Page 88 of Chaos Carnival

The second hunter launched his blessed chains at me, but I was already moving. I appeared in front of him, small andvulnerable, letting him think he had a chance. He lunged forward, victory blazing in his eyes.

And again, I waited until the last possible second before pulling every thread at once, turning myself into a supernova. The explosion sent him reeling, his weapon dissolving into stardust as the universe rejected his presence.

A burst of blue flame.

Another hunter sent screaming back to Hell.

The third hunter stood alone now, his confidence shattered. He raised his blade with trembling hands as I approached.

“Do you not give up?” I asked, genuine curiosity in my voice. “Do you not see what you're dealing with?”

“I’m not allowed back unless you send me,” he whispered, backing away as I let him see glimpses of my true form. “What are you?”

“I told you. I'm what happens when you push someone too far,” I murmured, reaching out to touch his forehead with one finger. “I'm what happens when fate herself… becomes.”

His eyes rolled back as I showed him everything at once—every possibility, every timeline, every horror and wonder that existed in the spaces between realities. His mind couldn't handle it of course, and he burst into blue flame without a whimper.

Hewould not be sent back to Hell. It was over for him.

Silence fell over the field as the last echoes faded. I stood alone under the star-filled sky, the strands gradually settling back into their usual patterns. The power hummed deep inside me, intoxicating and terrifying all at once to my subconscious. But I didn't think about that.

They would send more hunters. The Seraphim Authority was what earthbound humans would call psychotic. But word would spread about what happened here. About the hybrid who could bend time and space, who played with seraphim hunters like a cat with mice.

Let them come,I thought, smiling as I gathered the threads around me. With infinite possibilities at my disposal, I had the time to play with them some more later.

With a thought, I phased back to the circus, slipping through the wards like they were spider webs. Maverick would be worried, but he needed to understand, I wasn't something that needed protection anymore.

I was the protection for now.

And any hunter who dared to threaten what was mine would learn what that meant.

Chapter 40: Crushing Devotion

Maverick

Thematebondsnappedtaut like a rubber band returning to form. My shadows writhed as the air bent inward, creating a pocket of impossible space in our tent. Stone's goat bleated a warning as ancient forces filled the air.

She materialized like a dark cloud, her form coalescing from energy my seraph senses couldn't process. Magic rolled off her in waves that felt like static in my veins.

“Miss me?” Tess's smile held echoes of warmth, her eyes reflecting moonlight.

My shadows reached for her instinctively but hesitated at the edge of hers. Even they recognized she wasn't quite containedanymore. The mate bond hummed with a resonance that felt both familiar and not.

“Where were you?” I kept my voice neutral, though my fingers itched to grab her, to check every inch for damage.

She laughed, the sound rippling through the tent and beyond. “Exactly where I needed to be.” Her gaze swept the space, taking in Stone's rigid posture, Lux's careful stillness, Addie's wide-eyed wonder. “The hunters won't be a problem.”

“What did you do?” I forced my hands to unclench.

“Showed them what real power looks like.” She moved toward me with that new liquid grace. “They thought they were hunting a pet witch. I showed them something ancient, something blue, something eternal and something true.”

“You could have been killed.” Seraphim power bled into my voice.

Her smile turned sharp. “No, I couldn't have.” She reached up to touch my face, fingers trailing electricity across my skin.

I caught her wrist, needing the anchor of physical contact. Her pulse raced beneath my fingers, not with fear but with power—with the intoxication of becoming something monstrous.

“Next time—” I started.

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