Page 127 of Haunted

I can’t move.

My body throbs from head to toe. My muscles are spent.

I laugh. Hysterics overtake me.

Is this a new form of torture? I exclaim. First pleasure and then pain!

Kenrik grunts and then scoffs with annoyance. You felt it all?

Of course. Don’t think for one instant that torture of this sort is new.

I didn’t do this to punish you, he snarls.

Oh?

I did this to be rid of you.

I laugh again. His methods don’t make sense, but I don’t ask him to elaborate and, instead, goad him further. You failed miserably!

Why did you kill her?

I have plans for her daughter.

Kenrik screams, a furious howl that cuts through me. I’m coming for you, Caedryn. I’m coming for you!

I welcome you, princeling. Bring your fury.

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I’m not in the mood to fight the prince, so I decide to take care of him before he can breach my realm.

After he crosses the midpoint of the Great Divide, he comes at me faster than I expected. I slip into his mind and learn he’s borrowed a dragon.

He comes with haste. He will be reckless. The pathetic prince. I climb the highest tower of my citadel. He’s leagues away, and I can’t see him with my physical eye.

Kenrik, so, you want to play, I say.

He growls but does not reply.

I lift my arms and swirl my hands in steady circles. My dark power draws up through my core and into my extremities. A chant overtakes my thoughts, and I allow myself to be swallowed in the sensations that course over my body.

I stir the elements. The atmosphere obeys as my power commands. Storm clouds develop and thicken around me. The wind whips my robe and blows thick strands of hair across my vision.

The sky above me is a maelstrom of weather. My clothes become drenched as sheets of rain beat upon me. I can barely stand upright as I lean into the storm. Before the tempest tears my citadel and city apart, I scream and launch it into the desert and toward the prince.

I control the rain and wind into a concentrated funnel. It draws up sand and becomes a dizzying mashup, a hammer that will leave a crushing blow.

Kenrik and his dragon press through the onslaught. He yells. He barks commands. He hugs the body of the dragon. They are determined.

So am I.

I whip the torrent into a spiral. Kenrik’s light trail spins in my mind’s eye. My equilibrium is thrown. I collapse onto my knees and am overcome by the motion, but I hold on to Kenrik’s mind. I must watch his demise. I must see the moment our bond breaks through his death.

His grip on the dragon fails. His body twists up into the storm as they separate. I feel the lashing of millions of sand grains over my flesh as they pelt the prince.

Yes. Yes!

I push to my hands and knees and, with one finger-flick to wield my power, smash the prince into the desert floor.

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