Crown of Cinders (Imdalind #7)(119)

“Great,” I complained as I landed behind Thom. “You’re hiding again. Fight like a man, you coward.”

“Not a coward and not a man,” Sain said, another attack from him easily blocked by Thom. “I am a king, and the last one there will be.”

“Fine!” I roared, letting the fire build. “If we don’t have kings after we end you, that’s fine with me.”

I shrugged my shoulders, the power exploding from me, and the blast hit in the chest. The force of it threw him into the air, sending him across the room and against the wall where the old man slid down the stone in a crumpled heap.

Chest heaving, I froze, staring at him, not foolish enough to think it had been that easy.

“Is that it?” Thom asked under his breath, the shard of red blade still clenched in his fist.

I held up my hand, watching Sain where he lay slumped against the wall. He was breathing, but his eyes weren’t open.

It wasn’t a guarantee of anything.

“No way,” I answered, my magic speeding into the ground toward him.

Thom took that as good enough and jumped into the air, a wide attack flung from his hand in a shower of sparks that soared toward the revolting rag doll.

As Thom attacked, so did I, my magic already spreading throughout the ground around him, shifting rocks, melting them. Stones bubbled and boiled as they began to swallow him. The slight movement jerked into him, his black eyes meeting mine, anger clear on his face.

“Thom! Watch out!” I screamed as, with a flick of Sain’s fingers, Thom was sent hurtling through the air, his course spun into a free fall.

Thom’s shout of fear erupted through the hall, his magic sparking as he tried to ignite it, to bring the wind back to him.

But there was only air and a stone floor below him.

“No!” I screamed, my magic rushing to catch him, moving across the air as it did through the ground.

Before I could reach him, Sain glanced at me with his dark eyes, and then his attack impacted against my chest, sending me stumbling back and right into the hard rock of Sain’s chest, the tiny pop of his stutter a ghost in my ears.

Sain’s arms wrapped around me, holding me tightly as I fought against him, desperate to reach Thom. But I couldn’t.

Sain’s laugh was loud in my ears as Thom hit the hard ground, the blade in his hand bouncing away from him with a clatter.

Sain’s laugh deepened as his grip on me tightened, pressing his fingers into me as the rough chill of a blade pressed against my neck, cutting into my skin.

The pressure made me stop fighting, a wet heat flowing down my skin.

“Well, that was easy,” Sain said, the heat of his breath a breeze past my hair. “I thought you two were going to give me a challenge.”

Mommy!

Her voice rippled across my mind with the touch of her soul against mine. I recoiled, shifting my weight as I continued to fight Sain’s hold, desperate to move away from the blade. But Sain’s arms shifted, his hand pressing against my bare hip as his magic flooded me.

The foreign power swam inside of me, thick and rancid. It stuck against my soul in a heavy weight that made it difficult to move. I squirmed against the pressure, but it grew, his smothering magic trapping me in place.

“No, no, no,” he soothed, the false comfort in his voice grating. “It’s not going to be that easy for you, not anymore. You get to stay with me for a while. I have some use for you. There are a few people I need you to kill.”

Fight him, Mommy! Rosaline’s scream echoed in my head, flaring my magic into a white heat that burned against my skin.

I couldn’t control it. It was just a rage underneath me, desperate to fight. Desperate to be unleashed.

Tears burned my eyes as I looked at Thom, his body crumpled on the ground, as unmoving as I was. My heart caught as I stared, looking for blood, for some kind of injury. I saw nothing, only the bright blue of his eyes as he stared at me from behind the thick dreads that fell over his face, the light in them fading. The look in them scared.

“Wyn,” he breathed, his voice so weak it barely made it to me.

My heart tensed, the heat in my magic mounting as Rosaline’s voice came again, banging inside my head.

Mommy! You have to save us!

It was enough.

Enough for one last time.

I looked at Thom, praying he could understand the look in my eyes, that he could understand the warning, see the apology. I hoped he could understand the good-bye. I didn’t know if he would survive what I was about to do.

Mommy! I pressed my eyes shut, focusing on her voice as it reacted with my magic, as the blade against my neck heated alongside it, the strength of her presence strong enough that I was sure I could feel her tiny hand wrap around mine.

“Perhaps I will have you start with him. Would you like to kill Thom, Wynifred? Would you like to bring me his head as Edmund commanded you to so long ago?” Sain’s voice was wet and uncomfortable in my ear as he pressed his lips against it.

A shiver rippled down my spine with the heat of my magic.

“No!” The word ripped from me as I turned my head, his magic slipping as mine ignited. “No, I won’t.”

His eyes widened when they met my glare, his jaw tightening as he began to breathe in dark inhales of pain, the agony clear on his face.

The dark scent of burning flesh flowed around us as his hand began to sizzle against my skin. The pain in his eyes turned into a scream when he couldn’t take it anymore and tried to rip his hand away, only to find it stuck.