Page 115 of Of Nine So Bold

My brow furrowed. What did he mean? I?—

Magic surged in the west.

I gasped, my head snapping toward the electrifying sense of power. A rattling hiss came from the Voidborn as my lips pulled back from my fangs. This… this was not possible. My plan had been perfect. Fail-safes upon fail-safes from which she couldn’t escape. And yet still—still!—a damned heresy came to life among the ley lines.

A gateway.

Through the darkness of my kingdom, a piercing sensation lanced, a needle-like light stabbing at the corners of my senses. Like moonlight on frost, it glimmered brighter as it grew.

I bit back a snarl. Gwyneira couldn’t form agateway. To do so required a level of control that only witches like myself or the highest levels of the Jeweled Coven possessed.

Other magic pricked at my senses.

Oh, that little bitch. Those were Erenlian powers. A multitude of them, like multicolor fragments of wool someone had attempted to weave into a rope of energy. It shouldn’t have been possible. The restraints I’d crafted for those brutes should have kept them from coming anywherecloseto their own powers. And even if they had managed to cling to a trace of magic beyond their shackles, the prison I’d created should have caged them entirely.

Yet the prickling offense of their magic grew stronger.

How thehellhad she managed to break them free?

Around me, the whispers of the Voidborn turned to a frenzy. They wanted to consume that magic. To swallow it whole until it joined the glow of destroyed realms burning inside them. They wanted to snuff out every trace of that power, until not even embers would remain.

But I had a much better plan.

Alaric’s chuckle came from a fragment of glass. “Silly child, isn’t she?”

A smile curving my lips, I made a noise of agreement. “Indeed.” My smile grew. “Thatwas a mistake.”

30

GWYNEIRA

No one argued, for once. In moments we were at the cusp of the gateway, ready to follow the giants through.

It felt like standing at a cliff, beyond which was pure darkness. And we were about to dive over the edge.

“Brace yourselves,” Casimir said as the last of the other giants passed through the gateway, leaving only Ignatius, Ruhl, and the nine of us on this side of the portal.

I nodded. Unlike Duke Ensid and his men, the rest of the giants had passed through individually as the gateway demons requested. Gods willing, they’d made it safely to the opposite end.

“Well—” Clay grinned, but I could see the apprehension in the tight expression. “See you on the other side.”

The grin faltering, he turned and walked into the gateway. The darkness rippled and swallowed him.

“I will make sure he is well met on the other side,” Ignatius said.

The portal swallowed him too.

One by one, Ruhl and my other men followed. Soon only Ozias, Byron, Casimir, and I remained.

“Now you,” Ozias said to me.

“Byron should go with her,” Casimir spoke up quickly.

“What?” Byron gave him a confused look. “You heard the demons. That isn’t?—”

“You are not the same size as the other giants. She is smaller still. It will be fine.”

I didn’t move. “Casimir, what’s going on? You’re acting strange.”

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