Page 281 of Halfblood Deceived

Zeydan chuckled dryly. “You and me both.”

Aylana let out a shaky laugh. She stepped over the snake and reached Zeydan’s side again. “Should we try cutting her up in pieces or—”

Something black and massive hit Aylana so hard that it sent her right through a half-broken brick wall.

Zeydan watched with incredulity as the snake rose from the ground and lurched for him again. “For fuck’s sake!” He growled as he dodged slower, but no less dangerous strikes and drew back.

Please be fine, Aylana. Please; he mentally begged.

If the blow had broken Aylana’s neck…

Goddess, please protect her; he prayed, letting himself fall, and roll on the floor to avoid getting bitten.

The snake-witch panted, fangs dripping with yellow venom. “I was going to make this painlessss, but now I won’t.”

How the bloody Hells can she speak? Zeydan wondered, examining his surroundings.

The snake had knocked down most of the walls. Some windows were broken, but not all. From the corner of his eye, he saw a puddle of black ichor bathed by the sunlight. It was smoking.

There were three unbroken, black-painted windows to his right.

He blasted them with his telekinesis.

Sunlight bathed the snake. She hissed and recoiled away from the light, red-black eyes blazing with manic rage, but lunged for Zeydan again, forcing him away from the light.

He called for a kinetic barrier, but he knew it would fail this time—

A sword, blazing with verdant magic, cut through the snake’s body.

The snake twisted and fell back, hissing what sounded like profanities in Snakish.

Aylana emerged from the shadows, the left side of her head was bathed in blood.

Zeydan rushed toward her. “Are you alright?”

Aylana nodded.

The snake plucked the sword off with her maw and turned to glare at them. “I am going to take my time devouring you!”

“Do you trust me?” Aylana asked Zeydan.

“Yes,” he said, with no hesitation.

Aylana all but jumped on him and embraced him as the snake slithered toward them slowly, tasting triumph.

Zeydan wrapped his arms reflexively around Aylana, confused.

“Close your eyes,” Aylana said.

He obeyed.

Aylana murmured something in his ear, a spell that sent a line of warning down his spine. The whoosh of a roaring fire—of Aylana’s fire—all around them echoed in his ears. And then the temperature rose by a few hundred degrees.

Zeydan flinched. Something instinctive recoiled inside him at the feel of fey fire—lethal to vampires—so close to him. But he forced his body to remain still, and his eyes to stay closed even as he saw the glow of green flames through his eyelids. Aylana held him tightly to her, still murmuring a spell.

I’m not burning, Zeydan marveled. How the fuck am I not burning?

The temperature lessened slightly.

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