Page 32 of Midwinter Night's Prince

"Set—"

His lightning struck five times, coming to him more naturally than ever before.

There was nothing more than burning humps of coal where the five others had stood moments ago.

"What the hell, Seth? She was a bitch, but she didn't deserve—"

"No time for this now. Aveka knows we've pinned you down. She'll summon me in moments. We have to get you somewhere safe—and away from me."

"Now, why would we want to do that, I wonder."

Seth froze. The voice had come from the shadows of the trees, though he could see and sense no one else.

Fuck.

Aveka appeared as she stepped outside of the area she'd shielded, followed by her usual four acolytes. Vlad, the ancient. Erys, the boy who should neverhave been turned that young, before his brain was completely developed. Now he thrived on pulling wings out of butterflies. Immortalizing the mind of teenagers never worked out. They forever had hormones wreaking havoc in their system. Aveka had taken advantage of that, redirecting all of his frustration into violence and chaos. Anika Beaufort was perhaps the worst of the four, because she’d joined them fully cognizant of what Aveka was. She just believed the alternative, Chloe Eirikrson, to be worse. Anika’s family maintained a great deal of power in the current regime, and she wanted to keep it.

Naturally, she could have thrown in her lot with Chloe and soon learned that the girl had no desire to rule over the vampires, unlike Aveka, but Anika—like many—was too terrified of the name Eirikrson to think clearly. Now, she knew she’d never be accepted back on Night Hill. That made her desperate.

The last, Seth had never directly spoken to, though he’d seen him in every battle, silently following Aveka’s bidding, never getting involved until he was given a direct order. He was a tall, tanned ancient with raven hair and darker eyes, built like a fighter and moving like one, too. Seth didn’t even know his name. He’d sometimes wondered if he was someone else Aveka had bespelled. A window into the future he could have—would have—if Blair fell into the ancient witch’s hands. He took one step forward, casually placing himself right in front of Blair, close enough to touch her arm. Her hand immediately moved to take hold of his sleeve.

“Aw, aren’t you two cute. You know, I did wonder why you sent such precious cargo to a mere mortal, for a while. Then I realized. It must be love.” She drawled over her last word.

Blair snorted. “Or maybe being tied to just about anyone is better than dealing with you, you crazy bitch.”

Seth usually liked her mouth, and what came out of it, but now wasn’t the time for her specific brand of sass. He closed his right hand over her small fingers, and tightened them shortly, in warning.

“Look at this kitten.” Aveka’s high-pitched laugh was like nails on a blackboard. “Thinking she has claws.”

The hunters and the witch earlier were nothing, no one, a slight amuse-bouche for Seth. Now, they were surrounded by lethal adversaries—or insane ones, in Erys’s case. His magic wouldn’t do a thing against ancients, who could withstand it or outrun it. Then, he’d have lost precious instants during which Blair could be snatched. They had to play this smart. Find a window for Blair to escape. The problem was that his magic would leave a trace—if he transported her by lightning, Aveka or Vlad were likely to find a way to follow.

Angering Aveka wasn’t the way to go. They needed time to think and plan. They needed—

Blair swung her arms forward with a grunt, pure energy flying out of her palms. Fire.

“I guess that’s that,” he muttered to himself, calling to the storm.

Seth could choose to either surround a person with his power, coating them without harming them—as he did when he wanted someone else to travel with him—or let them feel the burn through their flesh. The former was harder, demanding more concentration. He hadn’t been able to master the trick until after he’d turned. He remembered the jolt of uncertainty, sometimes fear, when he’d first attempted it on small rodents, after successfully transporting inanimate objects without burning them to a crisp.

Calling his magic on Blair and her stupidly endearing cat brought back some of that alarm, though he hadn’t accidentally fried anyone in half a decade.

He needn’t have bothered. His magic hit, cloaking her as it was intended to…and nothing. She remained right where she was, shrouded in a golden haze.

Her shield.

Shields she’d erected the gods knew when had stopped him.Him.

Aveka needed him because he was the only force she knew that could destroy Greer Vespian’s shields around Oldcrest, the potent ancestral magic her foremothers had long ago set up. And Blair had casually deflected him.

The way she stared at him revealed she was just as confused as he was.

That left them one freaking terrible option. He had to kill her. He had to kill her right now or his freedom was going to disappear forever.

It would be easy. As easy as it had been to destroy Axia’s irrelevant mortal body. One snap, one bite. He could even be kind and come from behind so she never saw it coming.

Seth’s hand peeled her fingers from his arm. One little twist one way or another. That’s all he needed.

“Run.”

---