Page 153 of Wings of Lies
“Touch Lucille, and I’ll have you begging for mercy, Nephilim,” Aspen snarled, shifting his body to protect me from Oliver and Magda. I wasn’t sure if it was the queen’s Aspen protecting me or my Aspen.
“How? You’re cuffed?” Oliver sneered at him, stepping closer.
“Oliver, whatever she’s done to you, fight it! You don’t want to kill Aspen or hurt me!”
“The prince works for the queen who has my sister. That’s reason alone for him to die.” He stepped closer to Aspen, pressing his dagger into Aspen’s neck, their chest nearly touching. An unnatural heat radiated from Aspen’s shoulders.
My stomach dropped to my toes. I tried to squirm around Aspen to protect him, but he only shoved me back.
“Back up, Nephilim.”
Oliver glanced down at Aspen’s chin. “I think you look better with the queen’s rune. At least then we know where your loyalty lies.”
“My loyalty will always lie with Lucille.”
Oliver snorted, lifting his gaze to me. “You only wish that were true. But your queen has you leashed like a good little pawn. How long do you think you’ll have this time with her? How many sweet lies will you whisper into her ear before you turn on her because of that rune?”
Aspen nodded down to Oliver’s wrist. “If that rune is what I think it is, are you not a pawn?”
“Sure. But the difference, princeling, is that I was her protection detail.”
“And now you’re going to betray her and knock her out to let the witch do whatever she wants with her?”
Oliver shrugged, eyes apathetic. “Not my problem.”
I flinched back from Aspen and the sweltering heat coming off him. He raised his flameless sword to Oliver’s neck, and my eyes widened. He couldn’t have taken that out of its sheath with his hands cuffed. I looked down at his side and found melted leather and ash.
But how?
Then I saw a flicker of blue flame snake around Aspen’s cuffed hands holding the sword. It wasn’t enough power to transfer to the blade, but it captured Oliver’s attention. Not that he seemed concerned about the sword at his neck or the flames that were trying to breach two sets of cuffs.
“I said back the fuck up, Nephilim. Or I will take your head. I don’t care if the witch is controlling you or if Lucille hates me. I have taken enough lives to no longer care about my soul or what I have to do to protect what’s mine.”
I glanced at Magda and found every part of her glowing, gazing at Oliver like he was dessert, controlling my first friend and making him turn on us. I was so sick and tired of haughty power-hungry bitches thinking they could control anyone they wanted. And when her eyes flashed and both of Oliver’s hands shot out, Aspen only managed to block the knife diving toward his chest. But Oliver had a fail-safe as he latched his other hand onto Aspen’s wrist, making my guardian crumble. Pricks and itches tickled my skin, and music whispered in my ears.
I glanced down at my Binding Rune. It turned lighter.How?Then a piece of a dream-walk memory came to me, of me on my bed, bathed in flames, looking at a Binding Rune that my powers destroyed. At that time, I had no control; now I had some.
I smiled down at my rune and dove to the deepest depths of my power, finding a mass of brilliant light and coiling darkness ready to aid my vengeance. Pressure pushed at my eyes, and itches swallowed my torso until my rune turned white, and purple flames enveloped my skin.
Oliver crouched over Aspen, pressing a knife against his neck. A fierce protectiveness surged through me, and I threw out my hand. A ball of ice smashed into Oliver’s forehead, knocking him out. I felt terrible for hurting him, but I had no choice.
I turned to Magda. She shot a flare of golden light at me, but it did nothing against my purple flame. I tsked. “You unleashed hell. I hope you’re ready to freeze in it.”
Chapter
Thirty-Five
Revenge pounded in my blood, wanting an outlet. My power shoved the gut-twisting horror of killing someone in a corner, barricading it behind a wall of black fire. I savored the wariness in the witch’s face and how the seductive melody brushed away my doubts and fears. I should be concerned. I didn’t know how to fight. Maybe at one point, but not now. But as I listened to the song of my soul, I didn’t care.
I channeled my desires into the melody, shaping a sharp icicle in my palm. As I hurled it towards her chest, she lunged aside. Her golden hair whipped past me, leaving a stinging trail of blood on my hip. The icicle didn’t sink into her chest as intended; instead, it struck her shoulder.
“That must be painful,” I remarked.
She screamed, sending strands of golden hair flying towards me, Aspen, and Oliver. I dove out of the way of mine and threw myself ontop of Aspen and Oliver to shield them from theirs. The strands grazed my legs, leaving burning slices up my calves.
Furious at the witch’s cowardice in attacking Aspen and Oliver while they lay defenseless on her pristine floors, I immersed myself in the seductive melody and summoned my black flames. Sitting up, I conjured a flickering ball into one hand and hurled it at her, simultaneously launching an icicle with the other. She deflected the icicle with her hair but couldn’t evade my fireball, which seared into her leg. The flames ate away her skin, leaving a patchwork of muscle and bone.
Steeling myself against the pain in my calves, I approached her and her terrible shrieking. “Oh, I’m sorry. That must’ve really hurt. But I think I need to give you a matching pair like you did me.” I threw another fireball at her other leg, but her hair intercepted it, thwarting my attack and reducing her strands to cinders.
