Page 146 of The World Undone

He fell back, breaths harsh and unsteady. The color quickly drained from his face, the light from his stare, until he looked thirty years older than he was, almost sickly.

Michael’s pendant dangled from his hand as he fell back against Ralph, his eyes open and unfocused as they searched aimlessly before finally landing on me.

“It isn’t much, my niece. But it is, unfortunately, the only thing left for me to give you—an unbinding spell, my blood to yours. Any remnants of my power are yours. Any lingering blocks placed on you in infancy are gone. It’s not enough for you to survive the ritual, but it will hopefully be enough for you to see it through.”

And with that, his eyes closed, and the tension in his body fell slack.

29

DARIUS

Well, this certainly wasn’t on the roster, but I also wasn't going to balk at the opportunity to kill another one of the infamous Guild council members.

Two of the protectors broke rank at the sight of him and took off running towards the vans.

Xavier disappeared, rematerializing in front of one of the runners, just as she reached the first van. In one smooth motion, he snapped her neck, doing the same to her friend before her body even stilled on the ground.

“Imagine my surprise,” his face twisted into a cruel, dangerous smile, “when I found myself in your labs, Peter,” Sir Slimeball, apparently Peter, flinched, shoving the small piece of paper discreetly into his pocket, “only to learn that you’d not only stolen one of our most protected creatures, but set up a rather significant meeting without alerting me.”

This wasn’t the council member I’d encountered, but I could feel his power flaring from here.

At least this made one less prick we’d have to track down. Maybe this little tête-a-tête was more productive than I’d anticipated. And maybe Max would be less pissed about us handling this behind her back if we brought her Xavier’s head on a platter in apology.

I was all for a little bloody groveling.

“W-we,” Peter swallowed, shaking visibly, though he was clearly trying to buckle down his fear, “we were hoping to surprise you. We’ve just been brokering a deal.”

“A deal?” he arched his brow, whether impressed or unconvinced, I couldn’t tell. “And what kind of deal did you think you had the authority to broker without my presence?”

“We need to take him out and get that paper from Slimeball before he teleports out of here,” I mumbled to the others. “Last thing we need is him alerting his friend in time to relocate the stone.”

Claude’s jaw was rigid. “I can feel his power from here. How the fuck does a protector have that much?”

“You’ve missed a lot recently.” I grunted. “They’re getting stronger too. Like now that there’s only two of them, the power is concentrating in the bodies that remain. They must’ve all been linked somehow, bonded or whatever.”

Would the same happen for Max? If we were all out of the picture, would she grow stronger?

I shook the thought off almost immediately—she’d grown stronger through connection, through building the bonds. Not fracturing them.

Why then did the council seem stronger as individuals?

“Then let’s give him a taste of the power he covets so much,” Nash said, for once looking at someone with more hatred than he did me.

I could get used to not being the number one enemy in this group.

I grinned, meeting his eyes.

I fucking loved when revenge came with a poetic flare.

Xavier and Peter were talking, and while I didn’t bother parsing out the details, it was clear that good old Peter was doing what he did best—riding both sides, but ultimately selling us out on the off chance Xavier had more strength than the rest of us. Fucking twatwaffle.

The other protectors were restless and already dividing amongst themselves—most moving closer to Xavier, as if they’d arrived with the council member and not Peter. But there were also a few brave souls hedging their bets with us and closing ranks around the woman who’d been negotiating with us. They were likely counting on the possibility that their loyalty now would mean a chance at a new council seat later.

“Who goes for the paper?” Eli asked.

The situation was rapidly dissolving, we needed to be quick.

“You and Wade.” Atlas’s eyes were locked on the drude, “I’ve got something else to take care of.”

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