Page 102 of Her Orc Protector

But even as my knees weakened, the claiming mark responded, spreading warmth through my veins. I thought of Uldrek's face. Of his hands gently holding Ellie. Of the way he'd looked at me in the moonlight, the way he'd given me choice after choice.

With a surge of strength I didn't know I possessed, I drove my elbow back into Gavriel's ribs—hard, just as Uldrek had shown me. Bones gave way beneath the blow. Gavriel gasped, his grip loosening just enough for me to twist free.

I dove for the poker, snatching it from the floor and whirling to face him. He was doubled over, one arm pressed to his side, the other bearing the Seal, extended toward me.

"Isolde," he gasped, his voice raw with pain and fury. "This ends now."

The Seal exploded with light, so bright it was blinding. Magic crashed against me like a physical blow, driving me back a step.I felt it trying to seize control, to bend my will to his. It clawed at the edges of my mind, seeking entry.

But the claiming mark met it with equal force, a burning shield that refused to yield.

Gavriel advanced, one agonizing step after another, the Seal blazing like a small sun on his wrist. "You—will—obey," he gritted out, each word layered with power.

I held my ground, the poker gripped in white-knuckled hands. "I will not," I replied, each word a declaration. "I never belonged to you. Not truly. Not ever."

With a cry of rage, he lunged at me. I swung the poker, connecting solidly with his temple. Gavriel reeled backward, blood streaming from the gash the iron had opened.

But he didn't fall. The Seal flared again, and somehow, impossibly, he straightened. Magic coursed visibly through him now, veins of silver-blue light spreading from the Seal up his arm, across his chest, toward his face.

"If I can't have you," he said, his voice distorted, inhuman, "no one will. Not the orc. Not the child. No one."

The Seal pulsed once more, gathering power. I knew, with terrible clarity, that whatever he planned to do next would destroy us both—and possibly more. The magic was wild now, dangerous.

There was no more time for hesitation. No more time to dodge or evade.

I dropped the poker, lunged forward, and grabbed his wrist with both hands—my palms pressed directly against the Seal.

"No more lies," I said, looking directly into his eyes.

And I pushed back.

Not physically. But with everything in me—every memory of who I truly was, every echo of the life I'd built in Everwood, and every pulse of the bond I shared with Uldrek.

The Seal shuddered beneath my touch. The glyphs etched into its surface began to fracture like ice cracking under too much weight. Silver-blue light spilled from the cracks, rising in intensity until I had to close my eyes against the glare.

Gavriel screamed. Not in pain—though I was sure he felt that too—but in horror. The sound of someone watching their reality collapse.

The room shook. Wind whipped around us from nowhere, papers and small objects flying through the air. The light from the Seal turned searing, so bright it shone through my closed eyelids.

Gavriel tried to pull away, but I held on, my hands burning where they touched the Seal. This was beyond resistance now. This was destruction.

"Isolde," he gasped, his voice breaking. "Stop. Please."

But the magic had taken on a life of its own. It turned inward, flowing back into Gavriel instead of outward toward me. The silver bracer began to melt, fusing with his flesh. The glyphs transferred themselves from metal to skin, burning their pattern into his arm.

He screamed again, a sound beyond words, beyond humanity. His body contorted, back arching unnaturally. The Seal's magic consumed him, burning through him like wildfire, turning his own false truths back upon him.

And then, abruptly, silence.

The light vanished. The wind died. The room went still.

Gavriel collapsed, a puppet with cut strings. Where he fell, there was only ash, a body crumpled and steaming on the floor. The Seal lay beside him, black and dead, the glyphs shattered beyond repair.

I sank to my knees, trembling from exhaustion. My lip was bleeding—I must have bitten it during the fight. The smell of smoke clung to my hair, my clothes. My palms were blisteredwhere I'd touched the Seal, the pain only now making itself known.

For a long moment, I couldn't move. Couldn't think. I just knelt there, breathing in ragged gasps, staring at the remains of the man who had once controlled my every thought, my every move.

Slowly, shakily, I raised my hand to my collarbone. The claiming mark still pulsed there, warm and alive. It had protected me. Had helped me fight back.

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