Crown of Cinders (Imdalind #7)(130)

Continually tumbling down the stairs, I clawed at the wall, my nails chipping until I finally came to a halt, one of my now scuffed and ripped heels continuing down.

Glaring at the loss, I turned, glowering toward the tiny spot of light above me that Ilyan still stood in, laughing.

“I would say I missed sparring with you,” I taunted up at him, carefully removing the other shoe and throwing it down toward the dungeon after its mate, “but it’s been hardly fair until now.”

“You can’t possibly think you are as powerful as me,” Ilyan goaded as he stepped into the stairwell, blocking the light as he moved down the staircase toward me, “because you’re not.”

“It has nothing to do with power, Ilyan,” I told him as I stood before him, meeting him eye to eye. “Now, now you fight as dirty as me.”

With a smile, I slammed my palm into his stomach, twisting my magic inside of him as I hit him with the same spell he had debilitated me with. But instead of blasting him away, I held him close, shoving my free hand against his shoulder as I sent him down the same staircase, tumbling end of over end, down the rough-hewn stairs.

I did not wait as he had. I followed him, soaring into the air and diving down the stairs, ready to attack him on the landing before he had a chance to recover.

A second before I reached him, however, he was gone, leaving only a pop and a puff of smoke behind.

“See?” I said with a laugh, looking past the dark prisons around me for some sign of him. “You can fight dirty.”

The cave roared around me, stone shifting dangerously as I walked toward the far cell that had once housed Talon, sure I had seen some shadow there. Instead, it was only a pile of bones and Ilyan’s malicious laugh.

All of the old metal cell doors closed at once, the loud snap of metal on metal echoing around the dark, hiding the blast of Ilyan’s assault.

But not well enough.

I side-stepped, my magic lifting me against the stone wall. The smell of burning hair and fabric was strong from what little of the attack that could reach.

“Nice try,” I provoked as I jumped down, my own assaults already speeding toward him, one after another to match his, my hands moving fast as I both attacked and deflected.

Again and again, I attacked, ignoring the dangerous sounds of collapse that the cave was warning me with. I could have sworn something around me had fallen, but I didn’t care. Only the fight mattered. Only ending it.

I sent another quick spurt of blasts, desperate to gain the upper hand. However, I merely found myself losing more ground.

I supposed there was a downfall to Ilyan’s change. Before now, my ruthlessness was the only thing that paired me equally with my brother. Now I had nothing. My magic was no match for him, for a man desperate for retaliation, for revenge. Especially with me standing in the way of that.

Grinding my teeth, I attacked in repetition, backing up toward the stairwell, only to find the long tunnel caved in.

The imminent collapse was beginning. This low in the caverns, we would be trapped. If I couldn’t run, I would have to fight.

Desperate man or not, I knew I could beat him.

The caves shifted underneath our feet as Ilyan attacked again, his barrage of magic coming as fast as mine, rushing around me while I battled him, my own attacks beginning to make contact.

I could do this.

I attacked again, my magic straining in exertion as he stuttered once again. The shield I placed around me the second he had disappeared was just enough to render his attack useless.

Turning toward him with a fling of my hair, I smiled, knowing just what I was going to do.

“Two can play this game,” I taunted, magic surging as I pushed myself into the black of a stutter.

His yell of surprise followed me into the void as I appeared behind him with a pop, a smile spreading wide as my magic surged. I slammed my hand into his back, right behind his heart. One sharp point of magic moved into him before he could stop me, the dagger of my energy cutting into bones and lungs to reach his heart, to rip into it.

I could feel his blood pulse against my magic as it invaded him, his own power attempting to retaliate as he gasped in pain. The sound of his desperate inhale was beautiful, but as useless as any chance of retaliation.

“You end now,” I whispered into his ear, wrapping my free arm around his waist as I held him still, his body shaking with pain as I held him against me.

With one tap of my fingers on his back, the magic that had already stabbed into him erupted. The tiny sliver of my power turned into a bomb, a powerful blast that ripped into muscles and flesh, tearing his once proud organ to shreds in a detonation that shot through his chest, heart, and bones.

Blood sprayed from him in a fan of red and white that painted the stone wall before us as though it was a canvas. Bits of him dripped from the stone as another boom shook the cave. Everything began to give way, boulders falling around us as everything started to collapse.

When I released him, Ilyan fell to the ground, his body a lifeless heap of bones and flesh, all that was left of his life covering the stone he would be buried under.

“Take your own advice, Ilyan: regret nothing,” I hissed as I stared at him, feeling the icy water of the river spray over my back as yet another piece of the cave fell into it. “We both should have learned that long ago.”

I turned from him, ready to stutter out of this graveyard and into freedom. A freedom I have never had. A freedom I never thought I could obtain.