Page 84 of Of Flames and Crows

Shit! That was close!

He whirled around to face the enemy who had cast the attack. Ice filled his veins.

Raya Medeiros pushed her hood back as she emerged from thin air, her pupils and fingers aglow with the same amber magic that sparked in the eyes of the black mamba coiled around her arm.

Cortes swore.

Raya’s gaze found him. Her expression turned ugly.

“I heard a rat was spotted in our hideout.” She sneered. “It seems like I’m going to have to teach you a lesson again,nephew!” She glowered at Vlad. “But let me take care of this mongrel first.”

CHAPTER35

Mae.

Warmth surrounded Mae, a haven that pulsed faintly, like a comforting heartbeat. She floated within the pale, undefined space, safe and at peace.

Mae.

Mae frowned. She burrowed deeper into the fluffy clouds surrounding her like cotton candy, determined to ignore the voice trying to drag her out of her snug bed.

Wake up, Mae.

“Go away,” Mae mumbled.

Low laughter reached her and danced through her ears, the sound strangely musical.

I see both my daughters are sound sleepers.

Mae’s heart throbbed. Her eyelids fluttered.

She struggled to fight the drowsiness dragging her under once more, conscious she had to wake up and try and make sense of the words she’d just heard. The words that were making a sea of sadness well up from deep within her.

Fingers grasped her shoulders, their heat searing her skin. Someone yanked her out of her warm cocoon.

“Wake up, Mae!” Nikolai shouted close by.

Mae’s eyes snapped open.

The sorcerer was kneeling above her, his face full of dread and his pupils blazing with magic. Alastair squawked worriedly on his shoulder. Hellreaver floated beside them, the weapon humming agitatedly.

He shot into her arms.My witch!

Mae blinked and hugged him.

Nikolai sagged, tension visibly draining out of him.

She sat up slowly, Hellreaver still clinging to her. “What—what happened?”

Her eyes rounded. They were inside a dazzling space churning with magic. Waves of pure energy washed across her skin and ruffled her hair as she climbed to her feet, Nikolai helping her.

“Wait!” Mae breathed. She’d just noticed the pale rivers pouring into the place they stood in from high above. “Is this the nexus?!”

Nikolai nodded. Sparks danced around him and Alastair, their cores blazing as the magic inside the nexus amplified their strength.

Mae twisted on her heels. “It’s big.”

She couldn’t see the boundaries of the nexus.

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