This twinight, I would right all of those wrongs.
Marcèllian floated over his back porch, gloating as if he’d won. He had miraculously recovered from all his wounds. There was a malignant air about him, even from where I stood in the cloak of the woods, distant from him. He looked evil. Personified. Incarnate. His eyes met mine, no longer hazel, but something darker, shifting strangely in the black.
Then they looked past me, and his smile withered.
“What in the Hèls is all this, swine?”
“You didn’t think I’d come to this party alone?” I tilted my head like a spiderwraith in the dark. “Did you?”
Marcèllian’s wing pairs twitched as he took in the swarm of souls engulfing my body, filling every stretch of space lining the back of the garden. He stumbled back a step, his shoulders caving slightly in terror. Then the foolish lord looked me in the eye, fear coloring his face.
I chuckled darkly, knowing I looked wild and deranged.
“Now,” I said, grinning from ear to ear, blending into the night. “Run.“
Chapter 36
Tassarion
Marcèllian Beauradèl synched his wings,spun around, and launched into the skies. Bombastic fool. As if I was dumb enough to follow him in this deep midnight.
I watched him for a moment as he flew higher and higher until he crossed into the clouds and disappeared. I laughed. Then I strolled out of the wood and into the courtyard of the garden, my cape trailing behind me like a midnight veil across the ground. Stone crunched beneath my boots. I flexed my hands and summoned my souls. The swarm multiplied as they swirled around me. I clenched my fists, squeezed tight as I drew on an overwhelming amount of souls, then snapped my fingers open. Souls poured out of my hands and plunged into the stone.
I watched the Nanmiess penetrate the ground. I returned to my leisurely stroll until I reached the center of the garden courtyard.
I stopped. Looked up. Waited.
It took a moment, but I found him. Marcèllian had hidden behind the semi-large cloud to the left, quietly drawing on his ethèr. He was a Soul Bender with great power. I still hadn’t processed how he bent Nahomie’s limbs when he attacked her. Possession of non-innate ethèr only came from manipulatingFallenmajik. If he had used it before, he might manipulate the ethèr the same way again. At the manor, I had been surprised. This time I was prepared.
Standing alone in the courtyard, I steadied my breath. I waited.
I caught some movement in the corner of my eye, but I didn’t turn. Marcèllian would wait to strike while I was distracted. I wouldn’t give him the chance.
I felt a sharp twinge along my leg. An invisible pull. A pinch.
I chuckled darkly.
Coward.
He was testing me.
I waited, still.
The unnatural Limb Bending touched me again. Themajikpoked at my arms. Legs. Searching for an entry point beneath my skin to break. The moment Marcèllian’s bending touched me, Nahomie’s blackfire erupted in my blood. The destructive fire shot through my skin, latching onto the strange ethèr, and yanked.
A scream tore through the center of the semi-large cloud. I threw an arm into the air, thrusting out a vortex of souls. They shot into the skies, piercing the clouds. The line of souls was a glorious, horrifying sight. It filled me with abundant pride and joy. The souls hissed. They latched onto Marcèllian’s body, shackling him in the air.
I jerked my hand to the side. Swirled my fingers. The souls followed suit, snapping around Marcèllian before coiling around his body. As if I were holding a taut rope, I jerked my hand in a yanking motion and snapped the chain of souls down with Marcèllian’s body. Treating him like he was a rag doll, I viciously slammed the traitor into the stone once. Twice. Over and over. Blood gushed out from where his face split open. Two of his wing pairs snapped.
“Enough!”
The thunderous voice ricocheted across the garden. The sound that surfaced didnotbelong to Marcèllian Beauradèl. I knew that lilt. That rasp. The sound of many through the throat of one.
“You’ve been disobedient,Slave.“
Once upon a time, the sound of that voice would paralyze me with fear. I would quake in terror. I would lose my mind in a blind rage, taunted by a monster that lived in my bones. My blood.
Not this twinight. Not anymore.Neveragain.
