Page 90 of Mantle

I stepped up intohispersonal space this time. “So, you want my help, show me the applicable intel. And then we’ll take it from there.”

We’d do itmyway. And not the lone-wolf way he was pushing for.

The Guardian Movement would absolutely be involved.

“Foolish girl. We could have done this far more pleasantly. Alas, you’ve made the wrong choice. Foryou.I actually rather relish doing things the unpleasant way—especially when it comes to you.”

He moved lightning-fast with his vampiric speed, his magic sparking before I could react.

The second it touched me, I couldn’t move, my limbs and muscles locking.

A paralysis spell.

Adrenaline thrummed through me.

“Mmm,” he groaned. “Delightfully more agreeable now.”

Once again, his underestimation of me—and his own ego and incrediblyoverestimated prowess—hadn’t done him any favors.

A paralysis spell couldn’t hold me for long.

At my current power level, and with all the knowledge I’d worked to acquire from Cassius of late, we were talking mere seconds before I could break through the fucking thing.

I coiled my magic within me.

Even while being physically bound, my power wasn’t. It just needed to be released in another way.

I felt that heat rolling through me.

I was moments away from it bursting forth and shattering the spell to hell, when Corvin sparked something into being with his magic.

My power erupted, blowing through the spell.

But a split second later, he moved in a blur again—slapping a pair of cuffs onto my wrists. They sealed with a snap of magic.

Not just any cuffs.

I looked down to see the semi-transparent bands that pulsed with Hellfire within.

Celestial Suppression Manacles.

“You thought that was my only move? Naïve child. I’ve been studying your kind for years.”

I grunted as something pierced my wrists—dozens of tiny, stabbing points erupting from inside the cuffs.

A sickly sensation hit me instantly, followed by a wave of dizziness that sent me stumbling back, struggling to stay on my feet.

Corvin shoved down on my shoulders with his Ancient Vampire strength—and in my weakened state, it forced me to my knees.

“Feel that poison flooding your veins? Familiar, isn’t it?”

“Oh my God,” I breathed. “You. You did—”

A brutal kick from his boot knocked me onto my back.

The last thing I saw was him standing over me, his eyes flashing with sadism—and then he struck, full force, straight to my face.

That was it.

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