Page 194 of Lady for Embers

Except he wasn’t powerless. He’d been training with the Fae. He’d been training on how to defend against magic, how to ?ght against those naturally more powerful than he was.

Eliza was leaning heavily against him now, her grip on his wrist loosening, more blood smearing across his skin. The potion must be affecting her ability to heal too. That or the wound was worse than he’d thought.

He tightened his grip on the hilt. He’d get one chance at this. He knew that much. If he didn’t make this count, he and the Fire General were likely both dead. He’d probably laugh about the irony of that if they survived.

Sybil huffed a breath of laughter. “Looks like you’re up ?rst, Crown Prince. The general will likely be dead before I’ve ?nished with you.” She moved closer, sheathing one of the long knives at her sides. Her hand came out, ?ngers digging into his scalp as she wrenched his head back. “Mortals,” she sneered. “So helpless. So powerless. So utterly insigni?cant.” She leaned in a little closer, her voice going soft and vindictive. “So easily manipulated like that sweet young lady, going to the slums with her bleeding heart. Walking right into traps spoiled by a prince and his guards who had no business being there.”

He felt the knife snaking up his chest. He forced himself not to react, not to give in to the rage prowling beneath his skin. The knife paused over his heart before continuing up, the tip gliding against his exposed throat. The metal was cool and hot all at once, and all he could think about as he waited this out, waited for the perfect opportunity, was that if he failed, he would never see his sister again. Eva would grow up to rule a kingdom she knew nothing about. And Tava?

He could still feel the soft ?utter of her breaths as she’d sleptin his arms. He could still smell the faint jasmine scent of her hair tonic. He could still hear the hurt and agony as she confessed she saw him dying her dreams.

He refused to make those dreams her reality. Even if things werenever ?xed between them, he wouldn’t let that nightmare come true.

He felt the knife pierce his skin at the same moment he let out a yell of de?ance, yanking the sword forward and plunging it straight into Sybil’s heart. He twisted it sharply, blood already spilling from between the Witch’s lips.

Sybil dropped to her knees, and he yanked the sword from her chest, only now realizing the blade he held was the spirit sword Eliza had won in that stupid maze race.

“Maybe,” he panted, “the mortals aren’t so powerless.”

There was a gurgle from the High Healer before she fell sideways, forever still.

He looped his arm under Eliza’s shoulders. “Come on,” he grunted. “We need to get you to your queen.”

He hauled Eliza to her feet, and she groaned. “That... was bad ass, Princeling,” she rasped.

He swiped his arm across his face, warm liquid smearing. His hand was dripping blood as they moved through the smoke, Eliza’s wound still steadily streaming. He didn’t know how she was able to walk.

The moment they stepped from the smoke, two winged males dropped before them. He instantly raised the sword he still held, only to drop it once more in relief when he realized it was Cassius and Razik.

Razik’s glowing blue eyes raked over them both before he stepped forward. “Get him to Scarlett,” he ordered Cassius, scooping Eliza into his arms in one swift movement.

“Put me down,” she protested, still managing to snap at him.

“When you can stand on your own, I’ll do that, Milady,” Razik retorted. “For now, you ?y with me.”

He launched for the sky a moment later. Cassius had a ring of black ?ames around them in the next breath, gripping his arm and dragging him forward. “What the hell happened in there?” he demanded, a knife leaving his hand. Callan hadn’t even seen him draw the damn thing.

“That potion that Sybil threw, it nulli?ed Eliza’s magic,” Callansaid, stumbling over what he was fairly certain were charred body parts.

“I know that,” Cassius replied, shoving Callan’s head down. He heard the whiz of an arrow a second later. “We couldn’t go near it. We didn’t know if it would work on Avonleyans or not.”

That explained why no one had come to help. “I killed Sybil.”

He was jerked to a stop, Cassius staring at him. “You did what?”

“I killed Sybil. The High Healer.”

“I know who Sybil is,” Cassius said. “You are sure she is dead?”

“I shoved Eliza’s spirit sword through her heart,” Callan replied.

Cassius started dragging him forward again. “I suppose that would make her fairly dead.”

Callan felt tingling on his skin, and the ring of dark ?ames disappeared. He assumed they’d entered a shield of Scarlett’s, which was con?rmed when a shadow panther appeared at his side. A second later, the queen herself stood in front of him, eyes wide.

“You are covered in blood,” she said, eyes studying him. “Where are your wounds?”

“Nothing life threatening,” he answered. “Most of it isn’t mine.”

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