Darkness Revealed (Guardians of Eternity #4)(96)

Anna gritted her teeth, battling the pain even as she sensed the bonds beginning to loosen.

“You’re too weak to kill me, Morgana,” she warned. “Stop this before I’m forced to hurt you.”

“Hurt me?” Morgana gave a wild scream, her hand crushing the bones of Anna’s chin. “I am a queen, a goddess. My powers are without end. You are nothing more than an abomination.”

Not so many years ago, Anna might have agreed with her psycho aunt. She had felt like an abomination. But not anymore.

Now she realized that she was something special, something unique. Something worthy of being loved.

And that was everything.

“I’m Anna Randal, a woman who is intelligent, capable, and a damn fine lawyer,” she said proudly, feeling the bonds slowly, but surely, loosening beneath her steady flow of energy. “I’m mate to Conde Cezar and distant granddaughter of King Arthur. And just as importantly, I’m the woman who is destined to kick your ass.”

“Why you vain little bitch, I will…”

Sensing the bonds were fragile, Anna ignored Morgana’s furious tirade, concentrating on one last surge of power. Her heart gave a leap of shock as she felt them shatter and fall away.

Before Morgana could react, Anna lifted her hand, grasping Morgana’s wrist and with one fierce motion twisted it away from her face. The wrenching pain nearly sent her to her knees, but she refused to so much as blink as she glared into the murderous green eyes.

“Stop this now, Morgana,” she said, her voice astonishingly steady, although the words were slurred from her injured chin. “I won’t tell you again.”

Something that might have been genuine fear briefly flared through Morgana’s gaze before she jerked her arm free and tossed her long mane of crimson hair. “You think I’m frightened just because my brother taught you a few tricks? It won’t save you.”

Anna smiled, not bothering to correct the impression that Arthur had taught her to use her powers. It was much better for Morgana to believe she had gained some training than to admit she was still fumbling and bumbling her way through it all.

“Actually, those tricks seem to be doing a fine job of saving me,” she retorted, her hand lifting to touch her aching chin. It was healing, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt. A lot. “And if you don’t back off they’re going to do a fine job of killing you.”

Morgana’s lips twisted, her hands pointed toward Anna as her hair floated in the rising breeze.

“Die.”

Anna gasped and then braced herself against the sharp pellets of air that threatened to skewer her. Damn, she didn’t know that you could turn air into bullets.

Not the most pleasant of surprises.

Jerking as a particularly vicious shard sliced open the skin of her stomach, Anna instinctively lifted the emerald that had begun to glow with a shimmering green light.

It was time for the gem to do what it was supposed to do.

Whatever the hell that was.

Still being peppered with the painful daggers of air, she ignored the urge to cower behind one of the marble columns and instead concentrated on the glow spreading from the gem. Surely Arthur wouldn’t have called her to his grave to give her this if it didn’t have some effect on Morgana?

For a time it did nothing but swirl about her. Pretty enough, but not exactly what she was hoping for. It was only when she was completely cloaked in the strange green flame that it stopped its swirling and thickened. Thickened enough that the agonizing attack was brought to an end.

Sucking in a deep breath, Anna leaned wearily against the column and studied the green glow. Through the flaming haze she could see Morgana, her arms outstretched as if she were still using her powers, but nothing passed through the fire.

In fact…narrowing her gaze, she reached out with her senses.

It was more than deflecting the powerful blows, she realized, although she didn’t know how. It was absorbing them.

Okay. This was a good thing. A really, really good thing.

Unfortunately, she didn’t really know how to use the weapon beyond protecting herself.

Straightening from the column, she took a cautious step forward. The glow followed her, keeping her protected even as Morgana screamed in fury and hurled what looked to be a fireball directly at her.

She took another step and another, ignoring Morgana’s shrieks and even the distant knowledge that the palace was beginning to shake with the force of the queen’s power. Overhead the glass dome shattered, littering the room with deadly shards, but neither woman took her eyes off the other as the lethal battle of wills persisted without pause.

Lost in her anger, it took Morgana some time to at last realize that her desperate strikes weren’t harming Anna. It wasn’t until Anna was standing almost directly in front of her that she dropped her hands and took a step backward.

Or at least she attempted to take a step backward.

The green eyes widened as she was snapped forward, presumably by the force of the emerald.

“What are you doing?” the queen demanded, an unmistakable fear threaded through her voice. “Stop this.”

Anna managed a wry smile through her lingering pain. “You want me to stop so you can kill me?”

“I will kill you either way, but it’s up to you whether it’s fast or painfully slow.”