Page 120 of Madness of Her Mages

I paced the floor, worry gnawing a hole in my gut. “All of you?”

Drae nodded, his expression grim. “Everyone. First, second, her personal army, and her spies.” He gave me a dark look. “Witches, too.”

I clutched my throat, fear numbing my limbs. Was this it? “Are we heading to war?”

Blaze shook his head while counting down on his fingers. “One horn blast summons the army, usually for training, two means a wave is about to breach the wall, and three means we’re under attack or heading to war.”

“It’s probably a training exercise,” Blaze said, “considering we’re preparing for war.”

Seriously? After all the magic we used today, we would have to use more? I wrung my fingers together, my anxiety ratcheting up to new heights while they shoved on their boots. I quickly put on my lace-up boots while Blaze and Nikkos helped the girls dress.

I clung to Drae a little too tightly. “Where do we go?”

“To the beach,” he said grimly. “The only place within the walls that will accommodate all of us.”

My gaze shot to the girls as Nikkos and Blaze swept them into their arms.

I heaved out a shaky breath as Drae took me in his arms and we jumped from the balcony, joining the thousands of other mages that blackened the sky to almost night with wings that looked like a migration of butterflies. We flew in the same direction, converging on that sandy beach beneath the northern wall.

“There!” Drae said, motioning toward a raised podium in the dunes where my aunt stood with her coven, their robes billowing behind them as a cool, wet wind blew through the air.

We landed on the podium, looking out at the sea of mages standing beneath that monolith in perfect formations, impervious to the sea spray raining down on their heads. An army of Ravini Fae dressed head to toe in black armor and lined up as far as the eye could see. My head throbbed from the noise of the pounding waves and flapping wings, and gritty sand coated my tongue as I tried to quell my racing heart. What was happening?

Drae set me down, and I went to my other mates, taking the girls from them.

Ember sucked her thumb, blinking up at me. “It’s loud here, Auntie.”

I squeezed her hand. “I know, darling.”

When Malvolia waved me forward, I clutched the girls’ hands, my mates at my back while we cautiously approached her. Her ebony lips and eyes matched the crown of polished black thorns atop her head. Black smoke pulsed off her skin in erratic waves. She looked terrifying.

Ember and Aurora pressed into my skirts, making it harder to walk as they clung to my legs.

“Shirina, this is my entire army.” My aunt swept a hand toward the ocean of faces staring back at me. “My personal regiment, including my spies, first regiment, and second regiment. I want you to use your siren voice on them without moving your mouth.”

I fought back a wave of fatigue. I was so damned tired, but my aunt didn’t care. I was nothing more than her war dog. “Wh-what do you want me to do?”

She flashed a sideways smile. “Disable them.”

I looked at my mates over my shoulder as they stared straight ahead, their iron-eyed glares hard and unyielding, though Nikkos cracked the slightest of smiles just for me.

You can do it, Shiri,his voice echoed in my head.

I looked back at my aunt. “Disable them?”

“Now, Shirina!” Malvolia hissed, her voice dry and raspy like an old crone’s while black smoke poured from her fingers.

The girls gasped, and I feared for their safety more than anything. Malvolia had already attacked my mates and me. I wouldn’t put it past her to use her choking magic on the girls to get me to comply.

Fueled by fear, I faced the army and my voice ricocheted through the air like a gong, dark and sinister, though I didn’t feel my mouth move. “On. Your. Knees.”

Every single mage and witch fell to their knees like puppets with snipped strings, rattling the podium beneath my feet and the very air I breathed. And how odd that my mates and theothers on the stage didn’t move. It was as if my voice knew where to project.

Malvolia cackled, her voice like a hammer and nails piercing my skull. “Fachnan’s army doesn’t stand a chance,” she said to me, her eyes shining with what looked like pride. “You will do exactly this on the battlefield, only you will also command them to slit their own throats.”

I was too fatigued and frightened to argue as I squeezed my nieces’ hands. “Yes, Aunt.” I knew without a doubt I wouldn’t be responsible for the deaths of thousands of Fae, but no use in telling Malvolia now. As I said before, I would disable them, but I wouldn’t kill them—not unless they all turned out to be demon possessed. Elements save us.

AFTER WE RETURNED TOour bedroom suite, Nikkos, Drae, and I slept the rest of the afternoon. Blaze woke me up with a frown, telling me it was time for supper at Malvolia’s court.

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