Page 47 of A Petal in the Crown

"Are you certain?" he asked.

Lea nodded. "His magic, I can't feel it. Not like I would if he were hiding here somewhere."

"My dagger isn't alerting me to danger," Emma said, sniffling as they stopped at the entrance to the village—an old, rickety wooden gate hanging slightly off its hinges.

With a sigh, Gray turned to the others, his shadows already floating toward the village. Erik knew what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth. "No one is required to follow me. I've seen this before—what a village decimated by my father’s magic looks like. I will never unsee it. It haunts my dreams. I will not fault you,anyof you, if you want to stay behind."

One at a time, Gray looked to Emma, then Thomas, then Janelle, and Erik was grateful Gray had the sense to know he wouldn’t be dissuaded. "Whatever waits for us inside this town… it will likely be worse than anything you’ve seen before."

"The dead might be able to help us," Emma said.

A sad, proud smile darted across Thomas’s face as he looked down at Emma. "Thank you for your concern, Gray, but I will be joining as well."

"Janelle?" Erik asked, leaning down to speak in her ear. "No one will blame you for not wanting to see—"

"Where you go, I go," she said, cutting him off. "You should fucking know that by now." A surge of gratitude and pride filled Erik’s chest at Janelle’s words. So brave. So honest.

"Of course," he said, squeezing her hand tighter. Janelle was his, and he was hers, and he would no more allow someone to separate them than the gods would allow the sun to set.

"Then it’s decided," Lea said, straightening her shoulders and lifting her chin. "No turning back now."

Chapter 29

Lea

The absolute destruction they stumbled upon was so much worse than Lea could ever have imagined. Shefeltthe wreckage and death in a way she’d never experienced before, every shallow, ragged breath pulling it deeper into her very marrow. The moment the village had come into view, Lea had known that what they’d find inside would be tragic. She’d sensed the lingering pain of the horrific suffering that had occurred here, and somehow, she still hadn't been prepared for it.

Bodies. Men, women, and children. Babies. Spread throughout the village square carelessly and haphazardly, as if they were nothing more than sacks of horse feed.

Lea's darkness grew and grew, her power expanding painfully in her chest, so big Lea worried her ribs would crack from the pressure of it begging for release. It wanted to destroy, craved suffering like a drug, but not like this. It took no joy from the suffering of the innocent.

Find him,the voice said.

Destroy.

Destroy.

Destroy.

The command pounded like a drum in her brain, a vibrating rhythm that repeated again and again and again. The pain became overwhelming and her vision blackened, her flames rising several feet above her head.

Find him, and destroy him. Destroy them all.

A command. An order she had to heed. And yet, she had to control it. Couldn’t let that darkness win. Lea’s ears rang, her throat closing and her breaths growing more shallow. She tried to push her primary magic down, the anger and rage and wrath threatening to eat her alive. It wasn’t helpful. Not when it could cause her to lose herself.

Her friends shouted her name from somewhere through the blackness, but Lea couldn’t see them. They were gone. Out of sight. It was simply her, the bodies, and the black fire around her.

Destroy.

She had to find something, anything, to help her release her magic. Just enough so she didn’t explode and hurt the people she loved. Lea walked toward the circle of the town square. If nothing else, she could burn the bodies. Give them a burial by fire. Emma had said the spirits needed to be at rest. And the blood bath in front of her? There would be no rest until the bodies had been respectfully disposed of.

Disgust crept up her throat, coating her tongue in bile. No one deserved this. This… horror. Her eyes flicked to a man with his intestines hanging out, throat slashed. Nearby lay an arm ripped from a torso, and nearby, teeth scattered across the pavement like dice that had been abandoned mid-game.

Alaric hadn’t just killed these people, he had slaughtered them, magic or not. Infected the village with the Lonely Death, and either tortured them until they were weak enough for him to steal their power, or brutally murdered them just because he could.

Emma’s head suddenly swung to Lea, her mouth opening to shout, but the moment Lea’s feet moved from the cobblestone road to thelarger, flat stones of the courtyard, an explosion rocked the Earth. Lea stumbled, her eyes snapping up to search for the cause. Her rage grew even more fierce, black flames and shadows branching out in every direction.

"Alaric!" she hissed, pulling herself upright and swinging her head around until her eyes found the church, a tiny chapel, only large enough to fit maybe twenty people inside, and it was going up in flames. Screams of agony punched through the fog of darkness around her. Cries of "Help me!" and "Please, gods!" made Lea's darkness surge even more.

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