Page 112 of A Legacy of Poison and Lies

Chapter Forty-One

Zylahrealisedasecondtoo late that it wasn’t Aurelia’s hold she’d torn away, not the magic preventing them from evanescing to safety, but something else.

Holt pulled Zylah behind him as Aurelia struck out, fingertips grazing Holt’s arm instead. The Fae’s eyes narrowed in confusion as she looked down at her fingers, an expectant look fixed across her face.

Not the strange shield Aurelia had constructed to trap them inside with her, but her ability to incapacitate with her touch.

Which meant they still couldn’t evanesce away.

Zylah shoved Aurelia back, unable to summon any weapons to her fingertips, her sword and her daggers scattered around them somewhere amongst the fallen bodies.

She prayed none of her friends were among them as Raif moved to Aurelia’s side to steady her, his lip curling back in a snarl to reveal the sharp points of his fangs.

He wishes to remain this way, Aurelia had told them.

He’d chosen.

And as if in response to that thought, Holt slammed into

Raif, as if he’d been waiting for the opportunity since Raif’s confession to them near the Aquaris Court. His fist struck Raif’s jaw, and Raif snarled again, staggering back from the force of the blow.

He hadn’t said a word since he’d arrived with his mother, but as he swiped at the blood trickling from his mouth, he let out a dry laugh. “I knew you were holding back before.”

He lunged for Holt, knocking him to the ground as they became a blur of limbs and fists, but not, Zylah realised with a small sliver of relief, any sign of Raif’s magic.

As if whatever Aurelia had done with her and Holt’s magic was affecting him, too.

Zylah saw the glint of her sword, but when she tried to reach it, she struck an invisible wall, as if Aurelia’s strange shield around the four of them blocked out the outside world, trapping them within it.

She turned back to Holt and Raif, looking for a way to intervene, Kopi flapping his wings on her shoulder in distress.

“Stop,” Aurelia commanded, and Zylah found she couldn’t move. Holt stilled where his fist hung over Raif’s face, dread coiling in Zylah’s stomach.

She’s using too much magic at once, I don’t know where to start looking,she told Holt.

It’ll be alright, Zylah.

But the unnatural way he lowered his fist and rose to his feet was anything but alright.

Aurelia circled him, with barely a glance at her son who brushed himself off with nothing but a smirk as he stood beside Zylah, close enough for her to feel his warmth.

She swallowed down the acid in her throat at his proximity, her eyes fixed on Holt.

I can’t find the end of it,she said, her thoughts panicked and fast.

But there was no response from Holt this time.

Only silence.

He held her gaze, paying Aurelia no heed, and Zylah saw only love and sadness in his eyes.

“Jesper told me how you always fought his compulsion,” Aurelia said thoughtfully. “Given she’s your mate, I imagine that enabled you to fight it, whether you were aware of it or not.” Her eyes slid to Marcus’s lifeless body, but Zylah couldn’t read the expression in them. “But like all my creations, Jesper learnt that trick from me. Where is your brother, Raif?”

“At the bottom of the lake,” Zylah said, hoping to distract Aurelia from Holt, willing her tone to convey every ounce of satisfaction she’d felt watching Jesper fall to his death.

He wasn’t truly Aurelia’s son, but for her to refer to him as such, must have meant she cared for him.

Aurelia’s eyes darkened a fraction, but she continued to circle Holt, one hand trailing a line across his chest, his arm, as she moved.

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