Page 100 of Untamed

The hairs on my neck rose with how vehement his hate ran through the cord of our connection. It reminded me that I couldn’t just sit back and have my soldiers, friends, and brotherfight for me anymore. This gift pulsing in my veins was made for such a time as this.

With no reservations, I flared my ability to its full potential. My skin shone as if the sunlight reflected off bronze metal. Hundreds of invisible cords latched onto me like a humming myriad of birds, all with distinct songs, but I had no way to process their differing intonation.

This wouldn’t do. I prayed.Ancient One, what will stop our enemy? What can I do to help?

A gust of wind undid my already precarious hair from its braid, bringing with it a command.Stop the fighting.

I pushed the wordsbe stillinto every connection, and then I infused it with the calm I’d seen so many nights at sunset looking out my window.

Men stopped fighting in their tracks and heaved angry breaths. Though Papá could control the body, I had the ability to control and shape the will.

Papá lay on the ground unconscious, but his chest was moving up and down. Cosme motioned for Zichri and Jaime to take Papá away. The two lifted Papá and lugged him out of the forest and onto the beach. Was he hurt or just drained? Either way, I needed to continue pushing my will into the men:retreat.

With a storm of anger and greed at my disposal to shape, I pushed it through every connection.

Be still. This isn’t your fight.I continued to hum the mantra into their minds. Men’s brows twitched with confusion, and their sword grips loosened.

Whyzer Patro sneered from a distance, gripping his staff that emanated an oppressive force pushing against mine. Cosme placed a hand on my shoulder, bolstering my powers with his. If I could have, I would have killed Whyzer Patro. It wasn’t a matter of sword cutting through flesh, but of being able to live with myself after all of this was done.

Cosme dipped his head close to my ear. “We’ll take him prisoner.”

The whyzer’s cord vibrated with malicious intent grounded in a lust for control. He took up his staff, and all his men lifted their swords. What did he intend to do?

Nervous energy vibrated through my heart, and I tried to quell it by pushing back calm. The other cords buzzed with adrenaline getting ready to fight again. The Giddelians adjusted their stances, but I commandednot yetinto their wills.

“Prince and Princess,” Whyzer Patro’s deep voice called. “My servants are everywhere and burned with my marking. They can’t live behind wards to keep me away forever. You will never be at rest because even your mother would turn on you at my command.” The whyzer lowered his staff and each of his men plunged their swords into their own bodies.

Blood drained from my head.

Grunts filled the dying light. Blood oozed, bodies collapsed, and now I understood the panic. Cosme shook my shoulder and pointed in the distance. Whyzer Patro’s cloak made him appear like a shadow, racing back toward the castle. His waning connection to me still churned with cool sentiment tinged with something I couldn’t quite understand. It felt like sipping bitter herbs when you were expecting something sweet. This sentiment ran deep in his veins with no remorse for what he’d just done.

When the whyzer meshed into the depths of the forest, I allowed my vision to take in the carnage. This was what evil did to hide his secrets and save himself.

Cosme shouted commands at his guards whose masculine features twisted into looks of horror.

“Let’s go home.” The stench of blood permeated my nostrils, potent and detestable.

Half of the Giddelian soldiers chased the whyzer, and the other half accompanied Cosme and me into the portal. Cosme kept his shoulder butted against my side in a protective stance, his gaze scanning all directions for trickery.

“What do you think he’ll do next?” My feet sank into the uneven sand.

“He wants something, and he’s desperate to have it.”

I bit the inside of my cheek and envisioned the flower fields. “He wanted the relics.”

“Possibly.” Cosme held out his hand for me to take it as we jumped through the portal together.

“Then what?”

“Revenge.” The way Cosme said the word curled my heart into knots. That could have been the sentiment Whyzer Patro emanated as he ran. Could death be the only way to put an end to his evil?

With that, wind swept across our bodies, tugging on my dress’s skirt as we jolted forward and hit sandstone ground.

Minerva worried her lip as she stood but three arm spans away in a circle of soldiers including Fermín and Lucas. I continued to scan the small crowd, searching for familiar faces.

“Should I close the portal?” Minerva inhaled with something akin to relief.

“No, I’m heading back. Lucas? Fermín?” Cosme tipped his head toward the portal in invitation. “We’re on a hunt.”

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