Page 113 of This Dark Descent
Rezek’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Excuse me?”
“Give it to her,” Damien ordered, realizing what she intended to do. He angled toward Rezek, leveling a gun at his temple. “Alternatively, I feed you to Hyle as a distraction so we can escape.”
Another bullet broke through the coach, and Rezek flinched. “Fine,” he snarled, tearing the ring free and handing it to Ari. She quickly threaded the verillion’s magic into the diamond, muttering a binding and forming an intention.
“Come now, Damien,” Hyle called jovially. “Move away from there so I can riddle it with bullets. I won’t wait much longer.”
Ari pictured the bullets flying past her harmlessly and shaped her charm into one of luck.
“Be ready to shoot.” She clutched the ring. “I’m going for Hyle.”
Damien turned onto his knees, ready to lay down fire, and Rezek and his guard did the same. “What exactly are you about to do?” Rezek demanded.
“Now!” Ari burned her magic and sprinted around the edge of the carriage. Bullets flew, missing her by a hairsbreadth. Behind her, the othersfired into the open stretch of road while she distracted the attackers. People screamed as bullets tore into them. One man made a break for the edge of the road, and a bullet took him in the side of the neck. The Kelbra guard went down with a gurgling cry.
Hyle leveled his gun straight at her and pulled the trigger—it jammed, backfiring into his hand. He dropped it with a yelp, the two nearest turning to aid him. A bullet struck one in the head and the other in the leg, until there was only Hyle.
Ari threaded an enchantment through her emerald and punched Hyle in the face. He hit the ground hard and rolled onto his side, coughing blood. Someone moved beside her, and she nearly struck on reflex, but Rezek only stared at her as though he’d discovered something long lost.
Hyle groaned, and Rezek cocked his gun. His gaze lingered on her a second longer—then he put a bullet in Hyle’s leg.
“Stop.” Damien seized Rezek’s wrist.
Rezek ripped his arm free. “I’ll do with my would-be assassin as I please.” He shot Hyle in the arm. The man wheezed and blood seeped from his chest; he wouldn’t survive his wounds. Rezek was just ensuring he died painfully.
Without hesitation, Damien put a bullet between Hyle’s eyes.
Snarling, Rezek rounded on him, gun raised to Damien’s chest. A sharp smile cut across his face. “How convenient. I can leave you to die here in the mud, a victim of a highway robbery. Your brother was useful for something after all.”
He cocked the gun. “Goodbye, Damien.”
Ari flared her verillion. At the same time, something shadowed broke loose in her mind. It swirled through her like verillion smoke, wispy and light, but icy cold, curling about her magic like a beast about its nest.
Kill him, it whispered in a voice Ari knew well.Now.
Ari lunged, knocking Rezek’s arm away just as the gun fired. A bullet ripped through her shoulder, but she didn’t feel the pain. Just as quicklyas the hole formed, it resealed, and Ari was upon Rezek. Her first strike knocked the air from his lungs, cracking ribs. The second sent him to the ground with a broken nose.
She’d killed before; what was another life snuffed out? Letting go felt right. Letting go felt easy. She had only to—
“Arielle!” Damien’s voice cut through the haze descending on her mind. “Fight it!”
Fight? What was there to fight? There was nothing wrong. There—her verillion ran out, and the clash of ice and fire inside her vanished. She gasped, collapsing to her knees.
Damien was before her in an instant, holding her upright. “What happened? Your eyes—they went white.”
Ari leaned into his embrace, seeking the steadythud thud thudof his racing heart. She’d nearly lost control. It’d felt like if she’d let herself slip, if she’d let herself go, she would have woken up after lost time like before, but never had she felt it happening like that.
Was it you?she asked the voice.Whatareyou?
I am your power.
My power is my own, she told it.You cannot have it.
“Arielle?” The concern in Damien’s voice was enough to snap her back to herself. She climbed steadily to her feet, and he rose with her.
“I’m okay.” She took in the overturned coach, the carnage of bodies, and at last Damien, bleeding from a wound in his shoulder.
“What do we do with him?” She nodded at Rezek. Damien hesitated, clearly loath to let the topic of what’d just happened go. “We’ll discuss it later,” she promised, and he acquiesced.
