Page 148 of Seduce Me in Shadow

I grab his leather-clad arm. “Please, no. Don’t do this!”

Shock glares at me as if I’m nothing but a pesky gnat. Then he shakes off my hold and strides out the door.

Caden

I shiver in the cold cell, shoving the discomfort aside to focus on the “movie” unspooling in my mind from my clone. He makes his way out of the basement, creeping up the stairs and around a corner to Mathias’s sitting room on the first floor.

A small lamp illuminates Sydney, huddled in an oversized black leather chair, pale and hugging her knees to her chest. Her eyes blaze with undisguised hatred as she stares at Mathias.

Relief floods through me—she’s alive.

For now.

Sunlight begins to creep through the east-facing windows above my clone. Time is running out. Soon, his hiding place will be compromised. We’ve got to move fast to get Sydney out and reclaim the Doomsday Diary. No way in hell am I leaving a weapon like that in Mathias’s hands.

We’ve got one shot to surprise this bastard. I don’t even know if my clone can wield magic except under pressure and panic. And even if I can channel energy to him, do I have enough left to take down Mathias?

As daylight invades the room and the sounds of battle erupt outside, it’s clear that it’s now or never. Either the Doomsday Brethren fight their way in and all hell breaks loose, or the Anarki swarm us and we’re all dead. If Sydney is going to make it out alive, we have to move now.

My clone crouches, ready to spring. Sydney spots him, stifling her surprise, but Mathias is too savvy. He whirls, wand at the ready. Acting on pure instinct, my clone throws out his hand, channeling everything into a fireball he hurls at the wizard.

Mathias can’t react fast enough. He leaps aside, but the blast still catches him in the gut. He doubles over, face contorted in agony, eyes blazing with hate.

“You’ll pay for that,” he snarls.

“Not today,” my clone retorts, yanking Sydney to her feet. “Grab the book and run. Stay in the shadows, head for the northeast side. The others are there. I’ll be right behind you.”

Sydney shakes her head, stubborn as ever. “I’m not leaving without you.”

My heart swells with love and pride, even as panic grips me. Locked in this cell, I can’t protect her, and we’re both running on fumes. “You and the book are all that matters. Go!”

“We go together!” She shoots a panicked glance at Mathias, who’s starting to recover. “Hit him again!”

I strain to channel more energy to my clone, but there’s nothing left. Replicating myself took so much that I’m empty, drained.

“Stupid neophyte,” Mathias sneers. “I’ll enjoy watching you die.”

With my magical energy tapped, I have to improvise. Time for some old-school ass-kicking.

My clone launches into a brutal roundhouse, catching Mathias square in the jaw. The wizard staggers, but his eyes gleam with malice.

“Think you’re clever? Your friends are coming,” he taunts. “Too bad they’ll be too late.”

In a blur of motion, Mathias’s wand flashes. The spell that hits my clone is devastating—molten lava and searing acid rolled together to burn flesh, tear through veins, and dissolve bone. I feel every excruciating moment as his organs shut down, our shared connection a conduit for unimaginable pain that threatens to fell me, too.

Sydney falls to her knees, clutching his hand. “No! You can’t… Caden, please!”

“Take the book,” my clone gasps with the last of his air. “Get out.”

The words are barely audible, but they carry the weight of a dying wish. As I feel my clone slipping away, one thought burns through the agony: I’ve failed her.

That pain eclipses everything else.

Chapter

Sixty-Five

Agony rips through every fiber of my being. As my clone’s eyes shut, Sydney vanishes from my sight. Panic claws at my insides, threatening to tear me apart.

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