Page 185 of Rose and Shadows
“The Wraith aspect will only serve to enhance their power. You know that I have never cared forPuritasrhetoric—they were just a means to an end to me—so do not fret, you being a hybrid being does not put you in danger from me. In fact, know that you are now a sacred object to me.”
“You can’t do this.”
“I assure you that I can.”
“This baby’s conception is an unrepeatable phenomenon.”
My son was a product of me and all three of my loves, not the way Morien believed it to be. And it had all come together in a one-off event to create our baby. The circumstances, all four of us, the timing… it couldn’t be replicated.
“If there is one thing my son and I have in common, aside from our necromancy, it is making the impossible possible.”
He released my chin, then abruptly turned toward the battlefield.
He twirled his hand, his gray magic sparking on his fingertips.
“Vinculum Exuro,”he rumbled.
In the next moment, I watched as black collars materialized around the necks of every singlePuritassoldier, collars that had clearly been glamored.
Morien’s power flamed, and then the soldiers jolted, all hundreds of them.
Blood began oozing from their noses, their ears, then their eyes.
Morien told me, “Gregor’s invention which I’ve co-opted. The collars share an energy frequency melded with the blood donations that eachPuritasmember makes to Gregor upon their induction. That utterance was me sending a detonation command, connecting all of them as one, disposing of them rather efficiently. They are too loyal to Gregor. I will build my own followers, those who will not waver and will kneel only to me.”
I gasped as every singlePuritassoldier fell in death then, right there on the battlefield.
The hybrid volunteers and Nyx, Kai, Warlow, Ariana… all of them stilled in absolute shock.
And then they noticed Morien.
They saw Cassius and Rhyza being trapped in that awful spell.
Morien registered it, then swept his power around me, forming a shield but also freezing me with Undead Domination.
And as Cornelius and Warlow, joined by the others right behind them, led the way to attack him, Morien stepped forward, thrusting his hands up toward the sky, flash lightningsparking in split-seconds, as his glowing gray magic raged on his palms.
He slammed his hands down, then that dangerous wave rushed toward them all.
All of them—the entire now still battlefield.
Risen Reckoning.
I couldn’t speak.
I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t even fucking blink.
All I could do was see straight out at Cassius right in my eyeline, in the line of fire like everyone else.
I love you,I communicated through the Soul Brand.
A rush of his love came back to me, overriding the fear and anguish.
Eruptions of amber and yellow smoke occurred at the edge of the battlefield, and then Gabriel Morgan and Calla Corretti materialized. His shock of white spiky hair lit up the battlefield, as did his wife’s sparkling red dress that matched her hair. Ryker hadn’t wanted his father involved in the heart of this battle due to his previous issues with black magic corruption.
The two of them began creating portals to evacuate the hybrid volunteers.
