Page 88 of A Fury Of Shadows

Barquiel’s pulse quickened.He’s lost his fucking mind. Nikolai is an asset neither he nor I can afford to lose!

Oscar’s eyes widened as his father’s meaning sank in. “Wait. Are you saying the Illusion Sorcery he’s under is failing?!”

He shrank back when Vedran fixed him with a glare.

The Sorcerer King took a shuddering breath and regained a measure of control over his emotions. “I’m beginning to suspect the reason he blacked out when he tried to remove her magic from your core was because he regained some of his memories. Which makes me think she put a spell inside you to combat the Illusion Sorcery he was under.”

Oscar blanched. His hand trembled as he touched his belly. Barquiel could tell the sound of that scared the living daylights out of the sorcerer.

“Forcing him to open the fake compass so soon after that first insult undid more of Anya Mendes’s magic,” Vedran continued bitterly. He paused. “That was my fault entirely. I was in too much of a rush to get my hands on theBook of Shadows.”

Barquiel masked his surprise.I never thought I’d see the day this man would admit to his mistakes.

“Does that mean he’s no longer of any use to us?” Oscar said in a brittle tone.

Barquiel could see the sick excitement building behind his eyes. Having to play the role of nice older brother to Nikolai in the past month had enraged him to no end. He was obviously looking forward to being able to beat the sibling he hated to a pulp again, like he used to when they were children.

Except he doesn’t realize how much stronger Nikolai is now, the fool.

“Oh, he is, so don’t go getting ideas,” Vedran warned his heir.

He removed something from a drawer. It was a stone, its smooth surface inky but for the sizzling blue runes scored into it.

Barquiel’s pulse quickened. He recognized the item.

A sinister expression tightened the Sorcerer King’s face. “Once I put this inside Nikolai’s core, his hatred for the Witch Queen will eat him alive and he will do my bidding once more.” He blinked, as if an idea had just come to him. “In fact, why don’t I just do that now. It will make getting him to bait Mae Jin that much easier.” He eyed Oscar coldly. “Go fetch him.”

But try as he might, the sorcerer could not find his brother.

CHAPTER33

Serena slipped silentlyout of the water. Her nanorobot suit shifted color, adapting to their new surroundings. Tension tightened Mae’s limbs as she emerged from the lake with Brimstone and joined the super soldier behind the bushes where she crouched. Vlad, Tarang, and Cortes were seconds behind her, Popo flying low next to his sorcerer.

Water dripped off the wetsuit Serena had given Mae. Hellreaver lay still against her chest. Like Brimstone, the weapon’s attention was focused on what he could sense through their bond.

Nikolai’s magic throbbed urgently against their cores.

He’s close,my witch,Brimstone said.

Mae swallowed.Yes.

Flaming torches and lanterns dotted the grounds and the walls of the keep. They could see Dark Council sorcerers and witches patrolling the area.

The sounds of a commotion reached them just as the Nolan cousins and the rest of the super soldiers surfaced, Lou and Tom bringing up the rear.

Mae’s shoulders knotted. “Do they know we’re here?”

Serena raised a hand to silence them and cocked her head. “No.”

Mae could tell her enhanced hearing was enabling her to pick up the conversation between the guards near the entrance and the flustered witch who’d just run out of the castle.

The super soldier furrowed her brow. “They’re looking for Nikolai.”

Mae’s stomach lurched.

“He’s hiding from them?” Cortes said.

The Columbian was less distressed than he had been in the parking lot in Kraków. If anything, his fear for Anya had morphed into a laser-like focus to make the ones responsible for threatening her pay for their transgression.

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