Page 97 of Sweet Violence
My bricks slammed into Eidolon one by one, making him flinch and roar, but he kept his attention on Taj even as my fire burned through his protective scales—finally, finally!
Now I had a weakness to aim for, and I didn't hesitate. I skidded across the last bit of distance and jammed the golden arrow into that weak spot, driving it so deep that he couldn't reach back and pull it free.
ButTajroared. Why was Taj screaming in pain? Why was hescreaming?
Panic made me shake from head to toe, made my magic go haywire, as volatile as live electricity. Pain so much worse than before slashed into my bond and I gasped, staggering back a step.
What? Why was there so much pain? Why was—
"Taj," I whimpered, finally seeing him when Dad stumbled aside, reaching uselessly for the arrow I buried in him.
My mate's brown eyes were wide with shock, his hands uselessly grasping at the blood pouring from him. Joseph had healed a lot tonight, and X healed an axe wound, but this cut went far, far deeper, until I could see the bones and organs inside Taj, a diagonal slash from his right shoulder to his left hip.
"You see?" Dad croaked, too close for comfort. "It was pointless caring for him, Avie. His death was always inevitable."
I darted forward and caught Taj when he wavered, lowering him carefully to the ground and whining a primal demon noise when his eyes slid shut. Pain still raged through our bond, but how long before peace settled over it instead? How long before it fell still?
"Don't die," I begged. "Don't fucking leave me."
"No," the devil—no, not the devil, just Dev—rasped far behind us. "No!"
I touched Taj’s cheek with my fingertips and rose back to my feet, my head eerily empty of the usual clamour as I turned to look at my abductor, my abuser. Power whipped up inside me, bleeding from my eyes, flickering at my shoulders, my fingertips, and spreading to the rest of my body as my feet lifted off the ground.
I knew I could kill him. There was not a single doubt in me.
I sucked in a breath and exhaled a cloud of fire that grew talons and wings and teeth. A wyvern. It swooped towards Eidolon with a screeching howl that echoed the pain and world-ending rage inside me.
Even as the wyvern dove at him, I stalked through the blood to him, yetmoremagic building. If I had to bring the whole realm down to kill him, so be it. It was better in ruins than in his hands anyway.
Eidolon threw up his green hands when the talons neared his skin, teeth poised to rip out his throat but—he sliced through the dragon, scattering it into useless embers and sparks. What? How?
The crown…? It was still in his hand, glowing dull silver.
I fired a dagger of flame as fast as I could, following up with another, another, and another—he intercepted them all with the crown. Son of a bitch!
A smile stretched his scaly face in two. "You can't kill me, Avie."
I shook with the need to see him dead, to take revenge for what he'd taken from me.
I saw victory in his eyes, but then a huge bang from behind made us both jump, and I took a millisecond to see what happened. Holy shit, the doors had been blown off, and twenty whirlwinds of shadows, teeth, and bones blew into the great hall, crossing the distance faster than anything else on Earth or in Hell.
Wraiths.
I snapped my attention back on Eidolon, and used his rage and distraction to duck close, a sword of blue flame forming in my hands.
When Arkan disappeared … he went for help?
"Fine," Eidolon growled, shaking his head like I was a huge disappointment. "If you're determined to be a thorn in my side, you can stay here and watch your mate die. And watch the former devil fade away, too, since you care about him so much."
I lunged at him, fire on my tongue, my sword perfectly aimed.
He didn't move, just watched me with that heavy disappointment. "We'll see if this leverage can convince you to behave. You can have him back when you bring me the sceptre."
"What?" I gasped, but my skin rippled with a familiar feeling. He was about to blink from this place and reappear somewhere else, like he'd done that day in the vineyard.
"Don't!" I screamed hoarsely, swinging my sword and—my fire slid through only air. "No!"
I shook with adrenaline-fuelled fury as I turned on the spot, scanning unfamiliar wraiths for Arkan, searching for the rest of my family.
