Page 64 of A Fury Of Shadows

Mae pulled back, a faint smile hovering on her lips. “You can bitch about this with Nikolai over a couple of beers after we save him.”

“Like I’d drink with that asshole,” Vlad grumbled.

“We’ve been to several bars together,” Cortes reminded him.

“Oh.” Tom’s gaze swung from Vlad to Mae and back. He leaned toward Violet. “So, she has a thing going with him too?!” he whispered conspiratorially.

The witch made a face. “It’s complicated.”

CHAPTER24

“You should stand back,”Mae warned. “I’ll shield your cores so the spell doesn’t affect you.”

Serena glanced at her team. “We should be okay. We don’t have magic cores.”

Mae wrinkled her nose. “I assimilated the divine energy in Jared’s sword when I last used that spell. It might do something to your nanorobots.”

Tom paled.

Serena grimaced. “Shield away.”

Hellreaver emitted a crimson aura and moved into Mae’s waiting hand. Brimstone transformed, his pupils glowing as he towered over them all. Redness bloomed around the demon fox.

Mae incanted three spells in a single breath. “Soul Shield! Multiply! Guard!”

Her magic pierced their bodies, drawing gasps all round. Vlad’s pulse stuttered when it wrapped around his core, a hot, unwavering barrier that would protect him come what may.

Lou pressed a hand to his belly, his face pale. “This feels…strange.”

“Better strange than seeing your nanorobots get sucked out of you like a popsicle,” Tom mumbled.

A scarlet sphere formed around Mae. She levitated into the air and approached the gates. Her eyes flashed.

She raised a hand toward the invisible barrier. “Absorb!”

The black magic dome protecting the gates and whatever lay beyond flickered into view again. It shivered violently in the face of Mae’s spell.

A vein throbbed in her temple as the Sorcerer King’s magic resistedAbsorb. She lowered her brows.

Brimstone’s tails vibrated fiercely, augmenting his witch’s magic. Hellreaver quivered violently in her grasp.

Crimson detonated around Mae and her bonds on a thump that made Vlad’s ears throb. The pressure wave sent him and the others skidding backward in the mud.

“Shit,” Lou cursed.

“Kinda makes you glad she protected us, huh?” Miles said glassily.

The ground trembled. A storm shook the trees. The air boiled around Mae. She shot toward the barrier.

Vlad’s stomach lurched when he grasped her intent.

“No!” he barked. “You don’t know what—!”

Mae slammed her hand on the corrupt wall. “ABSORB!”

A silent implosion bowed the trees toward her. It sucked the clouds in the sky into a wild spiral centered above her head and cracked the ground beneath her feet.

The jagged line raced toward Vlad and the others.

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