Page 353 of Bitten By the Fae
Kolstov’s essence was almost gone.
Now,I thought, using a blast of power to push Tray away from his brother. Then I bent and picked up Kolstov.
“Shadow?” My father’s confusion was palpable in his tone.
I ignored him, instead shifting my focus to Aflora as she engaged our bond.Shadowing, I heard her instincts whisper. I pushed the gift to her and told her where to go without words.
Then I followed her with Kolstov.
And landed shakily on my feet beside Zakkai.
His silver-blue irises flashed as he looked up at me.
“I need you all to listen and do exactly what I say,” I said. “Or we’ll lose Kolstov forever.”
Then I collapsed beside him, my tether to Kolstov snapping like a band inside my soul.
His essence floating… floating…gone.
I caughtShade’s spell in my mind, yanking it back to life and realizing with sharp clarity what he’d done.
Kolstov.
He’d cast a Death Blood necromancy spell meant to hold on to life for as long as possible after death, typically used when wanting to question a spirit in the afterlife.
A clever fucking trick.
One that might just work.
“Aflora,” I said, needing her to bolster the spell, my energy waning fast.Help me, I demanded into her mind, shoving the enchantment at her and forcing her dark magic to life.
She gasped, her confusion quickly melting to shocked understanding.
“Kols,” she breathed, throwing herself at the body on the floor.
His essence, I hissed, yanking her mental focus back to me and the spell I barely had a hold of in my mental grasp. “What do we do with it?” I demanded through my teeth. “Shade. Tell me what the fuck to do with it.” Because I was about to lose it.
Aflora joined me, her mind forming a treelike branch that she used to ground the spell, her soul functioning as the root.
She started to shake beneath the power, the afterlife demanding its due.
This was the heart of true dark magic.
And she was using her affinity for life to keep Kolstov’s soul in our reality.
Shade began to chant, his voice a rasp of sound.
“What the fuck is going on?” Zephyrus demanded.
“Ground her,” Shade growled. “Bite her. Give hereverything.”
Zephyrus looked at the Death Blood only once, then slid his fangs into Aflora’s shoulder. She cried out as his essence swathed her in a cloak of defensive energy. She immediately sighed, her relief palpable as her branch grew, twining around the magical strand inch by inch and disappearing into the ether.
I’d never seen anything like it.
The combination of magic a stunning sight.
“You, too,” Shade said through his teeth. “Now, Zakkai.”
