Crush the King (Crown of Shards #3)(115)

He grinned and unleashed another round of magic, this time shooting purple hailstones out of his fingertips. I snapped up my hands and held them out in front of me, using my immunity just like I had used my gladiator shield before. The hailstones slammed into the invisible barrier of my immunity and broke apart into brittle chunks. Maximus growled and went back to his cold lightning, but I stopped that as well.

The two of us stood there in the center of the ring, with him shooting hailstones and bolts of cold lightning at me over and over again, and me blocking them all with my immunity.

Finally, Maximus grew tired of throwing his power at me. He lowered his hand, and his lips curled back as though the mere sight of me made him sick to his stomach.

“The legends really are true,” he said. “You’re immune to magic. Just like Bryn Blair was. Just like so many Winter queens are.”

I staggered back, trying to catch my breath. Legends? What legends? Mortan legends?

Maximus started circling me. “I thought they were just bedtime stories, tales to scare me away from my ambitions. Who would ever want to destroy magic? Much less actually be able to do it? But my grandfather always said that the Blairs and their accursed ability needed to be eliminated above all else. He was absolutely right. What a freak of nature you are, Everleigh.” His voice dripped with disgust, and his lips curled back even more.

Me? A freak? He was the one who ingested crushed tearstone and amethyst-eye poison. He was the one who killed strixes, the symbol of his own kingdom. He was the one who drank blood like some undead monster. Maximus needed to look in a fucking mirror.

“I’m so glad you’re the last of your kind, Everleigh.” He actually shuddered a bit, as if I was some horror he just couldn’t bear to contemplate. “Once I kill you, the Blairs and the Winter queen line will be forever dead. Then I can finally conquer your cursed kingdom, and Bellona and all its resources will be mine.”

The thought of him invading my kingdom and killing my people filled me with disgust, along with almost paralyzing fear and horror, but I pushed my emotions aside. The only thing that mattered was ending him here and now.

I had put the first part of my plan into motion. I had made Maximus bleed and shed some of his stolen magic. I was just hoping that I had wounded him enough, and that I could use my immunity to destroy the rest of his power.

I expected Maximus to keep crowing about what a freak I was, but instead he charged at me. Before I could spin away, Maximus surged forward, locked his hand around my throat, and hoisted me up into the air.

Gasps rang out through the arena, but I didn’t bother to kick or flail or fight back. Instead, I reached for my immunity. Nothing else mattered right now. Because if I didn’t do this, then I was dead.

“I should have realized why Maeven was having such a hard time killing you,” Maximus said. “Why you managed to slip out of every single trap she set. It’s your immunity. It lets you sense magic, all kinds of magic, doesn’t it?”

I ignored his question. Instead, I kept focusing on my immunity, pulling it up, up, up out of my body and then pouring the invisible strength of it out onto my hands, until it felt like gauntlets covering my fingers. I’d only get one shot at this, and I had to make it count.

Maximus must have realized that I wasn’t paying attention to his words, because he gave me a vicious little shake. “Stay awake, Everleigh. I want you alive for as long as possible to witness my greatest triumph.”

I still didn’t respond, and a sly light flared in his eyes. Maximus hoisted me a little higher into the air, then lunged forward, dropped to one knee, and slammed me down onto the dirt.

He put a considerable amount of strength into the blow, and pain shot through my back, along with the rest of my body, but I forced it aside, just as I had done with my fear and horror.

“Did that get your attention? Are you finally ready to beg for your life, Everleigh?”

He loosened his grip on my throat, just a bit, and I sucked down a breath, readying myself. “Well?” he demanded. “Start begging. I might let you go on for a minute or two before I finally kill you.”

“Never,” I hissed. “But it’s going to be so fucking sweet to hear you beg for yours.”

He frowned, not understanding what I meant, but I didn’t care. Instead, I shoved my hand forward, forcing my fingers through one of the openings I’d sliced in the front of his fancy leather tunic.

“What are you—”

Maximus never got to finish his thought. My fingers touched his bare skin, and I dug my nails into one of the shallow slices I’d opened up on his chest. His blood crackled against my fingertips, just like his lightning had earlier. Only this time, instead of blocking his magic, I went on the offensive and sent my immunity shooting out at him.

The cold, hard power of my immunity punched into his chest, tearing his hand from my throat and sending him staggering back. He also lost his grip on his sword, and the weapon flew out of his hand and landed on the ground.

I scrambled to my feet and surged forward, closing the distance between us. This time, I hit him in the stomach with my actual fist, but I also drove the force of my immunity into his body at the same time.

My fist didn’t do all that much damage, but I felt something . . . crack deep inside him, like my immunity was a piece of gravel that had just flown up and chipped a windowpane.

So I hit him again.