Page 121 of A Dance of Water

Tharen didn’t even spare the demon a look.

Vale ordered coldly, "Stop him, Prima."

A gust of wind blew into the demon’s side, forcing him to veer toward a toweringtree.

Azgorath slammed into the tree’s base, his fist hitting the trunk so harshly that a thud reverberated throughout the woods. The tree rattled all the way to the top, and the thick base groaned, roots untangling and snapping from the ground as the tree swayed.

Graves watched as the demon pulled back, lips turned in a vicious snarl. Blood caked his cracked knuckles, and a crater was in the side of the tree from the punch.

And everything fucking stopped, his heart, his thoughts—but not his voice.

Graves yelled, voice cracking under the strain. It had been so long since he had projected his voice so loudly. Words of warning tumbled from his normally quiet lips:

"Watch out!" Graves screamed.

He ran forward, uncaring that he was running straight for the tree. The wind only helped to uproot it more, gusts drifting around the base and forcing it to bend and sway.

The tree’s balance gave out. It tipped forward, a massive shadow against the ground.

Azgorath dove for Luella, wind whipping around him as Graves fell to his knees, gloved fingers stretching and reaching for her.

In his fear, the tree’s fall seemed to slow, and Graves found himself looking to the others. Tharen and Vale were unmoving. The mage had erected a wall of wind closely around them both to keep them safe. Bastian pounded against the wall of wind with his fists, murder in his reddened eyes—he had found himself on the wrong side of Tharen’s wind barrier. Desperation lined the vampire’s body as he struggled to get to Luella.

The tree would crush them all, yet Graves could do nothing but look at her.

Luella whimpered on the ground, the wind tearing through her hair and clothes as her back bowed. She shook, fingers curling in the mud, and a small sound of pain escaped her—it was all Graves could hear over the chaos.

And vines erupted all around them.

Tangles of thick green vines interspersed with blooming roses broke free from the damp earth. The vines shot forward and snaked around the tree trunk, keeping it held aloft over them. Smaller vinessnapped under its weight, but the strongest held firm as they kept the tree from crushing them.

The roaring wind stopped, and the deluge of rain slowed to a soft drizzle…

Leaving the forest in a blanket of silence.

His breaths ratcheted in and out of his chest, and Graves crawled on the wet ground—crawled toher.

He looked back, seeing the tree, how close it had come to killing them as he reached up to touch it, feeling the bark scratch against his gloves.

"Fuck," Graves breathed. Azgorath had draped his body over her, curling around her to protect her. Graves placed a hand on the demon’s shoulder. "Get up. Let me see her."

The demon growled but relented, carefully pulling away from her; his thick hands framed her face, and Graves yearned to touch her, too. But he held himself back.

A scuffle reached his ears.

"You bastard," Bastian seethed, "risking her so carelessly. I will drain you dry for putting her in danger." The vampire’s hands were encircled with tendrils of wind. He did not strain against the bindings; though, his fangs flashed as he stared down the Prima and the King.

Tharen sighed as if everything was an annoyance to him. "You care more about her being killed than yourself? Really, Advisor, I thought you had more self-preservation than this."

Graves’s head was filled with images of slitting the mage’s throat, pouring his blood in a cup just so Bastian would have an easy feast—for protecting her, Graves found he would give much. For trying to kill her? Graves found he would fuckingtakemore.

But he stayed silent. He would get nowhere with talking.

Azgorath cradled Luella to his chest, murmuring softly as he brushed damp hair away from her face, fingers skimming over her blindfold. Perspiration dotted her brow, and her normally pale skin was flushed red.

Shadows were cast on the ground as Tharen and Vale loomed over them.

"The rain stopped," Vale remarked. His tone was emotionless,but after knowing the dragon shifter so long, Graves could see how on edge he was.

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