Page 94 of Kingdom of the Two Moons

She didn’t know whether a phantom could die, but she sure as death won’t let herself find out.

“Touch her again and you’ll burn,” Blair growled, and a storm of her fiery, scorching magic once again collided with his.

It erupted in a bluish-red collision, before it collapsed. She flung out another wave, digging deep into her magic, letting it rush through her veins and shine through her eyes. Only then did she realize how long it had been since she’d loosened the leash, even a fraction. How good it felt.

But the coward didn’t stay to block it. To play with her. No. When she swiveled for him, she found him sprinting towards the woods. The infamous mountain lion of Palisandre… running for his life like a coward.

Well, not so high and mighty after all, it seemed.

“Don’t run, elf. You’ll only die tired,” Blair shouted after him, flicking debris and splinters of ice off her leathers while she made her magic follow him.

A channeled, spear-like flame rushed after him, piercing the night. She smiled. He wouldn’t have a chance to scream before she’d skewered and roasted him like a pig.

All around her the night sky exploded with bursts of magicfrom similar fights—witches against high elves, the air filled with cracks and snarling.

Blair paused to breathe it all in. It was beautiful in a macabre way. Crazy as it was, part of her had always been more comfortable in chaos. She allowed herself a split second. A split second too long, because that blanched bastard of an elf used it to summon some kind of ice-whip, which slammed into her flesh, hurling her through the air and into the wall of the castle.

How the fuck did he get here so fast? He must have teleported, because another second later, she was pulled back up to her feet, her head pushed so hard against the wall all over that her teeth ate stone and her jaw sang with pain. His body was close and unrelenting like steel, pressing so hard against hers she couldn’t move. Her clawed hands somehow already pinned against her back. Useless.

“Game over, bitch,” he snarled too close to her throat.

“I’m a witch, you fucker,” she hissed. “Believe me, that one letter makes a big difference.”

“I believe that dead, you’re all the same,” he seethed right back, ready to rip her throat out with his teeth, she knew.

“Yeah? I’d think twice about that if I were you. Might be a big mistake. Or probably not so big in your case,” she said.

He froze as he felt the sting of her dagger pressing against the inside of his thigh. She’d flicked it free from her sleeve with a tiny twist of her wrist. He’d anticipated her claws, but not a knife.

She grinned. “Your favorite part might be an even better trophy than your head, and I reckon you even use it more often.”

His answer was nothing short of a deadly growl, yet he didn’t move a muscle.

“Right. Who’s a good boy?”

“Shut your trap, witch.”

“Why? Since we’re obviously stuck here, we might as well get to know each other a little. Why don’t you start by telling me what you did to get sent to a godsforsaken outpost in the middle of nowhere. Tell me, what did you do to piss off your little elven king?”

“Shut your mouth, witch.”

She almost laughed at how on the spot she was. Almost. If her cheek didn’t hurt so much, she would have.

“I’ll rip out your throat before you can so much as twitch a finger,” he hissed, accentuating it with another brutal shove.

“Will you?” She angled the knife at his groin slightly, so the tip bit into his skin. “I love a challenge.”

“What about you tell me which outpost Caryan’s planning on attacking next, and I’ll let you live.”

He knew Caryan, she could tell, by the way he used the angel’s name so casually.Strange.

Blair let out a laugh, but it got choked by an icy wind that started to fill her lungs, smothering her fire, freezing her insides so fast she couldn’t move.

A wildfire made of pure ice. What in the hells?

“So, witch. Which outpost? Dare lie, and your arm holding the knife will be the first to break off your body like a frozen twig. Snap, snap.”

For a brief second, true panic stirred in Blair. She’d never been trapped like this. She tried to summon her magic, but the warrior’s magic coated it all with a blanket of eternal ice. Her magic—it was muted, subdued. Silent.

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