Page 106 of Owned

They wouldn’t belong to Sages for much longer.

“This is how your heroes fall,” Bastian called out. “Elder Ireni Ubaris, yourbelovedheadmaster, is anexample—” He paused for dramatic effect and the entire room seemed to hold its breath. Bastian loved drama. “Learn from his mistakes!” he cried. “Don’t make oaths if you intend to break them!”

A glance over my shoulder was enough to make me smile. Elder Ireni’s face twisted in a grimace, a futile attempt to mask the sharpness of his defeat. I savored the sight of him, the once-proud figure now reduced to a shell of his former self. His toes dragged over the polished floor like a prisoner on death row.

“Try to act dignified,” I muttered, leaning closer so only he could hear. “You wouldn’t want them to think that you went down without a fight.”

The old man’s jaw tightened, and for a fleeting moment, I saw the spark of defiance flare in his red-rimmed eyes. But it dimmed quickly, snuffed out by the reality of his situation. He knew what awaited him and I had a sense that he had already resigned himself to this fate.

His shoulders slumped even lower, and I could almost taste his resignation.

Lucian would be disappointed.

I turned my attention back to the crowd and the thickness of the terrified silence that enveloped the hall.

Enough of this.

I had no intention of walking out of here without making a mess.

“Don’t keep them waiting,” Bastian said.

I halted in my steps and the Elder floated past me and the black smoke of Bastian’s magic swirled around him, tightening and writhing around his limbs. He glanced in my direction and his eyes were wide.

“Please—”

“Shut the fuck up,” I snarled.

Bastian chuckled and reared one arm back to hurl a projectile of black tinged power at the gaudy stained glass doors. A rumble shook the building as the doors shattered in a shower of rainbow shards that exploded out onto the lawn. Screams echoed in the hall as I channeled my power into pale green projectiles that I hurled at the walls of the great hall. Portraits of headmasters and powerful Sages who had walked these halls before I’d been born.

Fuck all of them.

Liars.

Manipulators.

Corruptors.

Abusers.

Weaklings.

An explosion for each sin.

Debris rained down onto the crowd of onlookers who screamed and ran for the exits—as far away from us as possible.

Bastian dragged the headmaster through the ruined doors as I laid waste to the entrance hall.

The walls shook, and I felt the familiar thrum of power as it flooded through me.

We were being reckless, but I didn’t care.

Not right now.

Not after what they had done.

Today would be a reminder to the Sages and their ilk that we weren’t afraid to destroy them.

It took only minutes to empty the place. Panic in every eye. Fear in every scream.

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