The two guards stood at attention, shock on their faces. “Your Highness,” one of them said. “What are you doing in there?”
Jareth grasped each guard and began to glow. The heat of his magic nearly threw Ava off her feet. Throwing an arm across her face, she ducked. The guards' horrified screams pierced her ears, the heat intensifying even more.
The screams stopped. The heat vanished.
Ava uncovered her face and stood. They were gone. Completely disintegrated into piles of ash.
Jareth was already headed down the stairs.
Luna! Wake everyone up. Jareth is on a rampage and is threatening to kill Orion. I need help.
“Jareth!” Ava called after him. “Stop!”
He ignored her. Was he really going to kill his father? Now?
He was still glowing, like Casimir did when he used his astral magic. Ava chased after him, grabbing his wrist. With a yelp she released him, her hand burning, blisters forming on her palm.
His magic was too powerful and he didn’t seem to care to control it. With her other hand she pulled on the back of his jacket. “Stop!”
Jareth whirled around and had her against the wall in a flash, his hand on her throat. The touch of his skin burned where he held her neck, her flesh on fire. The sarcastic, snide Jareth was gone, a cold, inhuman version in his place. One that didn’t even seem to recognize her.
And the look in his eyes promised death.
“Jareth,” she wheezed, blinking through her tears. “Youhave to calm down. We need to talk about what we saw. You can’t just go off and kill your father. He’s the king.”
His grip tightened, Ava’s vision wavering. The smell of her burning flesh was pungent in the air. “I’ve always wanted to…but now I have even more of a reason,” he snarled. “Don’t get in my way.”
“Not today. Not yet,” she tried again. “Your father is horrible. Awful. And what he did to Celine…”
“Do not speak her name.” He squeezed harder.
Ava whimpered, scrambling as she tried to pull his arm away, her hands burning with every touch.
A door burst open at the base of the stairs, followed by the sprinting of booted feet. Casimir rounded the corner, Jorrar and Quinn on his heels.
“I’ll fucking kill you!” Casimir boomed.
Jareth let go and Ava crumpled to the stairs, gasping for breath. She touched her throat and winced at the burns around her neck, her hands. Jorrar pushed past and knelt before her, inspecting her injuries.
Jareth wheeled on Casimir, preparing to blast him with magic. Vines shot from Quinn’s hands and wrapped around Jareth’s ankles and wrists so fast, he didn’t have time to react as she pulled him to the ground.
“Don’t hurt him!” Ava said, but her voice was weak. No one seemed to hear her in all the commotion.
Casimir was on him in seconds. Raising his fist, he delivered a blow so powerful, Jareth was knocked unconscious. But Casimir didn’t stop. He punched him again. And again. And again.
“Stop,” Ava tried again, but he was lost in a rage. “Jorrar, you have to stop him. We need Jareth.”
Jorrar stood, signaling to Quinn. The two of them jumped on Casimir and held him back, barely able to keep him from delivering another blow.
“You must stop, Casimir,” Jorrar said, his voice calm. “He’s unconscious. You’re going to kill him.”
But Casimir didn’t seem to hear Jorrar as he struggled against their hold, lost to his wrath. Ava rose, stepping over Jareth, and stood before Casimir. She placed a hand on his face, ignoring the pain in her tender palm.
“Look at me.”
He was still staring at Jareth, growling as he pulled against Quinn and Jorrar.
“Cas…Look at me.”
