Page 126 of Blooms of Darkness

“I will be rewarded. Just like I have been given more power for eliminating Elisabeth.”

I froze, every fiber of my being ignited by his words, alighting with a fire never to be quenched unless I stood over this Fae’s dead body.

“Ah, surprised?” He sneered. “She got close to countering my poison, and I couldn't have that. So, in the chaos of the second trial, I killed her.” He grinned gleefully. “Soon everyone will be bowing before me or will be destroyed, just like her.”

“Bow to whom?” I bellowed. “You? In your dreams. You are nothing.”

He moved faster than I was prepared for, wrapping one hand around my throat, and the other around the wrist of the hand holding the dagger.

No.

He raised me from the ground, squeezing harder. I was running out of air. “I’d kill you now, but I want to see your face when I drain the magic from your pathetic father. I’ll watch your pain when he dies, when all those you love—Kalliah, Ian, all of them—die fighting to save your worthless life.”

He nuzzled his nose against my face. “I’ll take what I want from you, frame Casimir for what happened today, and ascend the throne beside your weak, compliant body. The hero who saved Illiana and Brookmere.” He inhaled, and slowly licked his tongue from the corner of my mouth to my cheek. “I will be King and take all of what’s mine.”

Nausea churned inside my gut at the thought of his hands on me. The way he bent my body, even now, to his will, all because I didn’t have the magic I needed to defend myself.

I am Illiana Dresden, and I am stronger than the darkness within me.

Energy danced inside of me, something growing—fury, rage, anger. I screamed, and that same precious light exploded from within me, sending Andras paces away.

I gasped, inhaling deep breaths as oxygen flowed into my lungs again.

“Has someone decided they’re ready to play?” he asked, his lip curling as he stared at me.

I didn’t care what had happened, it got him off of me. I lunged for the dagger, which had fallen from my hands, and ran toward him, ready to stab him.

I slashed downward, missing, and slicing through the forearm of his tunic as he barely avoided my attack.

He ripped at it, flinging it off with a fierce yell. “There are ways to get what I want with or without you cognizant, Illiana. But without you will mean pain for the ones you love.”

He spread his arms out arrogantly, and I caught sight of a mark on the forearm I’d stripped bare.

A black circle, surrounding an eye. The same mark I’d seen on the dark one Storm had on his knees a few weeks before.What the hell?

I narrowed my gaze, wrath burning within me. I needed him alive to provide answers to all of this. I ran toward him, but Andras tossed his hands in the air, laughter echoing around us.

And disappeared.

“No,” I yelled, frantically searching around the hallway.

He was gone. Running off again like a true coward.

With Andras out of sight, I knew I needed to go back. I needed to find Kade.

And more importantly, my father.

Whatever Andras had planned with Casimir wasn’t over yet. My father needed to be protected at all costs.

Now more than ever.

Chapter 36

KADE

“This is not how this was supposed to go.”

Storm’s angry ranting flowed brashly as he beheaded another dark one. “Also, I’ve killed more than you,” he added. “Do your part.”

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