Page 194 of The Eye of the Fifth
Gedeon wreathed his arms in flames.
The High Wielders pressed in. He stroked the damp ground, drawing a circle of fire around him. It sputtered and sizzled against the moisture, and he willed more of himself into the flames, letting it roar waist height. A blockade between himself and these abominable creatures.
Just shy of the blaze, one of them removed his helmet. Gedeon recognised him from his years at court. Armand Hossean, a close friend of Sekun. A noble who had apparently jumped at the chance to join the legions.
‘Hossean,’ Gedeon said coldly. Any male who called himself a friend of Sekun was, in Gedeon’s eyes, severely short of intelligence. ‘I’ve always thought you a parasite, but now it seems you have actually become one.’
Whatever the procedure for devouring someone else’s magic was, the body clearly did not respond to it well. Hossean’s once square, traditionally handsome face was now a labyrinth of streaking black veins. ‘We can exchange insults for hours, Gedeon, traitor prince,’ he goaded. ‘I can wait, for in time your magic will fail.’
Gedeon would have to burn them all to clear the way. But if he did that, his power would diminish instantly. It was already ebbing.
Hossean exclaimed, ‘Rosary, come hither, darling.’
Behind Gedeon, a struggle ensued. He dared not look, dared not take his eyes away from Hossean and his depraved entourage.
‘Rose,no!Are you insane?’Kyra hissed vehemently. A scuffle and a slam of a body on stone followed. ‘She’s not goinganywhere. Leave her the fuck alone.’
Her friend whimpered, ‘Kyra, please…’
Armand Hossean’s dead eyes gleamed with power. ‘Rosary, darling. Stop breathing.’
The sound of choking swiftly filled the tunnels.
‘Rose…’ Kyra’s terrified voice sliced through it. ‘Rosary! Stop…Rose!Gedeon, help me!’
‘Drop your flames, traitor prince, and I’ll allow sweet air to fill dear Rosary’s lungs once more,’ Hossean said.
There was a thud. Still, Gedeon did not take his attention from the High Wielders, but he knew the sound meant Rosary had collapsed to the ground. Kyra’s scream pierced him, ‘Do it, Gedeon!’
With a snarl, Gedeon let his flames roar higher with destructive intent. Hossean took a lazy step back. ‘Burn me if you wish, but even in death my order still stands. She will be dead in less than a minute.’
‘Gedeon!’
Hossean simply smiled. The hold he had on Rosary was inconceivable. Surely the stolen magic had not somehow made him imperi?
Frantic fingernails scratched already battered skin. A heartbeat began to slow.
Kyra sobbed,‘Gedeon, please! PLEASE!’
It broke him.
He let his fire die.
Behind, Rosary gasped long, hoarse breaths.
With his flames extinguished, the High Wielders wasted no time in shoving him, hoarding him into the cell. Hossean leered down at the one-eared woman on her back. She stared up at the cell ceiling with eyes of glass. ‘Rosary, darling, come here.’
‘Rose! No,’ whispered Kyra, shaking her head.
But there was nothing she could do.
Rosary was a marionette whose strings were soldered around Hossean’s mind. She moved to stand by the nobleman’s side. He took her face in his hands, and though she could not fight him, pure hatred shone through every inch of her pale features. He planted a kiss to her brow, then took the shackles another High Wielder handed him. ‘You’re to put these restraints around their wrists, then come right back to me. If they try to attack me, or resist you, you’re to stop breathing again until they comply. Do you understand me, darling?’
Jaw set, Rosary nodded.
Hossean released her. She walked to Gedeon first and fastened his iron shackles. His fire could have melted them, but those were spiked bolts grazing his wrists. If he wielded magic now, the shackles were spelled to release those bolts and shatter bone. He had secured these shackles on a hundred of Empress Azar’s enemies, but never had he imagined he would be wearing them himself.
Rosary paused before Kyra, shaking slightly. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered in a thick voice. A single tear made a clear track down her dirtied, bloodied cheek.
