Page 177 of Amethyst and Iron
A rumble sounded, pulling us all up short.
It took me a moment to realize that it was Ketheron growling.
His eyes were darting off into the distance, to the west, through the trees. “They need to be evacuated immediately. A rush of power comes this way,” he reported, eyes narrowing as he continued staring out there.
“Want to narrow that down, Keth?” Lazriel asked.
“Dark Fae. A huge contingent.” He frowned. “You cannot feel them?”
“No. I…” Lazriel concentrated. “I’m not feeling anything.”
“They are using heavy illusionary magic then.” Ketheron’s eyes flicked to Cassius, his eyes shooting wide. “Not just illusion craft—they possess Celestial power.” His brow furrowed as he concentrated. “Tainted Celestial power… the familiarity of it… it’s…” A full body shudder went through him. “He’s tied to it.Corvin is tied to it. His scent is fading but it’s still present, just stale now, in his death.”
“The Celestial Plane gave him a supply of their magic,” Ryker said. “He already used it. We’ve been scouring everywhere he ever went when he was alive and we found nothing.”
“It was hidden… death magic taints it.”
Crap.
I saw the moment the realization hit Ryker. He looked between each of us, suspicion sparking.
He turned and strode to the ashes, and then he was sweeping his magic over it, back and forth, again and again, until his green glow flamed brightly, before then snuffing out.
“Morien Morgave walks the mortal plane,” he muttered to himself, shoving a hand through his spiky dark hair.
“Back!” Ketheron suddenly bellowed.
In a burst of speed, Lazriel snagged me and Cassius and ran us back several feet.
Ketheron did the same to Kai and Ryker, before he thrust out his palms and a violent explosion of his gold magic shot up in front of us, a shimmering wall rushing out either side, encompassing us and the facility behind us.
Not moments later, dozens of Dark Fae teleported on the other side of the wall that Ketheron was using to shield us with.
We all called our power, and Lazriel assumed a fighting stance, his features contorting into his full vampiric state.
Ryker strode beside Ketheron as he held the wall in place.
“Let me pass through,” he told him, as he called his infamous defensive magic to his upturned palms, vibrant-green lightning sparking that had the ability to cut through most beings’ magic, those of a very specific nature like Ketheron, notwithstanding.
Before Ketheron could respond, a burst of gray smoke tinged with sparkling black flecks erupted.
I jolted ashecame into view.
The being I’d seen on the other side of the Veil when I’d been trapped there, the asshole who’d sealed the tear I’d made and trapped me inside, forcing Sylas to kill himself to enter and save me.
The figure in the red velvet hooded cloak with the straggly dark hair.
He flipped down his hood and a chill shot down my spine.
I’d seen some of the black veins before, but now he’d revealed his face fully, it was another fucking level of disturbing.
The black magic rot was unlike anything I’d ever seen before, or even heard about.
He stood there like a harbinger of decay, so much twisted power rolling off him. Even with Ketheron’s shielding wall up, I could feel it uncomfortably against my skin, the acrid taste in the air making my stomach churn.
His gaunt face had black veins crawling from his sunken eyes across his brow and down his hollow cheeks. His stringy hair hung around his face. A black shirt clung to him and was unbuttoned enough to reveal the continuation of those jagged veins. His fingers were twisted, nails blackened.
“We find ourselves with a second chance, Ryker,” he spoke in a nasally voice that had an additional creep factor to it.
