Page 179 of Amethyst and Iron
“Get clear!” Kai bellowed.
Vorzyr shook his head, not wanting to leave him.
“Do it! Go!Now!”
“Too late,” Morien rumbled.
I spun to see Ketheron collapsing to the ground, Lazriel vamp-speeding there just in time to catch him before he hit with a nasty thud.
The wall dissipated.
Kai, Cassius and Ryker started forward, their magic flaming wildly.
Morien grinned eerily, then snapped his fingers.
And then a rush of gray magic identical to Morien’s streamed from the dozens of Dark Fae.
It slammed into Kai, Cassius, and Ryker, stopping them in their tracks, then hauling them several feet off the ground.
Morien’s grin widened. “I used Celestial and black magic to play with the limitations of Undead Domination—now it can puppet more than mere vampires.”
Oh my God.
“Consider yourselves fortunate. You get to survive this,” Morien told them, gesturing to them being held several feet off the ground.
I twisted my hand discreetly, trying to move my shadows covertly, intending to weave them around behind the Dark Fae that Morien was using to wield one aspect of his own magic so he could be free to do much worse.
But a sudden snap of his fingers had him blasting his magic at me and it hit my left wrist, making me scream as that toxic black magic seared my skin like a real bitch of a thing.
Lazriel burst from seeing to Ketheron and went for Morien.
“Lazriel!”
A mere raise of his palm and Lazriel was frozen just an inch out from touching him.
With a sweep of his hand, Morien tossed him hundreds of feet across the fields. He winked at me. “Can’t harm that one.”
I seethed at him and moved to heal my wrist, but he thrust his palm up at me too, forcing me to be utterly still, paralyzing me standing there on the ground.
Ketheron grunted and fought to get to his knees.
“You, on the other hand, I can absolutely harm. Well, kill. Now you’ve already served your purpose with causing my son to enter the Valley of the Dead in order to spare you, there is no further use for you. In fact, the love he has for you is dangerous. It could bolster him, give him hope. I cannot allow that.” He gritted his teeth. “Unfortunately, I cannot execute Lazriel along with you—blood vows can be supremely aggravating.” He looked up at Cassius. “You will follow her shortly. We’ll keep you alivein the wake of her death, despite your Soul Brand connection, for long enough to harvest your Celestial magic.”
While like Ryker and Kai, Cassius couldn’t move, couldn’t talk, or even blink, I could feel his panic and terror raging through the Soul Brand so fiercely, I could barely breathe through it. It completely drowned out my own.
“Madman,” Ketheron seethed.
In the next second, he burst from the ground toward Morien.
Inches out and he just bounced right off him.
What the—
Ketheron hit the grass hard, but somersaulted back to his feet.
Morien laughed. “Feel familiar? It’s a reengineered version of that leash Corvin afflicted you with. This incarnation ensures you can’t touch me, no matter how much you wish it. That was what my people were also doing, not just tearing down your wall, but removing the greatest threat in my midst.”
Ketheron roared and then fired at the Dark Fae.
