Page 36 of Magic Claimed
He’d disintegrated.
“Turns out,” Kira said as she came to a stop beside me in the grass, “they had bits and pieces of a decent plan. But in the end, they just made too many mistakes.”
She looked up and grinned at the six surviving fae, and it was not a pleasant expression. “First of all, you tried to kidnap a dragon, which is pretty idiotic all by itself. Then you couldn’teven manage to catch me alone. And then you went and hurt Raine, and that made me angry, which was dumbest of all.” She crouched low, and her amber eyes flared hot and gold. “Because I can only breathe fire when I’mangry.”
An instant later, they hit us with everything they had, as if they sensed that their brilliant plan had indeed gone sideways. But their fae magic weapons bounced off of Kira’s scales like plastic knives off of steel, and while she’d been talking, I’d had time to pull more water through the ground—enough to form a shield that hissed and spat as the barrage hit it, but held long enough for me to force more fae magic into the wall of ice.
Pain battered at my mind, clawing at my focus and trying to shred my resolve, but still the shield held firm as Kira rampaged through the remaining fae as if she were a child toppling towers of blocks with gleeful destructiveness. Her claws were like scythes, and her fire some terrifying plasma weapon out of science fiction—whatever it hit simply ceased to exist.
When the last of our enemies fell—dead or unconscious—she bounded back over to me, nudging me anxiously until she managed to work her way under my elbow and prop up my weight.
“Raine, I’m so sorry. This is my fault. I shouldn’t have been so overconfident.”
Hah. “How is it overconfidence when all of them are dead?”
“Oh, they aren’talldead,” she replied matter-of-factly. “Only about half. Which is why the stupid barrier is still up. But don’t worry, I can fly through it…”
She paused. Her ears swiveled, and her eyes went wide andstartled.
“No way,” she breathed. “It can’t be.”
“More of them?” I mumbled, taking shallow breaths to avoid the pain that stabbed deep every time my ribs moved.
But she was searching the sky, head tilted, then her eyes closed as if listening…
“Duck!” Kira hit me and knocked me to the ground, covering me with one of her wings right before the glowing barrier overhead shattered into a million scintillating shards. They rained down like razor-edged snowflakes, turning the ground blue for a mere instant before they evaporated into the night.
And in place of the barrier, hovering over us like a vengeful archangel, was a creature I had neither seen nor heard of before.
Wreathed in lightning, it was neither man nor beast, but a nightmarish meld of the two, with the hind legs of a lion and the torso of a human, both covered in midnight black fur. Its face was human-like, with pale, hard features beneath a crest of dark feathers. Eyes like silver stars pierced the night sky as it hovered on dark-feathered wings and let out a bone-chilling scream.
It spotted us and dove, and all I could see were the curved claws that tipped each finger—reaching for us. Ready to rend and tear…
“Kira, go!” She could at least save herself. No need for both of us to die here.
But instead of leaving me to my death—or charging to meet her own with a snarl of defiance—she flung herself skyward with a glad cry, and her dragon collided with the bizarre monster in a tangle of feathers and scales.
A moment later they hit the ground, but there was no blood,no snarls, no rending. Instead, the bronze dragon was facing that nightmare, nose to nose, and his brilliant silver eyes were closed as their foreheads gently touched…
Oh, dear heavens. This wasDraven?
I knew he was part shifter, but I’d never seen his fully shifted form before. And despite my ignorance, evenIknew that he was something outside the experience of most Idrians. A blend of magics, creating unpredictable results… just like me.
I realized shortly afterwards that I was staring and turned around to give them some privacy. In doing so, I noted one of the fae beginning to stir and groan, and walked over to where she lay on the ground.
“Want to tell me who sent you?” I inquired mildly, taking stock of her visible injuries. Bruises and claw marks mostly, which meant she was likely to survive. What on earth were we supposed to do with injured fae assassins?
Her eyes opened enough to shoot me a murderous glare, but she was careful not to make any sudden moves. Whether because she couldn’t or knew better than to try, it was difficult to be sure.
“Okay, that’s anoto who hired you. What about the job? Are you here for murder or kidnapping? Telling the truth might help when I call Faris Lansgrave and tell him a bunch of fae attacked his kid on his territory.”
I didn’t need magic to sense her shrinking away from me.
“I can answer that.” The unearthly voice from behind me had to be Draven, but I still flinched a little at the threat in his chilling tone. “They were sent by Elayara’s cousin, Lysarian Galavor.”
That name sounded familiar to me for some reason, but it could have been coincidence. Fae names were like tongue twisters. They sounded a lot alike, and it was hard to say more than one in the same sentence.
“He’s one of the aspiring claimants to Dathair’s throne, and he reasoned that if he could manage to kidnap my mate, I would be willing to put pressure on my father and brother to abdicate.”
