Crown of Cinders (Imdalind #7)(118)
Pulling my hand away from Thom, I finally felt the sizzle that was raging over my skin, the heat moving into the air in a radiant pressure.
A devious grin spread across my lips as my anger thundered, my magic moving from my feet and into the stone, ready to swallow him in fire.
Sain’s own twisted smirk met mine as he jumped from his throne, that ridiculous cape flowing behind him as he stepped off the platform. He walked to meet us, his eyes unwavering from where we stood, looking from me to Thom, deciding who to attack first.
I was ready, ready to step into battle, when he suddenly vanished. My heart dropped at the reminder of what we were now trapped with.
With a pop, he reappeared steps away from where we stood, his smile wider as he walked toward us, only to vanish back into the nothing. With another pop, he reappeared near the rear of the hall, taking another step before vanishing again.
With each step, he moved through the hall, disappearing and reappearing with pops that echoed within the open space.
Tensing against Thom, I wrapped a shield around us, the danger we were trapped with horrifying. Sain moved so sporadically I had no chance to attack him, but that didn’t stop him from attacking us.
His eyes never left us with all the movement, his focus a hard glare that pushed fear into my chest, rattling the already thunderous beat of my heart. With one last pop, he stopped only feet away from where we stood with our arms around each other. He shimmered underneath the heat of my magic, the barrier that he held between us distorting him into a fuzzy mass of madness.
“Don’t you see, Wyn? I am stronger than the most powerful. I defeated the Siln?. You are nothing more than an irritating flare-up needing to be extinguished.” A wicked gleam sparked in his eyes, his own power vibrating through the air with enough force that I could feel it against my skin.
“Then I will make you burn.” My voice dripped with sugar. It swam across the heat in the air and slapped against Sain who only looked at me more hungrily than before.
I didn’t want to think about what he was hungry for.
“Why don’t we see who wins, then? Fire or hell?” he said, his hand sparking as he lifted it toward us, an attack building there.
“Aren’t you forgetting someone?” Thom yelled from beside me, his motions quick as he slammed his fist into the barrier, the bright red shard of the blade I had pulled from Ryland clenched between his fingers.
The Souls Blade hit against the barrier with a terrible clatter that echoed inside the cave. The eruption, the blade, the terrified look that covered Sain’s face—it all converged with my magic in an explosion of color. It erupted from my hands, spraying wide as fire swirled through them in a kaleidoscope. The fiery prism collapsed the last of the barrier, running through it and right into Sain’s chest.
He gasped at the impact, stumbling back as he attempted to send a counterattack, his wide movements sending it into the ceiling. Rocks and dirt showered down on us from the blast, the cave shivering.
Thom took his chance, rushing toward him with the blade, ready to plunge the sharp point into his chest. I attacked Sain again, hoping to distract him from Thom’s movement, but it was in vain.
He looked at me with black eyes as he blocked my attack with one tiny flick of his fingers. His eyes darkened as his other hand swung up to block Thom, his own blade firmly in his fist.
With a pop of red light, the blades met in the air, showing us with a firework of color. The two men stood, struggling against each other in an attempt to make contact, their jaws taut from the effort.
“Nice try,” Sain sneered before he slammed his free hand toward Thom’s abdomen, his fingers flickering with light as he moved.
With a flick of my wrist, I flung a long chain of fire toward him, the weapon ready to wrap around him and pull him to the ground. It never made contact. It only soared past where Sain had been, my trail of fire uselessly fading into the dark.
Thom stumbled forward as the tension disappeared, my attack narrowly missing him.
Turning wide, I searched for Sain, magic moving into the stone of the floor in an attempt to find him. There was nothing there. Not even the smoke he had used to conceal himself before. Just a wide expanse of cold stone.
“Where is he?” Thom snapped as pushed himself to stand, pressing his back to mine while he began to search for the man.
“I don’t trust this,” I whispered, pressing against him as we scanned the room the way we had so any times before.
“It wouldn’t be the first time he ran away,” Thom whispered back, his feet dancing around mine as we rotated on the spot, our hands forward, at the ready.
“Well, aren’t you two cute?” Sain’s voice cut through the silence, hard and angry.
We jumped, turning toward the sound just as his attack made contact, a stream of violet light hitting me hard in the chest.
I flew through the air as the attack moved inside of me, numbing my arm as Sain’s well-placed magic crippled me. The fire in my blood devoured it as I soared away from Thom and Sain, bright strips of color surrounding them as their own battle began.
My fingers tingled as feeling came back, my magic rushing to the source, wrapping around me just in time to stop my impact with the high wall of the cave, holding me in the air like a rag doll as everything came back online.
I jerked, my muscles and nerves becoming responsive as the attack left. One surge plunged me forward, through the air and back to them in a strip of black. Magic shot from my hand and right into Sain, his barrier blocking it before it made contact.