Page 123 of An Empress of Earth & Darkness

And as Balan smiled again, he spoke in a tongue so ancient that Emara didn’t understand it. The serpent snapped forward just as Torin took a swing at Balan. Emara’s heart almost stopped entirely. She kicked back and made contact with the knight’s shin, and he finally let go of her throat. Emara spied a ruby that twinkled at her on the ground just below her. She flicked her hand and the earth where the Agnes lay exploded, tossing the weapon into the air. With her arms still bound by the shadows, she caught the spear horizontally in her mouth and bit down hard on the ruby. The blade fired out, and she whipped her head to the side. The blade penetrated the knight’s heart, finally freeing her of its grip. Without taking a moment to breathe, she turned on the demon, palms already blazing with fire, and scorched it alive.

But that wasn’t enough. She hurled air at it and swung Agnes at its neck, taking its head off through the flames.

Finally, she took a second to breathe and gather herself.

She had just killed a knight of the underworld.

“That was utterly breathtaking, Empress,” Kellen Blacksteel said as her gaze met with his unusual eyes. “What a kill.”

She bowed her head to him. “I hope to do this clan proud.”

Kellen darted off, hurling another knife. It landed between the serpent’s eyes, but a small hunting knife wasn’t going to make a dent in such a huge beast. Emara had used a lot of her fire and the majority of her air magic, but she felt another element bubbling under her skin.

Earth thrummed in her veins, and as the beast hurtled towards Breighly, Emara brought forth everything she could feel and slammed her hand into the ground. The earth beneath everyone’s feet rattled and groaned, and the serpent paused, rocking with everyone else. Emara’s eyes met Sybil’s, and for a short moment, the earth witch smiled a grin that Emara had never seen before. Together, they were an unbelievable strength. Together, they could use earth to win.

Sybil conjured four massive vines that rose into the air like serpents of her own. Torin and Artem continued to battle with Balan, but everyone else stilled as the redheaded witch slammed her magic into the serpent. Her vines snatched around it and it growled, its teeth snapping at the indestructible vines. It let out a roar that could have deafened everyone around it.

The Empress of Earth closed her eyes and Emara followed her lead. They gathered their magic together, pulling from the gardens around them. As earth called to her, stealing the breath from her lungs, Emara slammed her hand into the ground.

The world shook.

Cracks began to form, and Breighly was the quickest to jump out of the way, followed by the surviving hunters. The ground opened in a huge fissure that was travelling directly to the serpent still struggling against Sybil’s vines, which had only multiplied. Emara bellowed, feeling the magic in her blood take over and push through her boundaries. The ground wedged open wider, and the serpent struggled to stay above the earth. The land began to tumble into the open ground, falling into an abyss below the surface. The monster clung to the broken gravel, and Emara smiled as she stood. Sybil’s hand moved in a command to the vines to drag the beast into the abyss, and the demon screeched as it fell into the blackness forever.

In a rage, Balan threw out a hand at Artem Stryker, and a tendril of darkness threw him through the air and pinned him to the ground. A whine left Breighly as she ran to his side. Emara couldn’t look away as three more tendrils of dark magic broke from Balan’s hands and made their way to Torin. It worked its way around Torin’s sword like a snake and disarmed him. Torin tried to punch out, but before he could hit the mist, the dark tendril dove through Torin’s chest.

The whole kingdom spun.

Gasps and screams whirled around in the wind. Silence filled Emara’s ears as she witnessed Torin choke and spit blood from his mouth. His eyes found hers, and horror took over all sense as she screamed. Air exploded through the gardens and fire soared from her palms, but Balan dodged every unruly flame. The vines followed her as she walked towards him.

This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t happen.

The earth trembled and trees began to topple. Little orbs floated around in the winds of terror that Emara had created, and murmurs from the ancestors sang through the temple grounds.

Torin roared and fell to the ground in agony. “Get her out of here, Gideon! I won’t let her watch me die. Don’t let her see me die.”

Another dark tendril struck through Torin’s torso, and his eyes bulged from his skull in pain. A third picked him up by the tunic and held him so that he was dangling in front of his clan.

Emara blasted the king with the last bit of magic that she could summon before her legs gave out. Gideon caught her and spat, “You fucking let my brother go. Take me. Have me.”

Horror filled Emara’s lungs, her veins, her heart. Her lips parted, but nothing formed. Her magic was trembling, her darkness building.

“Get…h-her out of here,” Torin begged Gideon as blood dripped from his mouth.

A horrible cry left her mouth as she began running towards him.

Balan, with the most callous look she had ever seen, dropped him to the ground. She wondered how her mother could ever love such a creature. She slid to a halt and her knees hit the ground. She tried to see where Torin’s blood was coming from, but her bones were shaking and her vision was blurry. She quickly wiped her tears, knowing this wasn’t the end. She could heal him, couldn’t she?

“Torin,” she called as her blood-stained hands found his face. “Stay with me. Sybil!” she screeched, her voice ripping her throat apart.

He was pale, so pale.

No, no, no.

This wasn’t happening again.

“Go, angel. L-leave,” he said as his hands tried to find hers. He was struggling to keep his ocean eyes open, and his lashes were wet with tears.

Dying. He was dying. Torin was dying.

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