Page 53 of Of Flames and Crows

“What?!” the sorcerer said stiffly into his cell.

Unease fluttered through her at his frown.

A muscle twitched in Nikolai’s jawline. “When?” He swore as he listened to Marlena’s reply. “Okay, thanks for the heads-up. I’ll let them know you want to meet with them when they turn up.”

He ended the call and looked up into a barrage of stares.

“A delegation from the main Vissarion house landed in Prague an hour ago. They’re on their way here.”

Vlad’s eyes flashed crimson. Tarang growled.

Budimir’s brows lowered in a thunderous scowl. “That damn hag is in Prague?!”

A disturbance outside Cortes’s suite drew their gazes to the door.

Incubus power detonated around Vlad. Tarang’s hackles rose.

“Looks like she’s already here,” Budimir said bitterly.

Mae jumped to her feet when she felt a burst of magic coming from the corridor. One of Cortes’s bodyguards cried out. A gunshot shattered the air. Ilya cursed.

The door smashed under Milo’s weight as he came crashing through it.

Mae’s eyes rounded.

“Levitate!” she barked.

A scarlet bubble formed around the bodyguard, halting him inches before he collided head-first with a sideboard. His clothes were scorched over his chest from where a spell had knocked him out.

Vlad and Nikolai rushed over to the unconscious man while Mae carefully lowered him to the ground. Nikolai unleashed his Moon Magic and pressed his hands to Milo’s wound. Vlad watched on with a mixture of concern and anger.

Mae switched her attention to the door.

Ilya, Cortes’s men, and Budimir’s guards were backing into the suite, weapons aimed squarely at the six dark-clad figures who followed them inside. She studied the Fire Magic brimming in the strangers’ eyes and hands with a scowl.

“Stand down,” Budimir told his men coldly. “Bullets won’t work on these bastards.”

Cortes dipped his chin stiffly at his escort.

The guards lowered their guns. Ilya faltered before dropping his hand to his side, his jaw clenched tight.

An elderly woman with ash-white hair raised in a bun, an impatient expression, and an ivory cane stormed past the Fire Magic users. Her rheumy eyes narrowed when she spotted Budimir.

“Where is he? Where is my great-grandson?!”

Her voice rose stridently, the red salamander on her shoulder tasting the air with its tongue.

Budimir rose, practically spitting with rage.

The woman registered Vlad’s presence where he crouched by Milo. Her lip curled. “What are you doing here,mongrel?”

Mae’s gut twisted.Shit. Is that Vlad’s grandmother?!

She possesses strong Fire Magic,Hellreaver grumbled where he hovered defensively in front of her, his blades glinting with a hint of crimson.

I agree,Brimstone grunted beside her.She must be the head of the Vissarion family.

Mae could not deny their words. She could sense the power within the old woman’s core.

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