room, between Finnegan and Gwinifer. My gaze darted to Caius, my body heavy and weak. With a flick of his fingers, he cleaned out the vomit covering me, his pants, and the ward.
“Tell the emissary and the half-breed to release them too,” Varian ordered.
Reagan gave a curt nod to Gwin, his sister pursing her mouth before she pulled back her power and stepped away from the Scion. Finnegan did the same.
