Page 35 of Madness of Her Mages

After heaving again, I sat back on my heels, dread coiling around my veins. What if I couldn’t expel the stone? Nikkos wordlessly rubbed my back while Drae and Blaze kept a watchful eye on our surroundings. The girls sat on a thick, raised tree root beside me, bright-eyed and shivering, though they were wrapped up in warm woolen blankets. Dewy morning light spilled into the forest, bathing the trees in a soft golden glow. Dust particles floated around me, suspended in the air like stagnant magic—like my magic.

I thanked Nikkos when he handed me a cup of fresh stream water. It was especially cold and numbed my sore throat. Mm. I took several more sips.

“Keep drinking,” he whispered. “You’ll eventually expel the stone.”

I gave him a hopeless look. “I should have already.”

He grimaced. “From what I’ve read, these stones can take time to expel.”

I refrained from rolling my eyes as I handed him the empty goblet. “We don’t have time.”

The girls gasped and my mates took on fighting stances, smoke pouring from their fingers as an angry neigh cut through the still air.

“Mortimus!” I stumbled to my feet, leaning against Nikkos.

Another neigh echoed off the trees, this one tinged with an undercurrent of panic.

My gaze shot to Drae.He’s in trouble,I projected.

Drae gave me a grim look.I’ll go investigate. Stay here.

No,I protested.We stick together. This could be a ploy to separate us.

He nodded, his gaze cutting toward Nikkos.Carry her.

Before I could stop him, Nikkos swept me into his arms, making me feel like a ship being tossed in a gale as he ran with me bouncing against his hard chest.

“Come on, girls,” he whispered.

As sick as I was, I looked over his shoulder, fearing that they wouldn’t be able to keep up as my mates used their wings to propel them onward, but clever Aurora held her sister’s hand and followed us by teleporting them from the base of one big tree to the next.

We found Mortimus on his side in a shallow part of the riverbed, blood spilling beneath him as his wings twitched. Dread slowed my heart to a painful thud. Hovering beside him with flames shooting from their hands were none other than the demon-possessed mages, Sol and Bertram, their bright red eyes a stark contrast to the dark forest at their backs. Both looked worse than I remembered, with wings like shredded sails and burns covering most of their bodies.

Nikkos shielded the girls and me while Blaze and Drae circled the demons, flames sprouting from their hands.

“Bertram and Sol, how nice of you to finally show your ugly faces,” Drae taunted.

They hissed back like wounded, feral animals, their eyes glowing unnaturally, and I wondered if there was any trace of the fire mages left inside their bodies, or if the demons had completely taken over. When they released streaming infernoshigh into the air with cackling, sinister laughter, I had my answer.

I groaned while clutching Nikkos’s shoulders. “Your brothers need you.”

He squeezed me tighter. “I’m not leaving you and the girls.”

I gritted my teeth while watching Blaze run circles around the mages, disorienting them with his speed.

Malvolia’s horse whinnied, his chest heaving as he strained for breath, and I knew he wasn’t long for this world if we couldn’t save him.

Save her horse,I projected to Nikkos.

Not now,he answered back through thought.My priority is keeping you and the girls safe.

I looked over his shoulder at the girls as they huddled behind Nikkos, gaping at the demons. I clutched my roiling stomach while forcing out the words. “Aurora, take us back to Aunt Malvolia’s camp.”

She gaped at me. “But I’m afraid, Auntie.”

I reached out to her. “I know, darling. Please be brave.”

She visibly swallowed and ducked under Nikkos’s shoulder, crawling into my lap, her sister following.

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