Page 95 of Suspicions on the Stage
Liam’s eyes have gone stormy, the irises flicking from pale blue to deep sea green. I can see his magic spinning up in the glowcoming from his body. Even his hair is lifting off his forehead as he charges his power.
I turn to Morgana. “Step back, Morgana.”
She nods, doing as I ask, but her brow is furrowed. “What is he doing?”
“He’s going to try to break the damn thing with magic. I don’t know if that will stop this or piss someone off, but…”
Morgana flexes her hands, and I see her claws come out. She means business. “There's only one way to find out.”
Liam grins. “That’s the spirit,maschula.”
She flips him off, then moves further away from the blast zone. I follow, keeping my body halfway between her and the stone, just in case it’s booby-trapped. Liam would kill me if I didn’t anticipate something like that and she got injured.
“Wait.” A thought occurs to me and I leave Morgana to step close to the pedestal, reaching out to touch the stone. The feedback nearly drops me, and that’s not an easy feat. It’s like touching a live wire while standing in a puddle. My vision whites out; I smell the same burning ozone and, somewhere under that, the sickly sweet scent of something rotting.
I pull back, sucking in a breath. “Careful, Liam,” I warn. “It fights back.”
“Of course it does,” Morgana mutters, but she’s watching my face now. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” I say. “But if you’re gonna hit it, do it hard.”
Liam raises his hands and lets loose a burst of magic strong enough to rock the buildings around the quad off theirfoundations. The lightning inside the rock flickers faster, but it doesn’t stop the tornado or close the portal it’s located in.
Damn it. Liam is one of the strongest magic weavers in the Daybreak Court.
“Should we try now?” I ask as I look over at the Prince as he pants. “It won’t feel good, but maybe we need brute strength, too.”
“Let’s do it,” says Morgana, and lunges before I can answer. She swipes at the rock, claws raking across its surface, but instead of gouging stone, her claws spark off like she hit a power transformer. A blast of force slams her backward; she catches herself on a stray office chair, but her hands are smoking.
I don’t even think; I just react. I shift my face, then breathe raw electrically charged fire from my dragon at the base of the pedestal, hoping to crack it from underneath. The rock absorbs the hit and glows brighter, but doesn’t move.
“Cute,” a voice says, from everywhere and nowhere.
The last thing we need is a sarcastic coward taunting us.
Liam’s head snaps up. “Did you hear?—?”
“Yeah,” I say, but my ears are ringing so badly it comes out slurred.
Morgana shakes her hands, wincing. “Asshole,” she mutters, then glances at me. “Round two?”
“No!” Liam says, waving at us to stop the next wave of assault. He lifts both hands, fingers splayed, and for a moment everything goes silent. Even the tornado’s hum cuts out and theonly sound is his breathing. Then he brings his hands together with a clap.
A bolt of raw fae power—more than I’ve ever seen him use—leaps from his body to the stone. The blast is so bright it scorches the air, and the pedestal cracks. My jaw drops, but the stone knits itself back together before we can claim victory. The walls of wind outside shudder, then slow. A few pieces of debris even drop out of the sky.
That wasn’t it, but it was much closer than we’ve been so far.
Liam is breathing hard, sweat beading on his brow. “Now try again,” he says.
Morgana and I don’t need to be told twice. We attack in sync, but the stone fights back again. However, this time, it’s showing signs of wear—hairline fractures, flickers in the internal lightning, a stutter in the voice that taunts us from everywhere.
Something lashes out from the stone—a whip of shadow, fast as a bullet—and wraps around my throat. I claw at it, but it burns, sapping my strength. Morgana howls, drops her assault, and dives for me, snapping the shadow with her bare hands.
“Kaspar!” she yells, shaking me. “Talk to me, you jackass!”
I’m half in and half out of my body, but I can see the stone now, and it’s bleeding light. “We need more,” I croak. “We can’t do it alone.”
Liam staggers up to us, voice raw. “Shall I call the others?”
