Page 17 of Amethyst and Iron
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I snapped. “So we lose you instead? That’s the solution you’re offering up?”
“What else would you have me do when she’s—”
“I hate it when you get like this!”
“Like what?”
“All magically self-righteous. Stuck in that all-or-nothing mindset. The one where you’re ready to throw yourself into the fire, consequences be damned. Especially yourownconsequences.”
“Lazriel, there are limited options to save her, so I can’t just—”
“I love you!”
He stilled and I heard a choked sound from Cassius too.
“That’s right, you infuriating, stubborn, reckless, know-it-all motherfucker… Iloveyou. I fucking love you and I can’t loseyoueither. Do you understand me?”
He cleared his throat, then grasped my nape and held me to him. “I love you, too,” he breathed into my hair. “Truly, deeply, and maddeningly.”
“Then please respect that.”
“I’m trying… I have tried. I’ve opened up to you all in a way I have never allowed myself to before, because I care for you, because I respect what we’re building.” He pulled away, holding my hands, looking down as he stroked my fingers with the pads of his thumbs. “But there has to be a line. And you all need me to walk it, whether you’re willing to admit that or not. Because… fuck… the world we live in….” He raised his head, his eyes meeting mine, a mixture of sorrow and conviction flickering in them. “To survive and to not be subjugated by others, you need to be willing to do the unthinkable. And Iam.I always have been.”
In the next second, he wrenched his hands from mine, and then he swept his arms around with an aggressive flourish, creating a shimmering wall that forced Cassius and me backward a hundred feet from him and Velra.
“No!” I screamed, running at the wall, but just bouncing off it and stumbling back.
Cassius struggled forward and tried to call his white power to break through it, but his magic only sparked. My blood had healed him from the perspective of giving him enough strength to rouse from unconsciousness and keep him here on this plane while the Soul Brand fracture had been trying to pull him toward death with Velra. But beyond that… accessing his magic was currently off the table.
Until Velra was back with us.
Until she was spared.
Saved.
Fucking alive.
Sylas shoved to his feet, his hooded coat flapping wildly behind him as the force of his power streaming from his palms shook the forest around us, wind whipping violently, as he cast a dome over him and Velra.
As that held steady, he thrust his magic at Velra in two streams than had me grimacing when it made her body jerk violently like humans being defibrillated.
He was caked in mud and blood, mine in his hair and his neck from when I’d held him to me with my wrist still gouged and not yet healed, Velra’s blood soaking his pants. He looked like a macabre dark arts master as he streamed his magic with such force and furious determination.
Black sparks started to seep into the crimson streams as he bellowed a disturbing incantation.
"Mors mihi nunc non imperat.
Cede voluntati meae.
Flecte corpus et animam.
In genibus—subiice!"
“Cease!” Cassius thundered. “Sylas, donot!”
I knew what those words meant. Learning about the magical arts went hand-in-hand with becoming familiar with Latin, as many spells—especially amongst traditional and elitist magic-wielders—were performed in that language.
"Death does not command me now. Yield to my will. Bend your body and soul. On your knees—submit!"
