Page 125 of My Wild Horse King

Leonid blinks. “Two of the three? Are you saying I can kill Amanda and you, but not Kristiana?”

I snort. “Hardly.”

“What, then?” Leonid arches one eyebrow. “Because, honestly, I was just being polite. If you don’t agree to my terms, I’ll just kill you one by one until I can take what I want.”

Aleksandr swears in Russian, and then he slams a tornado of dirt into Leonid’s chest, sending him flying back. “You’ll never kill my wife. Never.”

These idiots are just incapable of sticking to the script.

Leonid, of course, fights back, shooting a strangely spiraling burst of water and fire at Aleksandr.

“Stop,” I shout.

Everyone ignores me.

Grigoriy manages to knock the flame-water spiral off course with a gust of wind, but that sends it slamming into the side of Abigail’s house. I cringe as a chunk of wall shears off, exposing the family room to the fall wind, debris immediately covering everything inside.

Boris brings his hands together, preparing to strike as well, I’m sure, but Katerina has other ideas. She shrieks, “You’re such a total embarrassment,” and launches herself at him. She starts pulling his hair, and electric bolts fly outward at strange intervals, one striking a tree and splitting it in half. Another leaving a dark mark on a large grey stone.

The horses in Steve’s nearby paddock are racing around like mad.

Mikhail has joined the fray, slamming bursts of flame toward Aleksandr, most of which Aleks blocks with tiny tornadoes of dirt.

“Stop it now,” I say, only this time, I put some force into it, and my words come out so loud that the ground shakes.

Everyone freezes.

“It’s time,” I say, using the same amplification.

Grigoriy and Aleksandr meet my eyes, and they nod.

Aleksandr starts, because he can’t stand to be shown up, ever. “I hereby grant Leonid Ivanovich the right and ability to use earth.”

“And I grant Leonid the right to use wind,” Grigoriy says, never one to be outdone.

Leonid’s eyes light up.

But this time, I’m the one smiling harder.

“Why?” Leonid turns toward me. “You know I’ll kill you now.”

“I think not,” I say.

“No?” Leonid smirks. “Why ever not?”

“You’ve never come into two powers at once before,” I say. “But let me tell you, as someone who managed to master three at once, you’re about to go down—hard.” I spread my hands out. “And all I have to do is stay alive until it happens.”

Leonid’s jaw drops, and he starts to fight like a cat in a bag, heading down to the river. Fire and water, lightning and earth stream at me simultaneously. This isn’t someone who mastered his skills in a few hours or a few days.

No, Leonid knows what he’s doing.

And Aleksandr and Grigoriy can no longer do anything.

But in his distraction, Leonid forgets to cut off Katerina, and she manages to keep Mikhail and Boris distracted. Either that, or they’re afraid to really harm her.

I’m no mage, that’s for sure, but I’ve gotten good at blocking, and the more attacks Leonid launches, the more exhausted he becomes, his eyes closing and then slamming back open. He droops and then straightens like a board, blinking rapidly. After a very focused and very concerted effort, he weakens fast. His movements slow. He struggles to keep his eyes open.

And then he passes out.

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