Page 116 of Frozen Hearts and Death Magic

He had no right to be here, no right to be telling her what to do, no right to want to touch her. All her hurt, humiliation, anger, all the words she had swallowed were bubbling up, threatening to surface. Suddenly Fel’s father’s words came back to her. The danger is what you can unleash. But she wasn’t afraid. She wasn’t afraid of the dark, slimy feelings inside her. There was no point bottling them in. A strange power was simmering inside her. It was destruction, pain, death. And she welcomed it.

Cassius sneered. “Oh, look. Black eyes. So cute. Is that meant to be sexier?”

Leah smirked. “For me, yes.”

And then she felt it. Like a damn being broken. The room was immersed in darkness, even if the candle was still lit. Tendrils of a black, slimy thing were enveloping Cassius. And his expression changed. So simple. So easy. The derision was gone, fear having taken its place.

“Stop this, you witch!”

Leah laughed. “I like it. Scream some more.”

He tried to advance on her, but that thing wrapped around his throat and pulled him back. It got tighter and tighter as he screamed for help. It was slow, so that she relished each of his screams. He was so scared, so helpless.

A mirror cracked beside her. Cassius was likely trying to reach for any metal to defend himself, but it would be hard to do anything when he couldn’t even breathe.

As he was dying, Leah kneeled beside him. “I promise you that everyone in your family who’s humiliated me will see the same end. I want to see you all pay for that. And suffer. Suffer a lot.”

His eyes closed, and she felt his life leaving him. It felt pleasant and satisfying, more pleasant than the best orange cake. So much magic inside her, thrumming with immeasurable power, the power of death.

The door opened, and four guards entered.

“What’s happening—” The guard didn’t even get to finish the sentence, as they all dropped dead. Death felt so good. She might as well kill everyone in that castle. Everyone in Ironhold. Everyone in Aluria. Everyone in the world.

No. Not her parents. No. What was she thinking? Were those even her own thoughts? There was no time to be horrified at the dead guards, and she still wasn’t horrified at what she’d done to Cassius, but she had to escape before more guards came. Unless she could kill them all. Kill them all, kill them all. It was as if something was talking inside her head, and it was making her confused. She had to try to go to the hollow, but she closed her eyes and nothing happened. She ran outside, where she was surrounded by some twenty guards. No Venard, no Silas, those cowards.

The first guards fell dead, then she saw a strange blue smoke in the hall, coming from both sides.

The guards panicked and covered their noses and mouths. “Death mist!” one of them screamed. Great. So they were poisoning everyone, including the guards. Including her. There were only two ways out: jumping down or stepping in the hollow. Leah had no idea how to leave that place. And didn’t think her odds of survival were good if she jumped. Her odds were also terrible if she stayed and breathed that gas. It was as if she snapped out of that morbid appreciation for death. She didn’t want to kill anyone, all she wanted was to survive. The question was how. Trapped, about to be poisoned, how was she going to find a way out?

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