Page 55 of Halfblood Deceived

The beast standing above her lifted his sword. His perverse red eyes locked with Zeydan’s gaze as he bared his teeth in a diabolical smirk. Zeydan had a sinking, nauseating suspicion of who the bastard was.

“No, no, no!” Zeydan raged.

The one he’d been fighting laughed. “Hold still, Duke Zeydan. I want a clean cut.”

Zeydan knew he was about to lose his wings and his life, but his eyes and his entire focus were on Aella. Desperation and rage sank merciless, burning claws inside his heart.

A blast of raw power left him again, the wave even bigger this time. It sent the gargoyles flying again.

Zeydan stood and lurched for Aella as the blade got closer to her, but he wouldn’t be fast enough—

A blast of blue magic hit the bastard gargoyle on the chest, sending him clear off his feet, flying several yards away from Aella.

A shifted vampire male Zeydan hadn’t seen in long decades landed right in front of Aella, dressed in lightweight black armor.

Sebastian Alexei Dragomir, a duke like Zeydan.

Sebastian shielded Aella and cast a ball of azure fire that he launched at the gargoyle.

A tingle of warning ran down Zeydan’s back. He dodged by instinct, turning on his stance.

One gargoyle missed slicing his wing off by a hair, but the other was sure to impale him—

A pale, clawed hand gripped the wrist of the gargoyle, snapping the stony arm with a fast jerk.

“Hello, Zeydan,” said Kamilla Davashkov as she landed beside Zeydan. She was dressed in the same black armor as Sebastian and shifted into her beastly form—wings, claws, and fangs out. She was about half a foot smaller than Zeydan, but stronger and more powerful.

Something she demonstrated by ripping out the spine of the gargoyle she was holding as if it were nothing.

A flash of verdant magic zoomed near Zeydan’s left ear and collided against the gargoyle that had shackled his ankle. A fey female with light brown skin had cast it. Her long raven hair was in a braid, she was dressed in armor too, and had a sword in her hand.

She didn’t get to use her sword on the gargoyle, however. Because right behind the stony bastard, landed Kerian Davashkov, who decapitated the gargoyle with his platinum-gold sword before the gargoyle could even stand.

The largest, perverse gargoyle Zeydan was fighting backed down, eyes wide, and took flight at once. “Micah! The Davashkov twins are here!” he cried.

Micah. The one who had impaled Aella, who was going to cut her into pieces, was Micah. Aella’s fucking bastard of a husband.

Zeydan didn’t bother to give chase to his previous opponent. Nor did he try to go after Micah, who was looking at his cousins with abject fear. His killing drive was suffocated by the protective impulse to help Aella. He closed the remaining distance between him and Aella as fast as he could, chains dragging, rolling her face up, and taking her in his arms.

He half registered the collision of red cursed magic launched by Micah and the mighty blue shield Sebastian cast mere feet away from him.

“Where are you going, you fucking rat?” he heard Sebastian ask as Micah—Aella’s abuser and wannabe killer—took flight.

“Aella,” Zeydan called, applying pressure to the wound. Hot crimson blood bathed his hand in a second.

Her eyes half opened. “Zeydan. Help them.” She turned her head to look toward the destroyed library.

Zeydan followed her gaze and heard a desperate sound leave his throat. Gabby and Luce were on the floor, and they weren’t moving. And one of Mari’s tiny hands poked out from under a shelf.

“No!” he screamed.

Kamilla and Kerian were already in the air, ready to give chase at the two fucking cowards. But they immediately swooped down and landed beside Zeydan and Sebastian.

He saw from the corner of his eye how the fey female warrior entered through the destroyed window of the ballroom. Screams reached his ears along with flashes of green fey fire.

Kamilla, Kerian, and Sebastian hurried inside the library.

Kerian lifted the shelf that was burying Mari. “Oh, goddess.” He cradled Mari in his arms. “Don’t you dare die, you tiny grump.”

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