Page 156 of Winterfall Destiny

“You fucked up every aspect of my life,” Andrei screams at Gabriella. “You destroyed my chance at normality before I was old enough to understand. Because of you, death threats hovered over my head and people manipulated my fate my entire fucking life. I watched you kill my friends. Assault and try to murder the people I love. You wanted me to be you. I am not and never will be!”

“Such a teenage moment, Andrei,” she rasps. “Why not stamp your foot too?”

He’s trembling and the magic that screws with our bodies too radiates around as his fury grows, smacking me to the ground as it spears my heart. “Andrei, please,” I gasp.

“Kill me and hundreds die.”

“Hundreds of Dominion,” he spits.

“Then kill me and the First wins.”

“We’ll fucking deal with that creature too,” he yells.

“We? Looks like you’re accidentally killing the people who accepted what you are? Or is this an accident?” She looks at me through half-aware eyes. “Is the First crushing the ones that threaten her?”

The First’s blood within her shields Gabriella, and Andrei fights harder. His concentrated magic drags the stage into a place void of oxygen and warmth, as he draws on more to tear away Gabriella’s resistance to him.

“Listen to Gabriella and Maeve,” I call as the pressure builds behind my skull. “The First planned this!” I’m struggling to see Andrei as the white spots dance in front of the darkness across my vision. “All of this. A trick to kill us.”

“Not Maeve.” Andrei’s replies, as vacant as the witch prone in the corner of the stage.

“And us?” I shout. “Me, Ash, Jamie.”

“You’ll be fine.”

I choke in shock at his certainty. “How can you know that?” Andrei’s eyes narrow at Gabriella, oblivious to me again. “Andrei! Look at Ash.”

Gabriella topples backwards, gasping for breath but the stench of scorched flesh doesn’t surround her. I collapse too, not from any deliberate attack by Andrei, but the magic emanating from him is beyond any physical affect I’ve experienced. Head fit to explode; I press fingers to my eyes as if that’d stop them burning out.

Distract him. Breath hisses through my teeth. “I hurt Maeve. That’s why she was avoiding me.”

Andrei’s First-corrupted self pauses and spins to where I sit on the floor. “What?”

I’m on my back in a painful heartbeat as more energy focuses on me, Andrei snapping away from his attack on Gabriella. She curls into a ball grunting in pain, unmoving.

“What did you do?” he shouts. “Because I’ll fucking kill you too.”

“Finish Gabriella,” I call to the others. “Now. Before he kills us all.”

Ash gasp in lungfuls of air, and I see his vague movement in the corner of my eye as Andrei’s magic converges into an arrow launching straight at me, hitting me square in the chest.

The force hits like a bolt of lightning, delving past my stuttering heart and into my soul. The shockwave reverberates through every inch of me, agony boring into my bones.

“Tobias!” Maeve clings to Jamie, who manages to lift his head. Weak but protected. “He’s lying, Andrei.”

Andrei pulls me from the floor and towards him in an invisible chokehold. “What did you do?”

His entire otherworldliness surrounds me, and I cling to hope that he’s damaged Gabriella enough that she can’t move before—if—someone else can reach her.

“I hurt Maeve. I told her I lost control, but I lied. I want more. I’m waiting for my chance to do to Maeve exactly what you saw in my thoughts. I always was,” I say weakly.

As planned, Andrei doesn’t pause and the pressure in my mind immediately becomes fingers squeezing at my brain, and I cry in pain as his magic homes in on me.

A screech of amusement spills from Gabriella’s mouth as she rolls onto her back and stares at the stage lights. The veins beneath her face run closer to the surface, a black network of the Tepes blood, but her eyes are open and unchanged.

“Don’t be a fucking martyr, Tobias!” shouts Maeve. “You promised. Andrei. He’s lying. Tobias hasn’t touched me for weeks. Look in my mind for proof!”

Maeve’s unaffected, the shadows surrounding her body spiralling ready to attack, but instead protecting her and Jamie. Absorbing Andrei’s deathly magic. We’ve made our biggest fucking mistake in trusting Andrei. How can someone transformed into part of the creature that’s intent only on self-preservation remain as he is?

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