“Bring her to High Farasee, Asarah.” A beat. “And burn all of this to the ground.”
A deep, sinister voice slithered into the air. Old. Malevolent.
Wicked.
A Farasee with eyes as ivory as his coily, neatly trimmed hair, floated forward. He looked at me with a sneer before turning away, dismissing me with a wave. It seemed his command was for the Dyabèssa.
“As for the rest of you, let’s go. There are more. She is our second of seven. Dyabèssa,” he snapped, tongue laced with venom. “You will join us once you’ve turned over the target.”
“Farasee Azariah, surely you’ll allow us to?—”
Farasee Tavaziah screamed, his body suddenly contorting painfully. Farasee Azariah simply looked at him, ivory eyes unmoving. Without another word, the elder Farasee turned away, spread his wings, and began flying off. It was then that I saw the endless lines of chariots floating above, hidden in the clouds. Without a word, one by one, every Farasee spread their wings and flew up to their chariots. Nunèzu was the last to leave.
“You’ll be brought to Prizòn Noir.” He grinned. “I’ll come find you there.”
He turned to the Dyabèssa, sneering with such disgust I flinched at his expression on her behalf. “Make this quick,Demonèss,” he spat.
Then the Farasee flew away.
“We can take her,”Bones snarled down our bond.
I almost wanted to laugh. My cinderwolf was always so confident in my abilities.
If only he knew, even with my blackfire, I was no match for the Dyabèssa.
“Bring that mutt with her, too,” Nunèzu tossed over his shoulder.
Rot.
I was hoping they’d leave Bones out of this.
The Dyabèssa glared at me.
And I glared back.
I took a breath. Steeled myself.
Then I wrenched my arms upward. A vortex of blackfire poured out from the ground like angry vines, snaking towards the huntress, snapping at her robes and wings. I launched into the air, pulling my wings open. The Ivory Rain launched into the sky, encircling me. But none of them attacked.
The Dyabèssa never moved.
She only tilted her head up and watched me.
The sea of scarlet surrounded me on all sides. I summoned a whirlwind of impenetrable black flame that swarmed me, lifting my hair in the wind. Lavender stars glittered in the black as I thought of how to fight my way through. Fight my wayout.
I lifted my hands to unleash my ethèr when I heard my prodigious cinderwolf yelp like a newborn pup. I looked down. And found him contorted, bleeding from several gashes. Stars! When had he been struck?
“BONES.” The bloodcurdling scream ripped from my throat.
Before my blood burned like acid. Like poison.
I screeched, losing my grip on the blackfire, before flinging to the ground in excruciating pain. My body contorted. Convulsed. Twisted and turned, utterly out of my control. Tears burned my eyes, staining my cheeks. I looked up through blurred vision and found the Dyabèssa staring down at me like I was a pathetic worm. She’d disabled me. Brought me down to nothing.
Shestillhadn’t moved.
“Wont anfinité.”
Eternal embarrassment.
