Page 174 of Vicious Is My Throne

Forged by the most powerful witch to ever exist.

But no match for a god.

Get out, Anaria, Raz ordered. Go back through the hole. We’ll hold him off long enough for Zor or Tristan to find you and get you off this mountain.

Fucking run, Anaria. That was Tavion, screaming inside my head.

The aura around Corvus flared to life, burning like a demon’s crown. The web came back to life, barely an echo of what it had been before.

They’d never contain him.

I tossed the worthless, broken blade away, the metal clattering across the floor, then pivoted when another one of those burning shadows shot through the dying threads of the keystones, straight toward Tavion.

Toward my mate.

Who, instead of breaking the chain of light, kept his feet firmly planted so I had my chance to escape.

Because he knew, without wings, he never would.

Corvus’s darkness didn’t hesitate.

His shadowy power speared through Tavion with all the brute force of an immortal god, punching out through his back in a shower of blood.

“No.” The guttural scream ripped from my body and the world stopped.

“No, no, no. Get up, Tavion. Get out of here.”

But my mate crashed face down to the floor, white hair covering his face, one arm reaching toward me, his keystone lying dark on the floor. My chest was shredding like something vital had snapped.

“I always forget. You mortals break so easily.”

My magic exploded out of that deep, silent pool, the floor beneath my feet ignited, and in that instant, I became a conduit for pure power as cold as if it had been yanked from the very center of this world.

I was still screaming when I hit Corvus with a blast of magic that should have erased him from existence.

But when my vision cleared, he was still there.

Blacker than before, that crown of dark fire burning even brighter.

The moment Tavion fell, the containment web vanished. Now, black shadows viciously speared out in all directions, deadly power that would kill on contact. Everyone else scattered, Raziel vanishing only to reappear back on his symbol, his stone glowing in his hand.

Anaria, he begged. You have to leave. Get to the ledge. Zor will take you back to Darkspire. Please don’t make me watch you die.

“Run, little rats. Run and hide.”

“We’re not fucking hiding. Not from you.” My soles heated against the glowing symbol, arms aching from channeling this magic flesh and bone weren’t ever meant to channel.

I would deplete myself, use every last drop, if I could end this monster here.

More and more and more, I spooled up magic, unleashing everything I had, feeding it into him. Too much fuel is as bad as not enough. Well, we’d see if that was true. A fissure formed in Corvus’s black shell, then another, light blazing out through the cracks.

Hang on, princess, Tristan growled. I’ve got you.

My body torqued like I’d been punched, I tasted ash and embers, then a burst of red-tinged magic streamed out of me, as bright as the edges of the sun.

Take all my magic, Anaria. Tristan’s fury skated up my spine. Take everything I have and use it to kill that bastard.

Another punch, then another, then a third, magic flowing into me in bursts, my blood turning to steam from the sheer amount of magic rushing through me. More and more and more, a stream of hot-cold dark power flooded the cave until I choked, deflecting Corvus’s spears of darkness with bursts of cold light.

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