Page 61 of The Blood Crown

Nira shouted something over the din, but Aurelia was too far away to hear it.

Black flame erupted from Ven’s fingertips, a small show of his magick compared to what she’d witnessed before—but it was enough of a shock that Maloch fell back.

Aurelia grasped at the threads of her own power, willing the magick to come forward, but as the heat surfaced—it was dispelled just as quickly. She clutched blindly for her dagger, her fingers finally grasping its familiar hilt, a determined breath filling her lungs as she ran toward them.

Finding her opening, she plunged her dagger into Maloch’s back, the tip of her blade barely piercing the demon prince’s ebony skin.

He turned, his cruel face contorting from where he towered over her. And a dark blade punched through his gut. The prince looked down, irritation creasing his immortal brow as he gripped a massive hand around the sword, yanking it free.

Nira appeared before Maloch, pressing a coin to his forehead. And malice glittered in his black eyes as his skin burst into fire around the circle of iron. The prince stood frozen, bound by some magick that sent green flames licking across his shoulders, down his arms, until the unholy fire churned around his behemoth form.

You will regret this day.The words echoed around them as at last, the prince was swept away in a whirlwind of smoke and sulfur that whipped through the pines.

There was no reprieve as shadows crawled forward to fill the void in his wake. Ven wiped a bloody hand across his brow,picking up his sword from the ground and tossing Aurelia her dagger.

“Lanthius is working to unravel the spell,” Nira grunted as she sliced through another demon. That explained how Aurelia's magick had leaked through—how the Wraiths had been able to cast themselves here.

The three of them fought their way to where Karro stood, feral as he lashed out at the demons crowding around him—seeming more beast than man as he held the perimeter around Valea’s blood-soaked body.

The other Wraiths tightened around them as Nira glanced up to the pines that still lit up the forest like beacons. “We can’t stay here!”

Ven grasped Karro’s shoulder, trying to pry him from the haze of battle.

“She took a blade for me,” Karro snarled. “I will not leave her!”

“No one is asking you to, brother,” Ven replied.

The fight bled out of Karro’s eyes, sense pouring back into them as he lifted Valea into his arms. Anguish distorted his features as he tore into his wrist with his fangs, pressing his blood to her lips, murmuring something so low that the others could not hear.

Whatever Nira and the other Wraiths made of the Nostari female—they didn’t stop to question it as they fought their way toward the edge of the fray.

Aurelia lifted her blade as golden warmth spread through her, that familiar prickle at the back of her neck. Her power was returning—

A dark heap moved from the ground, crawling across their path.

Horror scraped against her senses as she recognized the face. The husk of the creature that looked at her now was only a gruesome image of the woman that had once inhabited the body.

Tanis struggled to her feet, her movements disjointed, uncanny. Her neck still at the sickening angle from when Asmodeous had broken it. And then she turned to face Aurelia, green light glowing from where hazel eyes had been as she stumbled toward them.

Ven lifted his blade, but Aurelia stilled his hand.

He gave her a small, somber nod as she stepped forward with her dagger.

She’d been the one to bring the woman with them. She’d been the one who had sealed her fate—and she would be the one who gave her a clean death.

Her blade slid through Tanis’ chest with a wet hiss as Ven's shadows slithered across the ground at his call, the cool silk of his magick wrapping around her body and casting them into darkness.

Chapter 31

The feeling of weightlessness was such a welcomed reprieve that Aurelia nearly sobbed when her boots hit frozen ground.

Ven’s arm wrapped tightly around her waist, keeping her upright as her eyes focused on their surroundings—the familiar dotting of pines, the rocky terrain, the night-drenched forest around them . . .

And towering high above—

Ravenstone.

She took an unsteady step forward, the warmth of Ven’s hand spanning the small of her back as she passed through the wards—worried that if she even so much as blinked, the sight might vanish entirely.

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