Page 69 of The Illuminated
An overgrown dirt path beyond led to a narrow alley between two buildings. It was clear, as was the land as far as we could see. There was no sign of enemies waiting for us.
“Beyond this gate, the binding curse will be broken. Then we can jump,” I said.
“We need to be quick. I’m not strong enough to shield our whereabouts from Lucius, not when we’re still so close to the castle.”
I channeled, sifting through my currents of magick to find the kind of energy that was the direct opposite of the gate’s. I reached out my hands, and Daelon clutched my shoulder tightly.
“Careful,” he murmured.
I grabbed the gates, which should’ve emitted enough voltage to strike us both dead. Instead, I neutralized the electricity, reaching into the iron form and melting away at its rigidity until it was as pliable as a plastic straw. I pulled the bars apart, creating a circular opening big enough to step through.
Daelon looked at me in awe. “You’re incredible. I hope you know that.”
“Just bending the laws of physics. No biggie.”
We stepped through, and my smile faltered before it could fully take its shape. A figure manifested before us, and then another. I knew it was Lucius, but I refused to look. He was too late.
I grabbed Daelon by the shoulders and began to channel the winds of travel, ignoring the commotion and tapping into Tomas’s map to the people in the snow…
“If you leave, she dies,” Lucius said, and it was enough to pull me from my trance.
He held Santana in his grasp, his arm locked against her neck. She squirmed.
“Do it. Go, Áine,” she choked out. “He’s going to kill me any—”
Lucius whispered something into her ear, and her eyes went black and her body limp. I could feel her pain beneath her paralysis. It felt like she was being gutted from the inside out, like a thousand stabs to every internal organ.
I gritted my teeth, shutting off my clairsentient channel. “Looks like someone didn’t learn his lesson,” I hissed at him.
More bodies appeared, some of them dressed in black like the guards and others in light gray. The ones in gray seemed different, like they were less polished. I figured they were the soldiers of the city, not quite prestigious enough to reside in the castle. They continued to materialize everywhere, surrounding us.
I couldn’t just leave Santana, not after everything she’d done for me. Not after the way she’d held me as I lay crying, broken from the cruelty of the dungeons. Her part in the coven’s efforts to protect and help me, even as they risked their lives, bound me as an ally for life. I heard her laughter echo through my chambers, the way she looked at Amaya with such tenderness and devotion.
I was stronger now. I could save her. I knew I could.
Daelon stared ruthlessly at Lucius, and the energy between them grew volatile quickly.
“Did she tell you the story about how I came to uncover your affair?” Lucius asked casually, as if we weren’t in the midst of an impending battle.
I stepped into my magick, focusing on coming up with a plan while the men puffed out their chests in their useless rivalry games. The strangest feeling came over me as I glanced at some of the soldiers, who were looking right back at me. Their energy was different from the rest. Still dark, still rotting to my nostrils and sour to my tongue… but different. They weren’t powered by Lucius. I could feel magick that didn’t belong to them, swimming in their auras like stolen power that had been squeezed out unwillingly.
They were energy vampires, and they were licking their lips with anticipation. Did Lucius know he had vampires in his ranks? Or was I the only one who could see what they were because of my clairsentience?
“I thought you were above forcing yourself on witches,” Daelon growled, but I was barely listening. There were too many things going on, and I could feel the workings of magick as Daelon grew more and more unfocused.
Suddenly a guard struck, sending an object flying through the air. I reached out to stop it, but at the same moment a bolt of black fire shot toward my face. I blocked the fire with one hand, but what had been thrown—a torturous, iron chain—had slipped past me. It found its mark around Daelon’s neck, constricting all of his shielding magick and forcing him to the ground.
Lucius dropped Santana, where she lay on the ground in motionless torture. “Áine asked to touchme, actually. And I think she knew exactly who it really was.” He met my eyes. “Though she’d never admit it. She knows I’m the only one in the universe who could ever truly bring her to her knees.”
I lunged for him before he could reach Daelon, who struggled with the cursed chain around his neck.
I tackled Lucius to the ground, but his bodyguards were all around us. I forced my energy into his chest, letting it poison him just as his did to me. But hands were on my shoulders, on my arms, pulling me and breaking down my defense with their King-given curses. I broke a neck here and sent a shockwave there as Lucius writhed underneath me, but all I could think about was Daelon. All I could hear was his gasps for air, and all I could feel was Santana’s pain, like a slick, icy film around my consciousness.
Lucius recovered quickly, as I was too busy fighting off his guards to focus on keeping him immobilized. He grabbed my throat, and the men stopped their attacks.
“I think I’d much preferyouunderneathme,” he said as I clawed my fingernails into his arms. I channeled heat, searing him with my power—the only thing that ever seemed to hurt him. He let go begrudgingly, allowing his men to resume their assault. Cool metal wrapped around my right wrist as the guards lifted me off their ruler.
I could feel the dampening of my magick begin with the application of the first spelled handcuff, just as I’d seen done to Amaya’s sister Seraphina when she was taken to the dungeons. I conjured wind, sending the guard to my left flying through the air before he could fasten the other enchanted cuff. However, as bodies continued to fall it seemed as if even more took their place.
