Page 113 of Madness of Her Mages

“How do I summon earth shaker powers?” I whispered to my cousin.

When she looked up at me, she was a completely different person from the other night. A mixture of terror and sorrow shone in her eyes.

“You’ve obviously summoned them before, right?” she asked.

“Yes.” I swallowed, my gaze wandering to that beautiful old temple while guilt and rage overshadowed my heart. “When Malvolia was choking me with her black magic.”

“Did it feel different from using your siren magic?” she asked.

“Yes.” I looked down at my hands as if they were foreign objects. “I felt tingling in my fingers. My siren magic tingles my throat.”

“Then focus on your fingers,” she said. “It helps to think of them as wands of power.”

I gave her a funny look. “Wands of power?”

“Yes,” she said, “and imagine the magic that flows into your throat flows into your fingers instead.”

I gritted my teeth in determination while staring at the temple. “Goddess, forgive me,” I mumbled and then whispered to my magic, “Tear it down.”

The ground shook and trees swayed, but the temple remained otherwise unscathed. Good. I didn’t want to tear down the beautiful old edifice, but I feared my aunt would find a way to make me.

“Do it again!” Malvolia screeched like a dying bird.

And so I tried again and again, but the magic only rattled the walls enough to crack a few stones.

I could feel Drae and Nikkos moving protectively closer to me.

“Not enough!” Malvolia threw up her hands, her monster horse snarling behind her.

I tensed, waiting for her to choke me again, flinching when snakes of dark magic flew out of her fingers and smashed into something behind me.

I spun around when my mates fell to the mossy floor, clutching the nooses around their necks while struggling to breathe. The fucking bitch had gone too far!

I spun around with a roar, facing down my nemesis, magic scorching my fingers. “Let! Them! Go!”

The ground buckled beneath me, rolling like a wave and knocking Malvolia and her coven to the ground. Mortimus took to the air with an angry whinny as the wave rolled outward, smacking the temple with a violent crash. I gasped when strong hands yanked me off the ground, tossing me into the air moments before the temple came down like an avalanche.Drae carried me high above the trees. Nikkos followed carrying Felicity, her chain swinging beneath her, a massive dust cloud chasing after us. Malvolia’s lovers nearly crashed into each other, calling to Malvolia while scanning the smoke for their queen. Mortimus let out angry whinnies, flying in erratic circles as we waited for the dust to settle.

Maybe the avalanche killed her,Nikkos projected to us.

I shook my head.We won’t be so lucky.

Sure enough, the smoke cleared revealing a mountain of rubble, and sitting atop it was my aunt and her coven in the protective walls of a curse chamber.

The bubble popped, and Malvolia waved to us as her coven huddled behind her, looking like frightened mice—all except Lady Veronica. She had a knowing expression on her face, almost as if she knew she wasn’t going to die this day. Simple witch, my ass.

When we landed on the mountain of stone and dust, I slipped from Drae’s arms, glaring at my aunt.

“And that, my dear niece,” she said to me with a triumphant smile, “is what you will do to the demon army.”

I gritted my teeth but didn’t answer. I wasn’t her ‘dear niece.’ I was her weapon, nothing more. And she was a fucking bitch.

“I was jealous of you when you first came here,” Felicity whispered to me. “Now, I don’t envy you at all.”

That made two of us.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Thankfully, Malvolia didn’t try to force me to ride back with her to the castle. Drae continued to carry me, and Nikkos carried Felicity. As we flew over domed buildings with jagged towers, I rested my head against Drae’s shoulder, touching the angry red welt that wrapped around his neck.Are you okay?

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