Page 14 of The Demon Tide

Alarm strikes. “How?” Lukas rasps, rattled by Vogel’s reveal of power-empath abilities.

Vogel slides onto one knee, a calculating glint in his eyes as he lifts his Shadow Wand and presses its tip to the palm of Lukas’s wand hand.

Lukas shivers as tendrils of Shadow course from the Wand to flow over his fastlines. “What are you doing?” he demands, his composure breached.

Vogel eyes him slyly, as if to say,Ah, got you.“Infiltrating the spell,” he states. “To connect to my Black Witch.”

White flashes through Lukas’s vision, a growl escaping his throat as he hurls every ounce of his formidable strength against his bindings. “I’ll kill you,” he lashes out, mind storming. “I willkillyou if you touch her.”

Vogel’s voice is low and mocking when it comes. “Does it bother you that the only reason you survived my fire is that the Icaral’s taint is all over her? Because of his deep, serpentine kiss?”

Another blaze of jealousy commingled with hatred for Vogel overtakes Lukas as the reason for his survival falls into place—Elloren’s Wyvernfire. From her bond to Yvan Guryev.

“Join with me,” Vogel challenges, serious, his eyes flashing. “Together we can smite Yvan Guryev and raise Elloren to great power.”

Lukas lunges for Vogel’s Wand through a loose binding, but Vogel flinches back, viper fast. He flicks his Wand, Shadow vines flying from its tip, and Lukas grunts as his wand arm is wrenched outward. He glares murderously at Vogel as the gray cast to his vision intensifies and he stiffens, hit by what that means.

“You’re going to join me by choice or by force,” Vogel calmly imparts. He tilts his head, his expression turning almost sympathetic. “As will my Black Witch. She’s lost her way, but I’m going to help her redeem her very soul. Elloren is going to fulfill the Prophecy, slay the Icaral demon, and cleanse the East.”

A rush of protective love overtakes Lukas. Stronger than his jealousy of Yvan Guryev. Stronger than anything on Erthia, the protective surge intensifying as a horrifyingly multi-eyed raven flies down to light on Vogel’s shoulder.

Find Yvan Guryev, Elloren, Lukas rages.Find him and anyone you can with any power to ally with. Free yourself from our Sealing spell and unbind your magic.

Then light this bastard up with the full might of your Black Witch power.

CHAPTER FIVE

FIREANDSHADOW

Elloren Grey

The Dyoi Forest

Eastern Realm

Elloren.

Yvan’s deep voice shudders through me, quickening my pulse. The flame aura encompassing me flashes through my vision, overtaking it with chaotic gold as the hostile purple forest surrounding me cuts out of sight.

The flame aura builds, coming in from the northeast. My body shivers against its potent flow as it sweeps through my tangled affinity lines with dizzying heat. As if it’s trying to burn a path across the distance between us.

I gasp, disbelieving even in the face of it.Yvan, are you alive?

The conflagration intensifies, and I can sense explosive yearning in its power. My mind casts about. This aura swept in so fast after the scorpio attack—after Lukas pushed me through a portal to the Eastern Realm.

Sacrificing his life for mine.

My throat clenches with choking sorrow. I can barely breathe as I remember my last glimpse of Lukas, his green eyes locked with mine as his back was hit by Vogel’s dark fire.

The flame aura seems to sense my anguish, its flow intensifying around me to the point of vibration.

Sweet Ancient One.

I’msurethis is Yvan’s flame. I’ve been swept up in this flow of Wyvern power before, in his bonding kiss.

A wilderness of disorientation wrests hold, hot and raw, over the world-upending possibility of Yvan, alive, and Lukas, lost to me forever. Devastated tears glaze my eyes as I remember Yvan’s words—

A dragon’s kiss binds him to his mate.I’ll know when you’re in danger. I’ll sense any pain you experience.

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