Page 146 of Mantle

Speaking of determined bastards, I looked out at Kai.

He was barely reacting—on the surface. He was in his near-obsessive state of being so completely on course with a mission that nothing could impact him.

As we continued making our way through the subterranean crypt, the walls lined with vertical alcoves holding preserved bodies frozen in glass-like stasis almost like sleeping fucked-up art installations, I gritted my teeth as our boots continued to crunch on the thousands of skulls and bones lining the floors.

“I can’t locate him through the rancid blood interference,” Lucian told us.

“Yeah, I’ve got nothing either,” I admitted.

“Doesn’t matter,” Kai finally spoke. “We’ll find him. The Guardians are splitting up to cover the expanse of this death space, and he can’t escape now anyway, they warded the place when we arrived. It’s just a matter of finding the rat through these tunnels.”

A commotion sounded a couple of hundred feet ahead of us, deep in the heart of the hellhole. Magic flared, vampires slammed into stone, decimating the walls at the impact of clearly being thrown with Corvin’s magic.

And then I saw a figure dart down a narrower tunnel right near us.

Lucian took off in a burst of speed.

I grabbed Kai and took him with me as I used my dragon speed to follow. Even with that, I was nowhere near as fast as Lucian and it took us seconds, not split-seconds, to arrive in another cave-like space.

And there Lucian was being held several feet off the ground, his body rigid and paralyzed by Corvin’s magic encompassing him.

“You’re using remnants of the necromantic magic you stole from Sylas,” Kai hissed.

“Ah, very good, magic-wielder. Kai, is it?”

“Release him,” I rumbled. “You’re done. There’s no way out for you.”

“Then I best have my fun while I can, yes?”

I snarled and went to move in, but Kai grasped my arm. “Something is wrong.”

“What? What is it?”

“He’s going to be sentenced toThe Void, yet he’s not reacting like he’s been defeated.”

Corvin chuckled creepily. “Very astute, sorcerer. Now it makes more sense. You trained Ariana in those ways.”

“I didn’ttrainher. She just progressed naturally. Once she stopped allowing pieces of shit like you to impact how she lived and how she thought of herself and her power.”

“Then she became fucking unstoppable,” I threw at him.

“Something you can only ever hope to be,” Kai finished for me.

“I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”

Kai was dead on—something was very wrong.

There was more to this.

Corvin wasn’t responding like a man on the verge of defeat.

I saw Kai’s fingers twitch with the urge to call his magic, free Lucian, and finish this.

But he stopped himself.

Corvin wasn’t just a sorcerer—he was an Ancient Vampire.

There was no way either of us could fire our power at him without him seeing it coming and simply dodging it.

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