Binding the Shadows (Arcadia Bell #3)(85)

They all spun around and looked up at Priya. His face was hardened, jaw tense. He swung his arm around and backhanded Dare across the cheek. The elderly Hellfire leader’s face flew sideways. Priya’s silvery body darted forward. Beryl and the henchmen cried out and stumbled as he landed.

Two quick strides and his bare foot stamped on the edge of my binding. Heka fizzled and popped. The terrible pressure dropped away.

Free.

Free, but so broken, I couldn’t move.

I guess I didn’t need to.

The moon power came to me in a rush, coating the room in a blanket of silver light.

All knacks. That’s what Dare said. It made sense now. I didn’t need a spell. Whatever I could imagine, I could do.

Not demon, but not human, either. Something in-between.

I wanted to tell Priya to get behind me, but I couldn’t speak. I didn’t need to, though, did I? I screamed at him in my head to move back. His wings extended and flapped, then flew out of sight. My hair blew forward as he landed behind me.

No good would come of letting Dare walk out of here alive. If I lived, he’d keep me chained like a dog and use me to do God only knew what. But if I died, Lon and Jupe would be sitting ducks. Either Lon would kill Dare and end up in jail, or Dare would make their lives miserable—whatever lives he allowed them to have. He was a horrible person, a sadistic * with too much power. And he was a killer.

A killer who was pulling a gun out of his suit jacket, looking at me with murder in his eyes.

Eat or be eaten. No choice now.

I mentally marked them all: Dare, Beryl, the three men. And as Dare hesitated, pointing the gun first at me, then behind me at Priya, I thought of Merrimoth that night on the beach, hurling fire at me and Lon. That’s what I wanted.

Dare’s rage-filled gaze connected with mine. The panic I’d felt before his men destroyed my body was now reflected in his eyes. And with the moon power fueling my Heka, I directed all of my willpower into one single word:

Burn.

Orange and yellow flames lit up the room. Swirled around the five men. Screams of anguish pierced my ears. The heat felt like a blast from an unholy oven. It might burn me up, too.

Someone tried to run—Beryl, I thought—but stumbled after one step.

Burning flesh filled my nostrils as skin melted off their faces. The screaming stopped. They all fell to the ground, one after the other, shaking the floor like sacks of wet cement dropping as fire ripped through them.

Dare was the last to fall. His body dropped in front of mine. I watched him die, infernal flames licking across his body. Watched his eyes dissolve in their sockets. Watched his bones turn black.

Gotcha.

Before I could take more than a handful of strained, pain-filled breaths, the flames were flickering out over five piles of black ash. Smoke curled in the air above them.

I’d killed them all in a matter of seconds.

My hair rustled. I flicked my one good eye upward, away from the ash and smoke. Priya crouched in front of me.

I could tell by the horror-struck look on his face that my body was a mess, but I didn’t feel pain anymore. Didn’t feel anything. His sinewy silver hand reached out to me, stuttered, and halted.

He simply said, “I will get help.”

Tall grass tickled my cheek. I opened my eyes to wildflowers swaying in a soft breeze. I tried to lift my head, but I couldn’t move. Couldn’t move anything: fingers, arms, legs. . . . All I could do was look.

I strained my eyes sideways. Grass. Lon wasn’t sleeping next to me this time. I looked up and saw a path of blackened grass and a white dress blowing in the breeze.

My mother stood at my feet.

“Cassé. Ruiné.” She sighed and shook her head. “You managed to get yourself mangled, didn’t you? How am I supposed to use a broken body?”

I tried to respond, but nothing came out of my mouth.

“You’d better find a healer soon, or I will be very unhappy with you, Sélène Aysul Duval. And while you do that, I will seek a better way to connect with you. This is the back door, so to speak, but I think I know someone who can help me find the front. I will return when you are of some use to me.”

She turned and walked away, strolling through the blackened grass until she was out of sight. I lay on the ground, looking at the sky. I thought I heard birds in the distance. But as the sound got louder, I realized it was beeping.

The sound of a machine.

The sound of my pulse being measured.

The grass faded away. The blue sky turned white. I could see out of one eye. Just a slit. It was so difficult to keep it open. I smelled antiseptic and plastic. Saw bodies moving around. They looked busy. Quick, sharp movements. One of them was talking to someone.

“—broken hip, ribs, arms, leg, jaw, fingers. Internal bleeding. Concussion. She’s lucky to be alive. I’d like to try to keep her that way. You’re going to have to get out of here and let me work. People can’t walk in and see you like that.”

Like what? I moved my gaze around the room. Dr. Mick. He was staring at a computer screen. Another doctor was hooking me up to another machine. I looked to the side.

“I’m here. You’re alive.” Lon bent over me, horns spiraling around his ears. “It’s okay. Mick will fix you.”

My brain was sluggish. Kar Yee . . . she wasn’t at the bar.

“She’s fine.” His voice was low and rumbly.