Page 133 of An Archer's Redemption

It pressed forward.

Then I remembered I had far more than my simple Gifts.

I Traveled the length of the room, away from the flame, and immediately in front of Danai.

He leaped back.

But he was so startled by my sudden appearance that he tripped over the bottom step of the dais.

I shot forward and drove my own Enhanced punch into his gut.

He crumpled and clutched his stomach, gasping for breath.

I called fire again and hurled it into the fetal form curled before me, engulfing him.

Danai writhed, but a third diamond flared, and he Healed himself as quickly as he burned. Shimmering light flared from the length of the staff, and the flames surrounding his bodyturned from hues of auburn, golden, and scarlet to a translucent azure.

He rose, a man still consumed in flames, yet unburned.

Now I staggered back, horror and shock streaking through me.

Danai gripped my arm.

Angry flames clawed at my skin.

They crawled up my shoulder and seared away the fabric on my back.

I screamed in pain and rage, cast my own Healing, then hurled a gust of wind at Danai’s head.

The spear of air sailed wide.

Standing not two paces away, I missed.

Danai laughed.

But I used that split second to my advantage. At the clanking of metal on marble, and his mirth froze.

“Looking for something?” I asked from behind as I bent and retrieved the crown.

He whirled around to find me leaning casually against the throne.

He howled and tried to step forward, but the flames still raging across his body, once again the colors of the rising sun, were now free to burn and destroy.

The staff clanged loudly as it tumbled down the steps of the dais.

Me holdinghiscrown was the last thing he saw before darkness took him.

Chapter 57

Declan

Atikus and I appeared on the balcony above the ceremonial chamber. It was just as Keelan had described: well above the central hall with a banister that obscured the view of those below. I was relieved we hadn’t Traveled ourselves into one of the pillars or walls since neither of us had ever seen the inside of the place.

A man shouted below, sounding arrogant and angry.

I snuck a peek over the railing.

“There are three people down there. One on a throne wearing a crown and two kneeling in front of him. The two on the floor are wearing robes and masks,”I whispered in Atikus’s mind.

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