Page 92 of Riot of Autumn

They came to my home, and threatened my family, all in the name of power. There was literally no other reason. Their planet wasn’t dying or being invaded by giant, Fae-eating locusts. They weren’t being chased out by orcs, or forced to leave because all their food had a blight. They were just selfish, greedy, power-hungry pricks.

They treat those they consider beneath them like garbage, holding them hostage through the magic they wield. Magic that they stole from others.

So now, I’m going to steal their magic.

Emric shared an interesting fact about my magic. It’s not just physical things I can summon to me.

My fingers are buried in the dirt, connecting me to every living thing that’s close by. Just like I’ve been practicing, I summon the magic to me. I pull at it, siphoning, and calling it to me like I’m the pied fucking piper that the magic can’t resist. It’s been a slow trickle so far, enough that the Queen felt it, but now I open the floodgates and yank.

I pull it all toward me, feeling the magic flood my body. At first, it’s a rush, a deluge of power that sings through my body. It’s a cool drink after baking in the sun all day, a warm fire after being trapped out in the cold. It’s the glow of being loved and cherished. It’s everything, and at the same time, it’s shockingly empty. It’s that last feeling, of being loved, that hits me right in the guts, because it feels false. It’s nothing like the way Ezra makes me feel.

Then it grows. The funnel turns into a water slide; the power pouring into me so quickly I feel swollen with it. Not my physical body. It’s more that my soul, my very essence, is being stretched like a water balloon filled to the breaking point. But I’m not done. I can’t stop, but I don’t know how to release all this excess magic. I keep pulling it in, hearing shouting and a struggle close by. My eyes are fixed on a point on the ground, but I don’t see it. All I know is the all-consuming power gushing into me.

The magic burns under my skin. It’s tainted, an oily, sick sensation that’s now thrumming through my body. It’s too much, like being buried in an avalanche, like waves that keep crashing and pushing you down again and again before you can suck in a breath. I’m being buried alive under the weight of so much power that doesn’t belong to me. Most of it doesn’t belong to anyone in this clearing.

I take until there’s nothing left for me to absorb. Until I’ve sucked out every ounce of magic from these awful fucking Fae. I take until the magic burns so hot it explodes inside me, and I collapse in agony.

34

EZRA

It doesn’t matter that I know it’s not Ruby; seeing the Queen stab the glamoured version of her sends me to my knees. I still can’t see Rhys so I know he must be hidden with Ruby, just like we planned. That’s the only thing that keeps me from rushing to the downed body that looks so much like the woman I love.

“What is happening?” the Duke, doubled over from his injuries, screams as he falls to his knees.

Seraphina is writhing on the ground, and Anthony goes down to one knee, clutching at his heart. The Queen’s head snaps up, and she searches the clearing with a nightmare face. Her beauty is overlaid with a gruesome mask of death and decay.

“How is this possible?” she snarls, and her head tips back, a scream of pain ripping from her throat.

The Queen kicks out at Ruby’s bleeding form. I almost shift to tear her fucking throat out.

“What have you done?” The Queen kicks out again and fucking Scott Marsten, Rhys and Lena’s father and Wild Haven’s corrupt sheriff, swings out his club and heads straight for me.

Fuck if that man thinks he’s going to beat some information out of me. Before his baton reaches me, I’ve shifted back into my wolf, and I snap my jaws tight around his wrist. He drops his weapon, crying out with an ear-piercing shriek.

I snarl, shaking my head back and forth, jerking his arm with my fangs dug in deep. There’s a shout from the Queen, forcing my attention back to her. I spit out my hold on Scott and dash back to the rest of my friends. I take in the sight in front of the Queen and realize our time is up. The bloodied form at the Queen’s feet is no longer Ruby. It’s Colton, looking halfway to dead.

“Where is she?” the Queen screams, but Ruby’s work is already well underway.

The Queen is aging before our eyes. Her flaming red hair loses its luster, turning a faded silver. Her pale skin loses its glow, turning ashen and gray. Her tall form hunches, like her bones have lost their strength and can no longer hold her up. She falls to the ground, her legs giving out, and her dress poofs up around her.

The Duke suffers the same fate. He’s already in rough shape, bleeding out on the ground, but his body shudders as the stolen magic is torn from his body. He ages on fast forward, his hair turning brittle and his skin papery thin. He screams, his fingers digging into the ground like he’s going to crawl toward Ruby and stop her, but he doesn’t have the strength.

The other Fae don’t fare as badly as the Queen and the Duke, but the loss of their power still debilitates them. Good. I hope it fucking hurts. A blast of power detonates like a bomb around the clearing and the rest of the Fae crumble to the ground.

That’s when the glamour falls, and I spot Rhys heaving for breaths, down on one knee. Beside him, Ruby is on the ground, her body lifeless.

I shift again, the exhaustion from so many transformations and the venom still pumping through my veins making me weak. I stumble the ten feet to Ruby before lurching to a stop and dropping down next to her.

“Ruby?” I scoop her up in my arms, fear lancing straight through my heart at her limp body. There’s a trickle of blood dripping from her nose and her skin is burning up.

“Fuck. Lena?” I cry out, hoping our friend can do something. I know we need to deal with these Fae assholes and that our work here isn’t done yet, but I can’t put Ruby down. Not even if it means the Fae waltz out of here free and clear.

We shouldn’t have let her do this. We put so much on her shoulders. Ruby didn’t have to be the one who took all this on herself. There must have been another way. We always figure out another way.

I rock her in my arms, my cheek pressed to her forehead. Our bond still hums in my chest, but it feels different, too tight, too hot. It burns down the line like it might catch fire and sever that connection. The connection we fought for so long, but I would do anything to keep now.

Lena’s on her knees on the other side of Ruby, fear and pain in her eyes as she looks at our friend.

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