Page 33 of Fate Unchained

Kyril’s hands around her waist dropped away. “It seems I’m popular.” He glanced at her, his eyes red. “Did you summon this? Or did you forget to mention what else you and your partners had in store for me?”

“What?” Her heart pounded so hard she thought it would crack one of her ribs. “No. I didn’t call this creature.”

Kyril said nothing, circling the shade, still keeping himself between her and it, but ignoring her otherwise. The shade ignored her, too, and leaped for Kyril. Black flame flew from its hands, searing over the vulk.

Kyril didn’t dodge, he let it encompass him and lunged, moving so fast the shade didn’t have time to get out of the way. His claws sank deep into the shade’s side. The stench of burning fur filled the cave, and Kyril snarled.

The shade released another horrible hiss but raised its hands and blew more flame that whooshed and shot straight at her.

Lilah backpedaled and fell over the logs Kyril had stacked by the fire, slamming to her back on the floor. The flames flew past her, so close the heat licked at her skin.

She shot to her feet. Kyril was locked in battle with the shade, his claws slashing again and again, but the shade was burning him. He needed her help. What did she know about shades?

They were primordial elementals. Dangerous and tough.

Kyril roared, and her heart stopped. The two immortals were locked together, flame and claws flying. Flame …

Shades were made of smoke, but oddly enough, fire was their weakness. She scanned near the fireplace. Meat, sleeping skins, and logs. Nothing that would make a good torch.

She grabbed one of the sleeping skins and tossed it on the fire. The long shaggy fur on the pelt ignited in a frenzy of sparks and acrid smoke.

Lilah grabbed it and ran. Heat licked at her arms, but she ignored it.

The shade turned its head as she approached and opened its mouth. It spat black fire, but she didn’t stop. “Kyril, watch out!” She tossed the burning skin at the shade.

Kyril stepped back, caught the edge of the blanket, and twisted to smother the shade’s head with it. The flames turned bluish-white and engulfed the shade as if it were made of pure alcohol.

A high-pitched whistle shot through the cave, like a tea kettle on a stove. The figure in the blanket collapsed on the floor. The shade seemed to be disappearing, its form under the blanket shrinking, as gray smog billowed out from the blanket into the air.

Kyril stalked over to the sleeping skin and patted it with his foot, sparks flying. There was nothing under the blanket any longer. “This shade wasn’t normal. When they die, they turn into ash.” He kicked the sleeping skin across the floor. No ash lay underneath.

The gray smog still circled slowly above them. It picked up speed and formed a shape. A familiar series of runes. She pointed. “That’s the runic word I spoke to trap us.” She squinted and studied it. “Wait … no, it isn’t. It is a tuthark, a runic activator word like the one to spring the trap, but this is a different word. I can’t make out the other runes with it because of the smoke.”

The rune was a shadowy combination of the shade’s smog and thick black smoke, with flashes of green like a self-contained lightning storm.

He put his arm around her. “What do we do with it?” She’d expected him to turn on her again, thinking more runes only proved she was linked to the shade’s arrival, but he hadn’t.

She craned her neck to check Kyril’s arms and chest. “Are you hurt?”

He kept her tucked against his side. “I’m fine. Let’s deal with the rune.”

She glanced at the skylight, and light still trickled through. The rune continued to billow above them, and she didn’t have any of her magic to try to ward it off. Funny, when the other rune, the golden one, appeared in the air to bind her to Kyril, she hadn’t considered attacking it. She’d been surprised but not afraid.

This rune, on the other hand, wasn’t right, and it roiled above them, slowly increasing in size. A chill trickled down her spine. “I think we need to destroy it.”

A zing built along her shoulders where Kyril’s arm lay warm around her. It was the same sense of power she felt when she used her magic. She turned toward him. “Do you feel that?”

“Yes.”

Power surged in the center of her chest, right where their shared rune was tattooed. She raised her hand, and it glowed. She stepped toward the rune, ducking out from under Kyril’s arm. The light in her hands faded.

She gasped. “It’s you. The power is coming from you.” She reached down and took his hand, linking her fingers with his. The light returned. “How?”

Kyril stared upward. “Let’s figure it out later.” He curled his hand around hers, warm and secure.

The rune continued to build above them, and the flashes of green grew brighter. “These runic words are an activator. It does something. Normally you speak the syllables, and the tuthark responds.”

Kyril gestured toward the still-smoldering sleeping skin on the floor. “It did. It summoned the shade.”

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