Page 96 of Fallen Heirs

“Save your niceties, your infamous diplomacy. It won’t spare you or your organization. You had a chance when Abigail died to leaveExemplarbehind. But you foolishly chose to save it instead.”

“Constantine would have come for me regardless.”

“Perhaps, but not as quickly. He would have razedExemplarto the ground, yet you would have been spared. He’s always liked you.”

“Turning my son would indicate otherwise.”

“You don’t see, do you?”

“See what?”

“He couldn’t have you by his side, so he went for the next best thing in your son, turning him in the hopes that he could ensure it, that he’d require his guidance and come to be with him.”

“The thought process of a madman.”

“He’s a visionary!” Lenora yelled, my dad’s words getting to her.

Oh, he was good. I watched as her hand holding him in the air shook and the noose around his neck loosened.

SeveralExemplarmembers took note of it as well, and used the opportunity to rush her.

As they did, catching her off guard in a moment of distraction and her magic wavering as a result, they blasted her back several feet into the forest.

In the chaos, I managed to get to my feet and use the last of my energy to burst toward my dad and pull him from the immediate area.

The stilled battlefield erupted into brutal violence once again, all hell breaking loose.

“Dad,” I cried, helping him to his feet and easing him against the trunk of a tree. “Are you—”

“I’m fine. Weakened, but fine,” he said, even as he massaged a nasty burn around his throat caused by Lenora’s noose of magic. “Go. Get to safety,” he urged me.

“I’m not leaving here without you.”

“Ican’t leave while the compound is under attack.”

“If you don’t, stealing your blood samples away will have been for nothing. Lenora will just take you in their place.”

A power surge identical to the one from earlier cut our conversation to the quick as a burst of power blasted from Lenora, ripping through the trees and nuking them and the ground beneath too—and tearing into allExemplarmembers in its path.

Bone-chilling screams sounded as two dozen of them were blown back and right through the hefty walls of the compound, decimating it under the impact, the interior becoming visible. Grunts sounded from the rubble as several members were buried beneath the destruction.

“Holy hell,” I choked.

Lenora levitated up through the fallen trees and glided toward us, blasting all those in her path.

Exemplarfell back toward the rubble of the compound entrance, forming a wall, all of them breathing heavily, many bloodied and wounded, but still trying to stand strong and ward off the brutal attack.

This was it.

The enemy was going to takeExemplar.

It was moments away from falling.

The organization that had existed for centuries and governed the supernatural world.

Thunder rolled above, reverberating through the sky, clouds drawing together in an unnatural way.

Thinking it was her about to do even worse and call a mammoth magical storm forth, I was more than a little shocked when flash lightning tore through the darkness.

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