Page 125 of A Curse of Breath and Blood

Blocking the thorns, Gideon fired his own dark magic back.

Erissa stared at the insect with its stinger in my skin. Whispering something, the scorpion returned to her hand.

A sharp sting hit my forearm as Tharan crushed the bug under his grip. I returned to my body.

“No!” Erissa shouted, reaching her hand out for the dead insect. “You will pay for that.” Magic sparked at her fingertips.

Vines appeared through the cracks in the floor, splitting the granite, creating a wall between Erissa and us. Tharan tore the shackles from my body, crumpling the iron like old pieces of parchment.

Flames appeared in Erissa’s hand.

“You’ll take this castle down with flames like that,” Gideon said, deflecting a shot of lightning from Caiden.

“So be it,” Erissa said, hurling a ball of fire at me.

Blasting me into the wall, the flames threatened to engulf me, but they could not penetrate my skin.

My breath hitched in my throat as pain seared up my back. The room spun. I touched my hand to my head. Blood coated my fingertips as a muted battle raged around me.

“I can still collect your blood if you’re dead.” Erissa stalked toward me.

“You can have all the blood you want if you free Baylis,” I said, frantically looking for anything to grab onto.

Erissa opened her mouth to speak, only to be cut short by a deluge of lightning slamming her into a shelf of potions.

The glass vials shattered, covering her in different mixtures. Erissa cried out in agony as her skin shriveled and died, leaving her face a mess of mangled tissue and bone.

Caiden’s eyes hungered for revenge as he approached the mage. “This is for my wife.” He plunged the blade through Erissa’s clavicle and into her heart.

A high-pitched screech pierced my eardrums, making the world go hazy again.

Tharan ran to my side, helping me up. “We have to go now,” he said, shooting another poisonous thorn at the twins.

“I want the twins,” I said, my eyes locked on Ramus. “I will spare Gideon, but give me them.”

Tharan nodded, focusing his vines on Ramus.

“What’s happening?” the big man shouted as the vines snaked their way up his torso and around his limbs.

Remus hacked at the vines imprisoning his brother. The blades dulled with each strike.

Summoning every ounce of strength left in me, I got to my feet. “Let me go, Tharan.”

He did as I commanded.

I narrowed my gaze at Remus, who tore at the vines with his hands. So distracted, he did not notice as I hobbled closer, using the nightmares they inflicted upon me to fuel my feet. The smell of Remus’s desperation tasted sweet on my tongue.

Calling my dagger to my hand, I gripped the hilt tight before plunging it into Remus’s thick neck.

“Who’s the little bird now?” I whispered into his ear.

The three men looked on in awe as I became what nightmares were made of.

“Lucius, your sword.” I held out my hand.

He offered me the hilt.

Taking the weapon, I lifted it above my head, letting my rage fuel me.

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