Page 95 of Witch Queen

“ROT!” Oscar barked before the dust cleared.

The black magic around Vedran wavered even more. The cloak he wore fluttered open, revealing their target.

Mae’s pulse spiked. “Hell!”

Hellreaver disappeared in a burst of black and crimson. He slipped underneath Vedran’s clothes, snatched theBook of Shadows, and zoomed back toward her.

A sense of wrongness prickled her scalp.

Mae!Na Ri warned.

Mae’s mouth went dry. Magic was racing across Vedran’s flesh, a map of dark lines that turned his skin to sinister parchment. The smile he gave her made her stomach twist. His gaze shifted. So did hers.

Her eyes widened.No!

“Brim!” Mae screamed. Fear brought forth the only incantations she could think of to protect her familiar. “SHIELD!REVERSE!”

The Sorcerer King’s attack smashed through her spells like they were made of air.

Rambrog blocked Vedran’s spell bomb before it could strike the demon fox where he’d moved to cover Hellreaver’s retreat. The giant grunted, toes scorching deep grooves into the asphalt as he skidded backward some hundred feet. He clutched his flank and fell to his knee with a groan, blood pooling around his fingers.

Relief rendered Mae weak. Though the attack had taken a chunk of flesh out of Rambrog, it had spared the giant’s life.

I’m glad I reinforced his body with magic!

She only had a moment’s warning before her instincts told her everything was about to go very wrong.

No, Na Ri mumbled.

Mae’s head snapped around. Her stomach dropped.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-FIVE

Cortes and Vladwere leaping toward the Sorcerer King, Arcane Magic and incubus energy brightening their eyes and those of their familiars.

Time slowed.

Oscar’s head shifted like he was moving in treacle, horror draining his face of color as he met Mae’s gaze. He too had registered the spine-chilling magic thickening the air.

Power detonated around them, the destructive incantations they wished to cast at the Sorcerer King forming on their lips.

The spell that froze them and everything inside the barrier manifested with a suddenness that robbed Mae of breath.

This is—this is a wordless incantation!Na Ri gasped.

Mae swallowed, heart thundering and limbs rooted where she stood. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak.

Movement captured her gaze.

Vedran straightened from where he’d crouched next to the metal truss he’d indented with his back. He wiped the blood from his lips, patted down his clothes, and ran his fingers through his hair. Amusement brightened his mad gaze.

Mae shuddered. She knew then that they had been fools to believe they could take on both Vedran and Davor Lazar at the same time.

“Ah.” A gleeful smirk stretched Vedran’s mouth, etching satisfaction across his face. “That little subterfuge was worth it just to see your expressions.” Darkness burned his pupils when he locked eyes with Mae. “Did you really think you could take me on, little girl?” His lips twisted, his smile turning mocking. “Just the five of you?!”

He indicated the motionless figures around her with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Despair thickened Mae’s throat.Shit. He was taking us for a ride all along!

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