Page 121 of The Demon Tide

“She’smyBlack Witch,” Lukas snaps, baring teeth.

“She’s theMagedom’sBlackWitch,” Vogel snipes back. “And you turned her against her true calling.” His expression turning eerily calm, he traces his Shadow Wand’s tip over the fastlines on Lukas’s palm. Lukas shivers at the invasive contact, an icy, unnatural sting chasing the Wand’s touch. “And so, the Ancient One has called upon me to rectify this corruption.” Vogel softly begins to sound out a disturbingly unfamiliar spell, and Lukas’s fastlines tint to gray.

A sharp blade of fear strikes down Lukas’s spine. “What are you doing?” He curses himself for revealing his desperation, a pleased look coming over Vogel’s sharp visage.

“Continuing the process,” Vogel answers as he continues to trace the fastlines. “I’m going to make her pure again.”

Lukas’s fear for Elloren explodes, his muscles tensing as he blows out a hard exhale, blasting every ounce of his magic’s aura toward Vogel’s Wand. His fastlines glow red, the smoke twining from Vogel’s Wand flashing crimson before it blinks out of sight.

Wrath flashes in Vogel’s eyes, silver-bright. He raises his Wand and points it at Lukas’s chest.

Pain strafes through Lukas’s lines as he’s hit by a blast of Shadow, a guttural cry escaping his throat as his body spasms. Gray flashes across his vision and his resurgent alarm spikes.

“Oh, soon I’ll have your mind,” Vogel croons as he sets his Wand’s tip back down on Lukas’s fastlines as their red glow cools to gray. “Just as I’m beginning to access hers. I know you tried to warn her in a dream. After you tried to seduce her.”

“Better keep me awake,” Lukas hisses. “I’ll do it again.”

Vogel smiles faintly. “The only one in her dreams from now on will beme.”

Lukas’s fury detonates, every muscle rage-tight. “I willkillyou if you touch her. And if I don’t, she will. You don’t know what you’re dealing with.”

“Oh, I knowexactlywhat I’m dealing with,” Vogel rejoins sharply. “She’s cowering right now in the Eastern Realm. Hiding from both me and the Vu Trin heathens. Unable to access any of her power. But soon, very soon, she will be unbound. She’s waiting for it.” He smiles coldly. “And so am I.” Vogel murmurs a spell as Lukas futilely strains to free his wand hand, Shadow smoke slithering all over his fastlines. “She has plans to track you through the fasting,” Vogel notes as he traces the dark lines. “Fancies herself so in love with you.” His eyes flick to Lukas. “You and the Icaral both.”

Lukas glares at him, refusing to rise to the taunt. It guts him, to hear of Elloren’s love for Yvan. But this jealousy...it’s but an ember compared to what he feels for her.

Don’t come after me, Elloren,he rages through the fastline connection.He’s setting you up.

“I will break her,” Vogel serenely continues as Lukas pictures himself shoving that Shadow Wand clear down Vogel’s throat. “Then I will bind her and purify her.”

Vogel murmurs another spell as he touches his Wand to the center of Lukas’s palm.

Lukas groans, sweat breaking out over his back as slim Shadow trees rise up from the fastlines on both his palms, the sting agonizing as their roots punch into his veins, threads of dark smoke branching out.

Elloren...Lukas breathes, feeling as if he’s being rolled into an abyss. His vision sputters, tinting a darker gray.

Vogel sheathes his Wand and holds his palms above the tree forms. An enraptured smile touches his lips as the undulating canopy brushes his skin. The smoky branches twine around his hands, his smile widening as Lukas sinks further into the Void, mentally calling Elloren’s name over and over as the many-eyed bird watches and waits.

CHAPTER FIVE

NIGHTMARE

Elloren Grey

Voloi, Noilaan

Eastern Realm

The night before Xishlon

The rune ship’s kitchen is a purple Xishlon world.

A string of violet-flower-decorated runic orbs wash the cramped evening space in a lavender glow as I sprinkle luminous violet sugar crystals over the traditional heart-shaped cookies for tomorrow’s festival, feeling tense and restless.Busy yourself, I urge.Your allies will be here for you soon enough.

Petals of iridescent purple flowers simmer in a large copper pot beside me to make more Xishlon rose tea, its floral scent heavy on the air, the steam glowing an ethereal lilac.

I anxiously glance out the sliver of open door that affords me a view of the ship’s riverside deck and scan the pitch-dark Vo River for some sign of runic flight toward me. Turning, I peer out the window of the ship’s starboard side, which is closed and locked for the night, searching for friends and family coming in on foot. Purple flower-and-heart-decorated runic orbs are strung across the main thoroughfare and hung from the violet-leafed Xishlon Plum and Mountain Pear trees, casting a soft lavender glow over the steady street traffic.

The clink of porcelain sounds on the port side deck and I turn toward it. Half of Mora’lee’s slender frame is visible through the slice of open door as she pours herself tea, then leans against the walkway’s railing as she sips it, a green leatherbound book in her hand. She seems lost in her thoughts, glowing violet steam rising from her cup, the effect full of a melancholy beauty against the dark of night.

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