Page 38 of Taken By the Blood God

I let the cold power inside me trickle down my arms to my hands, covering them in a thin layer of ice that extended past my wrist, midway up my forearm. As soon as my magic touched the filthy spell, the oily residue of the trap retreated.

Then, the trap expanded again until it touched my hand before it shivered, trying to pull back. The slimy shell undulated as though it were writhing in agony.

I realized then what was happening. It was reacting to my magic and to Talant’s power. Trapped between the two of us, it couldn’t escape, and it was falling apart.

I pushed with my magic, sinking more power into the trap. The bombardment from the warlocks around me intensified. They seemed to realize what was happening and were desperately trying to stop it.

The shield surrounding me shuddered, weakening.

Groaning with effort, I poured even more power into the trap, trying to force it to crack. The heat coming from within it was nearly unbearable, so I could only imagine the amount of magic that Talant was using.

A crack appeared in the greasy black surface, incandescent orange and red light radiating through the small space. A shaft of scalding air shot through the gap, hitting me in the chest. I gasped as the molten beam burned straight through my shirt, scorching my skin. I barely had time to throw up my hands and shift my shield to protect me.

It still wasn’t enough. The oily shell around the trap exploded in a burst of brilliant red light and flame. I flew across the cave, slamming into the stone wall. The magical shield surrounding me cushioned some of the impact, but pain engulfed me, searing my muscles, my vision turning black at the edges.

I fought to remain conscious and shielded my eyes with my hand. The blazing light faded, revealing Talant. The intense heat of his magic had burned his clothes away, leaving him naked. Black smudges streaked his skin, and he gleamed with sweat. Red and gold flames danced beneath the soles of his feet and around his hands. Tongues of fire even drifted through his hair, moving the strands so that they seemed alive.

He strode forward into the barrage of black magic, the curses and spells hitting his body before falling harmlessly to his feet. Lightning cracked across the room, heading straight toward me.

I inhaled sharply, trying to gather my magic to protect myself, but I was going to be too late. I knew it.

I flinched, expecting the electricity to seize my muscles, but nothing happened. The bolt crashed against an invisible barrier, splitting into hundreds of tiny threads of lightning and surrounding me.

“You dare!” Talant roared, bringing my attention back to him.

The fire licking at his hands grew as he lifted them in front of him, his elbows bent. An orb of flames formed between his two hands, the bright red and orange inferno growing lighter and brighter until it was pure white, tinged with the faintest blue.

The heat from it was so immense that the candles surrounding the stone dais melted within a blink, the wax running across the floor, sizzling and vanishing. I was close enough to Talant that I should have burned as well, but I felt nothing. There wasn’t even a hint of the blaze within the barrier around me.

The ball of fire expanded until it was several feet in diameter. With a roar, Talant thrust his arms forward, flinging the fire toward the warlocks. At least two of them managed to portal out of the cavern, but the rest were incinerated as the sphere shattered, becoming a sheet of white-hot fire that flooded the room washing across the floor in a wave. The bodies of the fallen warlocks vanished as their brethren panicked. Some made an effort to shield themselves with the magic they’d stolen from Davian, others just tried to flee in sheer terror.

There was no escape. The decimation was total and complete, burning away everything in the path of Talant’s fury.

For the first time since he’d carried me out of the cave in Devil Springs, I truly feared Talant. He was death and destruction personified. His power was terrifying now that I was seeing its true potential.

As his flames faded, the lower portion of the cavern walls glowed with residual heat. The cave was completely dark except for that, but it was fading quickly. All the candles had melted into oblivion beneath the wash of his power.

My ears were ringing, and the only other thing I could hear was the sound of my own panting breaths.

I remained still, worried that if I moved the shield that surrounded me would collapse, and the scalding stones around me would blister my skin.

A gasp escaped my lips when a faint red light seemed to fill the cave, revealing Talant’s naked form standing over me.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, his voice raspy.

I took stock of my body. My back and neck ached from where I’d hit the stone wall and then the floor. I knew without looking that I would develop bruises all over me from the multiple impacts. The burn on my chest throbbed in time with my heartbeat, feeling as though it seeped down into my sternum.

“Nothing serious,” I finally answered. “Just banged up a little.”

“Can you stand?” he asked, crouching down next to me.

Resolutely, I kept my eyes on his face. Now was not the time to get distracted by the fact that he was completely nude.

“I think so,” I answered. “Is it safe for me to move?”

His head canted to the side in an unspoken question.

“Will the heat from the rocks burn me if I try to move around?” I clarified.

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