Page 116 of Royal Captive
Eve.
Fae, humans, and everyone in between cheered and shoved past us, diving straight off the cliff toward the barrier. Eve screamed, the scene of females with children in the arms seemingly leaping to their deaths incredibly disturbing.
But no one fell.
Their forms shimmered and flickered, then disappeared.
It worked. It fucking worked! We were actually going back.
The crowd pushed and shoved and ran and panicked. Hordes fell over the cliff, some by jumping, but most by pushing and shoving. All disappeared in a shimmer. All made it across.
“Viana’s gonna kill me,” I breathed out, the ridiculous thought of Viana’s face when a hundred fae refugees tumbled to the steps of my palace bringing a twisted smirk to my lips.
Eve barked out a laugh next to me, her eyes crazed. We were in the middle of the tempest, and never had I loved her so much.
I leaned down and captured her lips with mine. I would never know Alihandro’s true intentions with throwing himself off the cliff; had he done it to save his people, or also to free Eve from a bond she hadn’t even been aware of?
Either way, he had my eternal gratitude for watching over her, and doing what he could to keep her safe.
And now it was my turn.
The crowd kept going, thinning out until the last few staggered over the ledge of the cliff.
Now was our chance. The moment I crossed with Eve, the barrier would hopefully close. A bolt of lightning shot out from the sky and struck the peak of the mountain we stood on, sending us flying, and the rock under our feet shattering.
As the mountain crumbled, we fell.
Eve cried out as the barrier fell out of our reach as we tumbled, even as I grabbed her to shield her from the rocks and falling debris.
No. We couldn’t come this far and fail! I wouldn’t allow it.
Magick swirled and built in my chest, glowing white and filling my vision until my world was nothing but a bright blur. I hit the ground hard, but didn’t feel it as magick cushioned my fall.
“Fucking … bitch!”
Eve screamed as Feyanna dragged her mangled body across the ground, Alihandro’s broken form in the distance behind her. Magick sputtered and died at her fingertips, and with a cry of fury her hand dove back into her waist, searching desperately.
This time, I didn’t fear the consequences of my magick. I welcomed the fury. I goaded the destruction. I wanted every ounce of force and fire and I didn’t care what the consequences were.
Because I wasn’t powerless.
I never had been.
I simply had to make thechoice.
Feyanna’s eyes met mine in the fraction of an instant, realizing what I planned to do. Her hand grabbed a dagger and threw it. I flinched, but instead of using that last moment tostrike at me, once again, she’d chosen vengeance and fury over sense.
The blade soared through the air toward Eve.
The mountain blew up, magick from the deal with Fennis and the chaotic weather finally exploded in a torrent of confusion.
I yanked all my magick up from my core and let it explode outwards.
Thirty-Six
ELLIS
BOOM.
