Page 70 of Monster's Pretty Bride

I turn to Catalina.

Andlet the beast out.

32

ERYSS

Something iswrong.

I feel it twisting through the air, coiling around Catalina like an invisible chain, binding her will, tainting her magic.

Her attacks are precise, too precise, as if guided by an unseen hand. Magic surges from her fingertips, an unnatural,corruptedwhite fire splitting through the battlefield. She isn’t fighting likeher. Catalina’s magic ispure, wild, yes, but nevertainted. This? This reeks of somethingelse. Somethingelse.

Naranus doesn’t hesitate. He charges through the wreckage, claws unsheathed, fangs bared in lethal determination. His molten eyes lock onto Catalina, and Ifearwhat he’ll do.

He won’t stop.

Thryx tightens his grip around my waist, his powerful wings beating hard against the smoky air as he lifts me from the ground.

“Let me go!” I thrash against him, my fingers clawing at his arms, my legs kicking against empty space. “Thryx, I need to stop them!”

His grip tightens. “Naranus ordered me to get you out of here, and I’m not disobeying him.”

“Thenyou’re an idiot!” I snap, throwing my head back. The crown of my skullcracksagainst his jaw. He curses, momentarily losing his grip, just enough for me totwist.

I grab onto his wings, yanking him sideways. We spin in the air, and my momentum sends us bothplummetingback to the earth.

Thryxroarsas we hit the ground. He twists mid-fall, using his massive frame to cushion the impact, his bodyslamminginto the rubble. A sharpcrunchechoes as his arm takes most of the damage.

I roll off him, breathless, my pulse hammering.

Thryx groans, shifting, trying to push himself up.

“Damn it, Eryss?—”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper, then bolt.

Irun, dodging through the chaos, weaving past gargoyle warriors, skidding over broken stone, the scent of scorched air thick in my lungs.

Catalina.

Ihaveto stop her.

She stands in the center of the battlefield, her body rigid, her eyesglowing. Her fingers twitch, and another wave of violent magiceruptsfrom her hands.

Naranus dodges, his wings snapping open as he rolls mid-air, the blast of energy barely missing him. His claws scrape against the ground as he lands, eyes burning,trackingher movements, preparing to strike.

“No—STOP!”

I throw myselfbetweenthem.

Naranushalts, his clawsinchesfrom my throat.

Catalina staggers.

“Eryss,” she breathes, her voice raw, distant,wrong.

I whip toward her. “This isn’t you!”

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