Page 96 of A Fury Of Shadows

“Are you messing with me right now?!” the sorcerer snapped.

Nikolai spread his hands, his tone innocuous. “Why ever would I do that?”

He started up the stairs, magic warming his belly.

Oscar went still as he approached. “Father was right.” His eyes shrank to slits. “You remember, don’t you?!”

Drabek hissed around his ankles.

Nikolai slowed fractionally, a tell Oscar didn’t miss.

Black magic bloomed around the sorcerer. His pupils and those of his lynx shifted to obsidian.

Moon Shielddetonated in front of Nikolai, blocking the spell bomb Oscar hurled at him in a blur of motion.

The sorcerer flinched when his attack bounced off the shimmering barrier. It took a chunk out of one of the stone columns supporting the gallery. The sorcerers and witches next to it shrank back with startled cries.

“How?!” Oscar retreated a step as Nikolai drew closer, his eyes rounding. “How did you do that without saying the spell out loud?!”

Nikolai’s heart raced, Alastair’s surprise mirroring his own. It was only in that moment that he’d managed to invoke his first wordless spell. He looked at his hand and flexed his fingers. The magic in their cores felt infinitely stronger.

Is it because we’ve just been inside a nexus?!

Alastair ruffled his feathers. Nikolai swallowed.

No. It’s because my soul has acknowledged Mae again, just as hers has accepted mine. This is the power granted to me by virtue of being her consort.

There was no time to ponder the humbling truth he’d just grasped.

Nikolai lowered his brows and said the words he knew would infuriate Oscar like little else. “It’s because I’m more powerful than you are, brother.”

Rage brought a rush of color to Oscar’s face.

“Bring this bastard down!” he roared at the Dark Council.

More sorcerers and witches had appeared from the innards of the castle. Black magic spell bombs bloomed into life in the entrance hall and around the gallery. They sailed toward him, a barrage of corrupt spheres.

Alastair’s core throbbed in tandem with his own. Heat scorched his veins.

“Moon Fire!”

CHAPTER36

White flames burstinto life around Nikolai and Alastair. They roared across the foyer and swept through the gallery in the blink of an eye, neutralizing the Dark Council’s attacks. The men and women yelled and cursed as the fire engulfed their clothes and raised blisters on their skin.

Those who had been spared recoiled.

Cortes, Violet, and Miles had emerged from the shadows around the lobby. Magic throbbed around them and their familiars.

Nikolai glanced at Cortes. “Did you take care of what I told you to?”

“Yeah.” The Columbian’s stony gaze remained focused on their enemy. “We sank their boats. They’re not getting off this island unless they swim. And they’ll die of hypothermia before they reach the other shore.”

The Dark Council sorcerers and witches exchanged frightened glances.

“It doesn’t matter!” Oscar glowered at Nikolai from behind the black magic shield he had raised. Sweat beaded his face. “Barquiel can rift us out of here!”

Nikolai had to hand it to the sorcerer. That he was managing to maintain his defenses in the face ofMoon Firewas an impressive feat.

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