Page 50 of Halfblood Deceived

“Five more minutes,” Luce begged.

“Two more,” Gabby bargained.

Mari sighed. “I promised Zeydan that I would protect you, and you’re fucking well letting me protect you. Now let’s go—”

An explosion detonated close—too close—sending Luce, Aella, and Gabby on their backs.

Mari fell to her knees, but cast a runic shield that encompassed them all and protected them from the rain of debris and sharp pieces of wood coming from the destroyed door. Everything shook around them as if there was an earthquake.

When the movement ceased, Aella got on her feet and helped Gabby up along with Luce.

“They’ve destroyed the tunnel,” Mari said, voice empty.

Luce picked up her gun. “Oh, fucking Hell.”

Aella couldn’t help but be stunned again by the girl’s sheer grit and foul, foul mouth.

Mari shook her head and rushed down the hall, yanking open one door. “Come in!”

Aella, Luce, and Gabby didn’t need to be told twice.

The room they entered was a mad scientist’s den. Three computers, a table with lab equipment that Aella had never seen before, and shelves covering every wall, full of books, potions, and weird metallic objects.

Mari pushed a shelf aside with a grunt, revealing a set of narrow stairs. “This leads to the library, which is the only place not rigged with Andreas’ lovely fail-safes. We’ll be more exposed, but I’ll take that alternative to being buried alive. And you?”

“Lead the way,” said Gabby.

Mari led the way.

Luce and Gabby followed, and Aella took the rear. Her heart was beating so hard that she felt her pulse under her tongue. A layer of sweat broke over her body and her hands shook. Zeydan and the others were probably losing the battle. How many gargoyles were attacking the mansion? It felt like an entire army.

Aella emerged into the library. It was massive. With a mezzanine, and dozens of bookshelves. Many books lay on the floor in disarray along with plaster. The high ceiling was fractured. Two decorative claymores with gemstones on the handles had fallen to the floor by the fireplace.

Mari cast a spell under her breath.

The bookcases nearest to the doors and the windows moved, barricading them inside, but Aella feared it wasn’t enough. And judging by Gabby’s position, with her machine gun ready to fire, Aella was right.

Luce dropped her stuffed frog, gripping her gun with surprisingly steady hands.

Aella’s fingers shook, but she imitated them, standing next to Gabby.

“Those motherfucking bastards,” Mari grumbled as she moved even more shelves with her verdant magic, as if they were weightless. “I wish I could turn them into fucking garden decorations.”

“Auntie Mari finds cursing therapeutic,” Luce told Aella, her soft, slightly shaky voice sending a pang through Aella’s stomach.

“We all do,” Gabby agreed.

Aella had no response to that. She had said a rude word in public only once and gotten ten lashes to the back. Never again had she dared.

An explosion shook the windows, sending glass, wood, and books flying everywhere. Mari cast a shield to protect them from the cuts. But there was nothing she could do against the sheer brute force someone was using to knock the shelves aside.

An undercurrent of painful energy ran down Aella’s back. Every instinct she possessed blared in alarm as the blows continued until the shelves fully cracked, sending more books flying everywhere and revealing three gargoyles.

The largest one smiled at Aella, flashing his stone fangs. “Hello, darling wife. Or should I say, treacherous whore?”

“Micah,” Aella breathed out.

The largest gargoyle was, without a doubt, one of the most vicious bastards Zeydan had ever encountered. So he faced that one himself in a sword fight.

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