Crown of Cinders (Imdalind #7)(69)

Damek’s heaving breath was the lone sound. The lone movement … until …

With a slow, haunting chill, Sain began to push himself into a standing position, moving slowly in the dark. The bright spot of red and white fabric was a wad in his fist.

I stepped back in disbelief, my heels clicking once in the silence, and Sain’s eyes flashed to mine, the white bright against the dark. Bright with anger.

“Don’t think I don’t know your true meaning, my dear,” he growled, his voice violent as he stepped back into the dark, his eyes again focused on the girl. “And you said there was no devil in you. I will deal with you later.”

My heart stuttered painfully, and a lump lodged itself in my throat.

I tried to swallow, but everything was blocked by fear, the sensation so unfamiliar it drove the fear further.

“Your brother …” Sain mused, his magic lifting the girl into the air, letting her hang there, twisting aloft like a rag doll.

She could be dead.

My muscles seized at the possibility, but her eyes were alive, the wide orbs staring straight at the old man who held her, fear as clear as mine staring back at me.

“I have seen your brother in my sights. I have seen him laid into the ground, dead and cold, head almost ripped from his shoulders,” Sain said with a laugh. “If he is dead, you were the one to kill him. Did you kill your brother, little girl?”

Her eyes pulled wider, her jaw moving as she attempted to work the words out.

“You were supposed to die, little girl. But it seems that Edmund’s magic still lives inside of you, which suits me fine. The more power I can absorb, the better.”

Damek and I exchanged looks at Sain’s admission. His shock seeped across the air so heavily I was in no doubt he was about to attack Sain. I was one step behind him. If Edmund’s magic was alive, if it was alive in this little girl …

Sain’s malicious laugh pulled me away from my hope as his magic shot like lightning through the air and right into the little girl.

She screamed as the current moved into her body, screamed as the demon of a man stepped toward her, his lips extended into a wide, caustic smile.

His smile bore into me, awakening my own need for his magic, for the magic I had coveted for so long.

It should be mine.

The fear faded as my own smile took its place, my magic bristling under my skin with the need for her blood, for that which should be mine.

Sain had gotten there first, however. His own scream echoed hers as his magic began to move into her, ready to rip Edmund’s magic out of the ?tít.

Damek fell back, cowering against the stone, pressing himself into it as he tried to move away from the electricity that crackled in the air, everything as bright as day. Even the half-man watched in fear, cowering in his cage.

I, however, stepped forward, my eyes wide in awe as the crackling lights faded, as the screaming stopped and the child fell to the ground in a heap, her skinny limbs twisted awkwardly, unmoving.

“No!” Sain snapped the second she fell. “It’s not there …”

“Sain?” I asked hesitantly, my powerful voice shaking with uncertainty. I wasn’t even sure if I had heard what he had said. I couldn’t look away from the child.

“How could it not be there …”

The admission pulled me from my horror, the tension in my jaw increasing as I turned toward the man who looked at me with unabashed malice.

“Edmund’s magic isn’t there?” I questioned.

He rounded on me, kicking the girl once before he rushed to my side.

Míra didn’t even make a noise at the impact. If she weren’t dead before, she was now.

“No!” Sain yelled in my face. “The ?tít isn’t there. Nothing is there.”

I looked at the girl hungrily before Sain’s magic wrapped around me, pulling me toward him with a snap.

“I said it’s not there,” he hissed, saliva spraying over my face. “Don’t think that you can go and find it yourself. I can see what you are thinking, Ovailia, I can see your pathetic greed. I can see your weakness. Leaving the child to attack me. I should rip your magic from your heart right now, leave you as dead and useless as that one.”

He knocked his head toward what was left of Alojz, my heart speeding up as if the thing could tell what he was talking about, its own fear of being stripped of something so precious ripping me apart.

“You couldn’t …” I began. Although strong, I could feel my words falter inside of me. I didn’t dare finish. I knew from the look in his eyes, from what I had seen, that he could.

That he would.

“Don’t try me, Ovailia,” he snapped, pressing himself so close to me I could smell the rancid fish on his breath. “You are as dead and useless as that one. You only have use as long as I deem it. Don’t force me to change my mind.”

I cringed, hair waving down my back as I tried to move away, but his fingers clawed around my forearm, pulling me back.

Damek’s whimpering increased as he continued his attempt to move into the wall, but I didn’t look away from the green eyes of the devil before me.

I didn’t care what he said. He was the devil.

A devil I would destroy. I had to.

“Yes, master,” I said, emphasizing the word and letting it seep into him and soothe his ego. Although, I was confident he could taste the deceitfulness in it.