Page 36 of In the Dark

She shook her head. “No! There’s nothing you can do. You don’t know what it’s like to live with this thing inside of me. It’s eating away at me, and for what? For someone to attack my mother and make it look like an accident? Someone has to pay the price for this, for what they did to her! And I am the person to make it happen. It’s my right.”

The storm stole the moisture from the air in preparation for the torrent to come. The fury she would unleash on the Claddium would be unprecedented. The forest, if left unchecked, would reclaim the city and its inhabitants would fall. She knew the malevolence in their hearts. Tasted their dark deeds on her tongue.

It would be no worse than the fate awaiting them on the other side.

She clenched her fist and a blast rippled through the street, radiating from where she stood and drawing the guilty parties forward. They would do her bidding because they had no choice in the matter. “I said come out, Orestes Voltaire!”

At last she saw them. Drawn from their fortress. Forced outside.

A crowd gathered in front of the Claddium building, with Orestes and his goons at the helm. Instead of appearing rattled he linked his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow. A dare.

Rage brought a blush to her face as thunder boomed and threatened to deafen them.

Morgan held out a hand. “Karsia—”

“I won’t turn away from this path, Morgan. Their lives for our safety. It is right.” She prepared to launch her final attack like a deadly arrow toward a target.

“That’s it.” Morgan cracked his neck and squared his shoulders. “I’ve had enough.”

“What do you think you’ll do? What can any of you do? I hold the balance. And now I claim my prize!”

Karsia raised her arms to send her lightning lancing toward Orestes, who was tensed for battle with his own magic at the ready.

Calling on his inherent gifts, Morgan embraced his god-derived powers to halt the mess she’d started. He approached Karsia calmly but quickly, only a moment before she could unleash her curse, walking into the maelstrom that formed a vortex around her as if it were not there at all. “Enough.”

He reached out, touching her at the nape of her neck. Like a suddenly sleepy child, she collapsed, her power tapped out. Clouds dissipated. The maelstrom disappeared. The crackle of energy ceased and an unnatural silence filled the air.

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