Page 34 of Cast in Shadow
Emerson’s growl was far more animal than man, and Jabiah’s eyes danced between us again before settling on me.
“Fine. Bring us the director and we will let them go,” Emerson finally bit out.
The power of the ribbon pulsed around me. It was coming in fast, almost like it knew I needed the backup. Raw magic tingled along my nerve endings, feeding power and energy into me until I could feel it crackling from my fingertips, my toes—even my eyelashes.
Emerson’s eyes went wide, and he eased back a step. “Senna?”
The moment I felt his presence in my head, I shoved him right back out, reinforcing my mental barriers so he couldn’t force his way back in. “You want the director, you’ve got her,” I said, taking a step toward him.
The other two gaped at me, but it was Emerson who figured out what was going on. “The ribbon. She’s connected to it.”
He wasn’t wrong, but my connection ran a hell of a lot deeper than that.
The other two fell back another step without prompting, butEmerson held his ground, watching me intently with those blue eyes filled with a million questions. “If you are the director, how did you send Theloneus through the veil?”
“I didn’t.” I shoved my gun in the back waistband of my pants. “But if I don’t see my people out here in one minute, I’m not above giving it the old college try with the three of you.”
To back up that threat, I turned my palm up, focused my energy, and conjured a ball of pure light. It took a hell of a lot more effort than I remembered for something that was barely the size of a marble, but it lit up the alleyway like the midday sun, throwing off tiny blue sparks that sizzled against my palm.
All three men inched back.
“I think we all know what this is, right?” I asked coolly.
Demons and pure light didn’t mix. I didn’t know the mechanics of it, but I did know coming into contact with it disrupted their innate energy somehow. Judging from the reactions of the handful of demons I’d used it on in the past, it was also immensely painful and could weaken them, at least temporarily.
“Senna.” Emerson’s voice was a warning. “What have you done?”
“What have I done?” I let the light in my palm pulse, growing a little larger with each beat of my heart. “What haveIdone?” It was barely a whisper, but Emerson flinched when he caught my meaning.
“They’re fine,” he said, holding his hands out.
“How many times has she needed to heal herself? How many times did her heart stop beating?”
He swallowed hard. “She’s okay.”
It took every ounce of self-control I had not to launch forward and slam that ball of light into his chest. Gods knew he deserved it, and part of me was itching to inflict a hell of a lot ofpain and suffering. To claim some vengeance for the damage he’d wrought on my life, not to mention my people.
But there would be time for that later, after I knew Shay and Nguyen were safe.
“Thirty seconds.” The energy pulsed steadily, growing a tiny fraction of an inch in diameter each time.
Emerson pulled Jabiah around. “Get them. Now.”
The other demon, who was nearly as obnoxiously attractive as Emerson, disappeared so quickly the fine particles in the air whirled in a frenzy, unsure which way to drift.
I drew in a slow breath, bracing myself, keeping my eyes on Emerson.
“Talk to me, Senna.”
There was nothing to say. I’d blocked him from my mind so thoroughly that I couldn’t even feel his presence, pressing and testing, trying to find a way in, but I knew he was. I could see it in his eyes. “Twenty seconds.”
“They’re coming. You have my word.” When he took a hesitant step forward, I let the power in my palm flare, and he eased back. “Tethering yourself to the ribbon is beyond dangerous.” He shoved his hand through his dark hair. “What the hell were you thinking?”
For the first time that night, the hint of a smile curled my lips. “Fifteen seconds.”
“Fuck, Senna. Don’t do this.”
I glared at him. “Do what? Hurt you? Betray you? Make you feel like you don’t matter? Or threaten vengeance for kidnapping and torturing people I swore to protect?”
