Revealed in Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights #9)(64)

Power rocked through me, sweet fire licking at my skin. Ice crackling the air.

I sent out a shock wave of it and shook free of the oppressive magic weighing me down.

“Nope,” I said, no humor in my tone. In my body. “What do you want with me? Speak quickly, because I’m about to leave.”

The elf on the left surveyed me with narrowed eyes. “You insolent scum,” it said. “You dare—”

“Yeah, look.” I pushed fire into the pew-like seats on both sides behind me, and shrieks crowded the air as flames raced along the base of the structure and licked up the backs of the seats. Power swirled in the room. I increased the potency of the fire, forcing everyone out of their seats, lest they be burned. A spell washed through after my efforts, incredibly powerful and horribly vicious, intending to melt skin from bones. Penny felt the danger and was not fucking around. She’d nabbed that spell out of my most advanced spell book at some point and managed to make it even worse. “I’m not here to be kicked around by a couple of narcissists with a hair complex. You’ve been looking for me. Here I am. What do you want?”

The elf on the left tapped its fingers against the golden arm of the throne. “You are Lucifer’s heir. I can feel the disgusting slide of your magic over ours.”

“We had so hoped she would be born of a high-level demon,” the one on the right said, with slightly shapelier brows and thinner lips, looking over at its partner, “so that we might kill her along with her friends. Sadly…”

“Yes, I agree,” the first said, and unfortunately, I didn’t hear any thoughts. “We cannot hope to pass her off as less than the heir. We must…reflect.”

The chairs burned wildly behind me. People pushed against the walls to get away, because the elves had invited their social elite to witness our “interview,” not their fighters. Not anyone who could subdue us.

“You fuckers are sure arrogant,” I said, which brought their focus back to me.

“Your manners are fitting of your origins,” said the elf on the left.

“Thank you. Honestly, that is a huge compliment.” I hooked a thumb behind me. “What is your plan for the Rogue Natural? Do you intend to honor Romulus—the Second Arcana—”

“First Arcana,” Emery corrected me.

“Right, right. Do you plan to honor the First Arcana and give the Rogue Natural a fair trial?”

Bodies crowded the busted doors, some trying to get out, the guards trying to get in. I felt their magic pulsing into the room.

We need to get out of here, Emery thought. Penny and I are working on something.

I knew that. I could feel it collecting above our heads, spicy and intense. It was taking shape slowly. I needed to keep talking for a moment.

“The fae are eager to resume their rightful role and help get your kingdom back on track,” I finished.

The one on the right laughed, a tinkling sort of sound. “Back on track—do you hear her?”

The one on the left raised its voice, presumably so it could be heard throughout the room, “Our kingdom has never been more prosperous. Our subjects have never experienced a more pleasant lifestyle than what we are currently providing them. It is only vile creatures like you who seek to bring it down. It is people like you who interrupt our perfect harmony.”

“Perfect harmony? Holy hogwash, Batman.” I laughed and hoisted the fire higher. They weren’t trying to put it out, so I would push the issue. “Who are you trying to fool? You idiots try to kill anything that pushes back while brutalizing common folk. You abuse power, think you’re above the law, go off the handle in response to any perceived threat, justified or not, and cannot find something so simple as a name to a magical person affiliated with a great many creatures right under your nose. You are losing your grip on—”

Magic crushed down onto me, twisting my guts. It felt like a white-hot blade dug into my stomach and tried to rip out my heart. Someone screamed behind me, and I thought it might be Penny. A body hit the floor, then two, and I wondered if it was Callie and Dizzy.

I stood my ground, taking the pain. Owning it. Pushing past it. When bonding Darius, I’d been on the brink of death. I’d nearly bled out, a necessary part of the bonding process. I’d felt what it was like to walk the line, and I’d come out the other side stronger for it. Not easily ruffled. Not apt to panic.

Harnessing my inner fire, wrapping myself in ice, I rose to the challenge. I rose to their magic. I was my father’s daughter. Running through my veins was the blood of the ruler of the Underworld and, with it, the blood of gods. My power equaled theirs, but my might didn’t stem from that. It stemmed from my experiences. My ability to survive. My ruthlessness when threatened and my undying loyalty to my loved ones.

I was the Underworld—I was love and lust, hate and violence. I could forgive, but I could also wield my wrath with no impunity.

In a blinding flash of power, I struck back. The ground rumbled. The windows shook, then exploded outward. Those by the walls quailed, sinking. The magic all around me throbbed, fighting.

Run, Emery thought, and I knew the best I could hope for was to get out from under these elves. They were more experienced, and experience would ultimately decide the victor, but damn it, I wanted to go head to head and come out swinging.

Run! Penny thought.

The spell they unleashed widened my eyes. It filled the room and then some, blistering in its intensity, nearly as powerful as the magic coursing through me and the elf royalty. The natural dual-mages had godly power, and they were showing their might.