Page 109 of House of Mages and Raven

I didn’t have time to explain to everyone that my ghost familiar could go wherever he pleased now because he was bonded to me.

The entire building was rocking. Even though no one could hear or see what was up on the rooftop, since Killian and Rowan had glamoured X Palace, the battle between them was obviously in full swing.

The next tremor came. The heirs traded worried looks and cursed more.

“We must get to them before either of them—well, kicks the bucket,” Louis said urgently.

“One second, we were looking for Barbie all over, and Barbie was found. Then next, those two lost their shit.” Silas growled. “Is Sy still up there?” His eyes glowed in concern, his wolf peeking out. He was going to get aggressive and probably lose his shit too. “They drove everyone out of the building a while ago, but I didn’t see Sy among them.”

“I didn’t see her either. This is a major fuck-up!” Louis said, looking around as if hoping to spot Sy. “We gotta get up there and make sure that she won’t be caught in the crossfire if she’s still on the rooftop.”

“We need to take down their blood ward. Let’s try again, brothers,” Cade called. “Those two assholes will have a reckoning.”

The three heirs joined hands, power pouring out of them and colliding with the ward that surrounded the glass elevator. The glass rumbled and shook violently, but it didn’t give in to the heirs’ force. It’d need all five heirs to break the blood ward, but two of them were up on the rooftop.

Concrete, rocks, dirt, and shards of glass rained down from the top of the building. The heirs raised their shields over us just in time and cursed Killian profusely.

Pulling my lips back, I let my fangs appear and pierce the heel of my palm. My blood seeped out right away, and I slammed my bleeding palm into the blood ward erected by two most powerful alpha heirs. No magic, no spell, and no blood ward could deny my access when I offered my goddess blood.

I heard the heirs’ gasps as they felt my power crackling in the air.

The elevator slid open, and I dashed in. It sealed before the heirs could follow me in. The blood ward shifted back in place again, blocking them.

However, Pucker jumped in just in time, hitching a ride again. I heard the heirs’ shouts of protests and cusses as the elevator sped up. Their powers pounded the base of the glass elevator as I left them behind.

The elevator reached the top and dinged. Even before I stepped out, I could see the damage in front of me. The two bars had been reduced to rubble. Bottles and broken chairs littered the ground. The VIP section had been torn apart, and there wasa big hole in the center of the dance floor. The vandalism was obscene and would cost over a million to repair.

Neither Killian nor Rowan seemed to care. Killian, in his ruined T-shirt and jeans, drove a fist toward Rowan, whose leather pants were burned in a couple of places. He took the punch while kicking Killian in the thigh. It seemed that they’d resorted to a brawl instead of a magical match, which had destroyed half of the rooftop anyway.

I could see the appeal of a fistfight when your mighty knuckles hit your foe’s flesh and bones, and you heard their mewls of pain and shouts of anger. The satisfaction swelled in your chest as you pumped fear into their hearts.

Killian and Rowan punched each other, not even ducking. Their faces were swollen, bloody, and bruised, and their bodies bore cuts, blood flowing freely from their wounds. Sy and I sucked in a shaky breath at their pitiful appearance.

The two heirs lunged at each other again, their movements blurring. The sound of bones cracking echoed across the rooftop. When they broke apart, one had a swollen left eye and the other had a black right eye. They were trying to damage each other as visibly as possible.

“I’ve been trying to hunt down the other clients Barbie brought in,” Rowan seethed. “So glad you saved me time and delivered yourself to me. All this time,you’rethe secret lover. You cheating piece of shit! You’re engaged to a powerful queen, yet it’s still not enough. Nothing and no one can ever be enough for you, and you have to take what’s mine. Asshole, I’m going to end you today once and for all.”

Rowan wheeled to deliver a roundhouse kick to Killian, so forceful it broke the chaos heir’s nose. The sound of his cartilage tearing made me wince. Killian hadn’t even ducked, as if he welcomed the pain while inflicting the same upon his friend.

“She’s mine, you fucker!” he raged, lurching at Rowan and sending a punch to the fae prince’s ear. “She’s never yours, but always mine! You took my mate, even paying her for sex. Now I know why that pink diamond has your fucking scent. You’re disgusting.”

I blinked. Had he just called me his mate?

“Fuck you!” Rowan snarled, and for a moment he appeared confused, but rage swept over him before he could think it through. He punched Killian in the jaw, and Killian returned the favor. “Payfor sex? Did you even hear what the fuck came out of your fucking mouth? I paid the messenger for a few hookup messages. Never mind. I’m just going to finish you off, and the realm will fucking thank me.”

The war of the houses would break out, and the entire realm would become a warzone. When Ruin and his army came, there’d be no one to rally behind me to fight the ancient god, the eater of the worlds.

“I’ll end you slowly,” Killian promised. “I want you to feel the same agony I’ve been feeling before I tear your heart out. You’ll never,eversleep with my woman again.”

“She’s not your woman, motherfucker!” Rowan bellowed louder. “She’s my woman, my true mate.”

Sy preened, joyful tears falling from her golden eyes.

The heirs clashed again.

I dashed to them, waving my hands like a frantic traffic cop before a crash.

“Stop!” I screamed.

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