Page 107 of At the Mercy of Midnight
Demetrius cast him a long look. “I do.”
The ground began to shake beneath their feet, and he felt her again. Sharper, more defined. Amelia was angry…furious.Something crackled in the air, something potent and powerful. And he knew, somehow, that she had accessed her magic. She was wielding it somewhere nearby with the ferocity of a hurricane that would raze a city to the ground.
Silas let out a slow, shaky breath, then smiled. A dangerous, harsh smile.
“You have no idea what you’ve done.”
Demetrius’ brow furrowed. “Silas…”
But he didn’t answer. Because somewhere beyond the room they were in, someone was barrelling for them with the force of an oncoming storm.
You are the storm, Amelia.
He shouldn’t be glad. He wanted her to be safe, far from here, but his heart pumped with something other than fear. Anticipation.
Amelia was coming for him.
Help them all when she arrived.
Demetrius glanced down as the ground shook again. His dominating gaze snapped to Silas. He muttered something under his breath, and the runes in Silas’s cuffs flared. An electric chill zapped at his wrists, draining more of his strength until his head drooped forwards again.
As Silas slipped into unconsciousness, one last whisper reached him. “You were born for this, Silas. This was always fated to happen. You are the end…and the beginning.”
A sense of panic and desperation fuelled her, magic pulsing beneath her skin.
Hot, volatile, and wild.
It came to her willingly now, pulled from the very bones of the place, from the rune crystals all around her.
Amelia moved down the corridor, breathing hard, boots crunching against gritty dirt. The air vibrated with power.
Ahead, two of them stepped out of a doorway, spotting her. It was only at that moment, when alarm crossed their faces, that she realised she had not covered her face following her moment of panic.
Her fingers flexed, before curling them into fists.
The first figure started forwards, hand lifting in warning. He didn’t get the chance to speak or do anything at all. Amelia extended her hand and ripped the magic from the lamps lining the corridor. The light exploded in a shower of raging sparks, flinging a warm shockwave at her, her hair flying around as the guard flew back like a ragdoll.
The earth trembled beneath her feet.
She felt him then, a whisper of him somewhere up ahead, speaking softly to her through their bond.
Silas.
She pictured him shackled, drained, surrounded by these people. Every step she took sent cracks through the floor. They webbed across the walls, making noises like the earth itself were tearing apart. Her fury was a tempest, and they had no shelter from it.
More guards came. They didn’t stop her.
She didn’t even touch them.
Their weapons, drawn and glinting in the last of the lamplight, froze to their fingers before they collapsed under the weight of her presence. Their knees buckled, bodies slumping, as she siphoned power from the humming lamps dry by the mere proximity of her passing and used that power to bring each guard to the ground.
It was a strange sensation, coursing through her, beating in time with her heart. Like the use of magic was so innate, so normal, that it was coming without thinking. Amelia didn’tknow how she hadn’t found this part of herself before. It was like reattaching a limb that had been removed from her and using it habitually. Now it was a part of her, or she was a part of it.
She descended deeper, her senses sharpening. She could feel him, Silas’ presence, like a flickering flame, growing dimmer. Someone else was there too, with him, and when she focused, Amelia had an odd feeling the other presence was sharp and arrogant.Their leader, her mind whispered to her, as though it were Silas himself supplying the answers she needed to what lay ahead.
Good, she thought,let the leader watch their empire fall.
A door of runed steel blocked her path. She reached out, let her focus surge into the etched surface, feeling the raw power flickering within the metal. It called to her. She answered without hesitation, pulling the magic into her own veins.
