Crown of Cinders (Imdalind #7)(21)
“Good evening, gentlemen.” She might have been greeting a new client with the honey in her voice. “Lovely night for a stroll, isn’t it?” She popped her hip out, pursed her lips, and flipped the short bob of her hair seductively. The motions were so practiced I knew at once what her game was, and I knew it would work, too. It was far too Charlie’s Angels not to.
“Wynifred! The dirty traitor! Stand down and be killed, girl.”
Well, okay, it would have worked if it weren’t for that.
“Don’t go spouting out labels like that,” I said, trying to keep my voice as calm as Wyn’s as I walked out beside her. Try was the operative word there. I was certain I was shaking far too much. “My friend here has been plagued by the exact same ailment and the pain it causes … Besides, it’s rude.”
“So rude,” Wyn added, careful not to touch me as I moved dangerously close to her. Our magic, which was already on high alert, sparked from the close proximity. “You’d think your master would have given you better manners.”
I waited, convinced the anger-fueled tirade Edmund’s men usually met us with would fill the dark. Instead, there was silence mixed with shock, eagerness, and just the right amount of fear. Although, I was positive the fear was more from me. I had exploded most of them outside of Rioseco. Consequently, perhaps the fear wasn’t quite so one-sided.
“Hello …? She insulted Edmund.” Wyn sighed, upset at the lack of banter. “Where is the growling, the grumbles?”
“Lost along with their confidence,” I said, smiling as the first attack went free, a bright purple line of magic that flew from my hand and right into the man before me.
His scream was loud as it hit him in the chest, sending him flying through the air to land about thirty feet away.
His partner looked between the two of us, looked into the reality of the massacre he had walked into, and turned to run.
Two steps in, and Wyn’s magic wrapped around him in a visible line of fire, the heat so potent he couldn’t move past it no matter how many times he flung his body against it. He screamed in pain with every impact, collapsing within his prison in a gasping heap of singed flesh, fear filling his eyes as he looked for a way to escape.
“Can we not maim people we are hoping to get help from?”
“Information, not help. And I wasn’t maiming.” Wyn’s focus didn’t leave the panicking creature she had captured. “Besides, didn’t you shoot someone through the air? Who’s not maiming now?”
I thought my eyebrows disappeared into the flyaway bangs of my dark hair.
Wyn sighed, the roll of her eyes making it clear I wouldn’t let her get away with killing the man. “Fine. No maiming. I already won, anyway.”
“Only because I attacked instead of restraining,” I grumbled, taking a few steps toward my target. “I didn’t expect you to restrain.”
“Well, I can play with him later.”
I couldn’t help the disgusted wrinkle that moved over my face at that.
“So it’s a win-win.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled, turning toward the darkened street where the man had landed, expecting to see his twisted, contorted shape, but nothing was there. There was merely the darkening pitch of the street, the damp road, and the hint of a bloodstain reflecting what little light was left from the day.
“What in the …?” My magic flared as my fear did, power stretching from me as I searched for the man I had attacked, searched for the somewhat familiar magical footprint.
He couldn’t have gone far.
“So, you!” Wyn’s voice boomed from behind me. “You wanna come back with me? I have some really great questions for ya.”
“Wyn?” I asked as I whipped around, nervous panic filling me as my magic flared. The disappearance of the man’s magical sign ignited into panic as it reemerged, this time right behind me.
It took me a moment to realize what I was seeing was not, in fact, reality, but the whispers of a future.
“Wyn!” I screamed as the repeated shadow of the present flashed after its apparition, the man’s magic already flaring and ready for attack.
She reacted to my scream, dodging out of the way as her own ability warned her of what was coming. The sudden movement freed her prisoner from his cage, and the man fell as another ribbon of color sped toward Wyn, intent on attack.
“I told you I would kill you!” the Trpaslík screamed as he attacked again. Mine came a second behind, hitting him square in the chest as Wyn’s attack intersected in a weird array, the hole in her hand sending the color wide.
The two beams of color converged into one, the brilliant light seeping into his skin like an infection. It swept over him, sending him to the ground in a twitching heap.
Wyn once again captured her prisoner, her cage stronger as the flames licked around him, the heat and pressure a brilliance in the alley.
Knowing she could handle herself, I stepped toward the now lifeless man who was misshapen on the ground, his eyes wide and vacant as he stared into nothing, his whole body quivering as our magic devoured him. I guess that was what happened when you met both Wyn and me—a quick death.
“We really need to be more careful,” I said to myself, unable to look away from the flesh below me that was beginning to bubble and boil.