Page 77 of The Discovered
I hesitated. I had said that if Daelon wasn’t who he said he was then I would go off on my own. I could try to find what was left of my people. I could figure out who I was on the run. But could I outrun Lucius?
I sighed in frustration. I couldn’t bring myself to abandon Daelon. Not when I didn’t know the extent of Lucius’s hold over him. Not when—even if I couldn’t say it—I loved him, too.
I balled my hand into a fist, my lips pressed together in a hard line. I needed to find this evil so-called king and end him. He clearly would never leave me alone until I did.
I reached out with my mind, searching around for his energy. An image of him leaning against a tree flashed through my head. A haunting smile played at his lips. I gripped the handrail and willed myself there, the scenery around me blurring and then refocusing in less than a second.
“Isn’t this a surprising turn of events,” Lucius said, moving his hands as he spoke. It seemed that everything was some sort of performance to him.
“Get out of his head,” I snarled. “And I will consider doing what you ask. Just leave him alone.” That was a lie, but I would’ve said anything to get him to stop.
Lucius shook his head, looking at me with distinct pity. It only made me angrier. “You poor thing. I almost feel sorry for you. It takes a special sort of…weaknessto believe in a false sense of reality so fervently.” He smiled, stepping closer to me. “To be so blind.”
The blood in my veins turned fiery, the warmth from my magick protecting me from the biting wind against my thin sweater.
“I’m not in Daelon’s mind,” he said, as if he was spelling out a simple concept for a child. “That’s a hard thing to do, given the wholeshieldingbusiness.”
“You’ve done it before,” I said, trying to sound unbothered even as he made me question everything.
“Ah yes, that was quite amusing.” Lucius looked off into space, chuckling to himself like it was a pleasant childhood memory.
I had to block out the dark energy that radiated from him once more. It was too distracting—sour and reeking of death as it slithered into my perception.
“You’re going to be difficult about this, aren’t you?”
I opened my mouth and then closed it. Why was he so cavalier about finally finding me after all this time?
“You should just be happy I decided not to kill you. Because I could have. And I still could if you try my patience.” He paused, a sickly smile taking place. “Though, maybe a little fighting back before you submit wouldn’t be the worst thing. Your pain is the most delicious of all.”
I wrinkled my nose in disgust. I didn’t know what to say. My head was spinning, and my chest was weighed down with a sense of understanding I didn’t want to accept. “I’m not going anywhere with you,” I settled on, planting my feet firmly in the ground.
Lucius studied me, his eyes narrowing. “Well, yes you are. And so is Daelon once he brushes himself off.” He glanced down at his watch as if he had somewhere more interesting to be.
I backed away, beginning to channel the forces around me. They were turbulent and wild in Lucius’s presence, spitting and hissing like a host of scorned spirits. This power was angry. It recognized who he was and what he’d done, and they recoiled against the sheer unnaturalness of his power.
I flashed back to what Daelon had said about the magick that my body rejected—how he suspected that it had to do with my very existence. I wondered what that meant about Lucius’s existence, and how he had access to so much destructive, corrupted power.
“I think it takes a special kind of weakness to be so insecure about your own strength,” I said. “We will not be going with you.” My power seemed to agree with me, even as Lucius bared his teeth, and his eyes turned deadly.
“I don’t think Daelon did an adequate job teaching you of your place,” he said, looking me over like I was something to be assessed and judged. “But I’m more than willing to fill in the gaps.”
I bristled. My power began to take over like it had when I fought the energy vampires or Nathaniel. I started to feel the familiar head high, like I was walking on air—not tied to my body or bound to the earth any longer. The strength I borrowed from the people who came before me yearned to see Lucius fall.
When Lucius made his first strike it was in a burst of black fire, leaping out at me through the snowy air as it crackled and hissed. It was a spell that sought to cause excruciating pain.
I countered it with a force of my own, a natural reflection of the connection I could feel but could not see, and as I watched my magick neutralize the spitting black curse I realized yet again thatI was not the one who was alone.
The fire dissipated into cloudy mist, but Lucius snarled and came back harder, sending another cruel blast through the space between us. I held his gaze as I let the magick nearly reach me before countering it at the last moment. It dissipated up into the air in charcoal smoke, screaming like the cries of fallen innocents and gruesome torture. I grimaced, barely holding back a gag.
Lucius paused, his anger melting. “Sorry, hold on a moment. What is that face you keep making?” Lucius asked, bemused as he raised his brows. “You made it in the astral realm, too.”
I faltered, incredulous. We were literally in the middle of a battle in which I fully intended to kill him, and he was asking about myfacial expressions?
“Your energy,” I hissed. “It’s putrid.”
He cocked his head, the corners of his mouth turning up in amusement as he narrowed his gaze. “You’re an energy reader,” he said. “Bet that doesn’t work on Daelon. Or else I don’t think we’d have made it this far.”
We?Who waswe? I felt so far out of the loop that he might as well have been speaking a different language. In my confusion I let my protection slip, and Lucius took his opportunity to force my body forward, my feet dragging in the snow as I struggled against the pull toward him.
