Page 107 of Shadows of Destiny
As the blood ran into Orin’s boots, he knew it was pointless to argue. He’d only become a hindrance if he passed out from blood loss.
“Take care of yourself,” he said to Brokk.
His brother clasped his shoulder and squeezed it. “You also.”
CHAPTERSEVENTY-SEVEN
Lexi tried notto think about the fact Cole had told her to keep killing; heneverwould have done that before. He never would havesaidit to her before and would have done everything he could to keep her from having to kill.
It was inevitable she destroy others while here; she had to if she was going to survive, but it wasn’t something Cole would have wanted her to do. Ignoring her grief, Lexi released another stream of fire at a warlock.
He used the ball of fire floating before him to deflect it. Another warlock held up his hand to halt her flame and shot it back at her. Lexi didn’t bother to move before the fireball hit her side.
The impact knocked her to the side a little, and flames shot toward her face as her clothes fell away, but she didn’t shy away from them. They didn’t scorch her, and the fire wasn’t a nuisance other than briefly blinding her.
However, when the fireball hit her, the Cole thing burst forward in a rush so fast he blurred as he sped toward the warlock. He’d always been fast, but she’d never seen him movethatfast before.
Ducking low, Cole grasped the warlock around his thighs, lifted him, and slammed him into the ground. Something broke in the warlock’s back, and his head thudded off the stone floor.
When claws erupted from Cole’s hands, he plunged them through the warlock’s eyes. The man screamed while he jerked at Cole’s hand, but he couldn’t pull it free. Another warlock threw a ball of fire at Cole, and Lexi released a stream of fire from her hand. It crashed into the ball and deflected it before the flames hit Cole.
She sent a blast of fire at the man as Cole, with his claws still embedded in the screaming warlock’s eyes, lifted the man from the ground. He swung the immortal’s body into one of his friends.
The warlock’s flames sputtered and went out as he staggered away from Cole. When he knocked into some of his friends, their fire wall weakened further. And the shadows spread toward them.
Sunlight still poured down from the open ceiling above, but the shadows were gaining ground. When a dragon swooped over the opening, it blocked the sun and allowed more shadows to squirm around the room.
The warlocks screamed as the shadows reached some of them. The shadows tore into the warlocks with absolute ruthlessness, ripped off their limbs, and engulfed their heads to smother their cries.
When the dragon vanished and light spilled down again, the shadows retracted enough that some of the more daring of the Lord’s guards rushed them. Arrows shot through the air toward them, but the shadows lurched up to snag them from the air before they fell.
Kneeling, Lexi placed her palms against the cool stone and released two streaks of flame. Tendrils of fire broke off from the two main streaks until they spread across the floor in a lethal pattern resembling the numerous branches of a tree. The fire trails zigzagged like lightning across the floor and raced toward her prey.
And as those branches found their target, they set fire to them. Others stumbled back to avoid the flames, and some warlocks used magic to deflect the death coming toward them, but the other lycan, dark fae, warlocks, and berserkers in the room weren’t so lucky.
The fires caught on nearly a dozen guards. The flames surged higher as clothing and flesh fed them. The rising smoke choked some light from the sky and enabled more shadows to spread as the fires died down and the streaks went out.
The Lord, who had been laughing throughout all of this, suddenly fell silent. Tearing her gaze away from the burning guards and Cole, Lexi met his eyes. Hatred emanated from him as they stared at each other.
And then, she smiled. All this death sickened her, and she’d probably lost Cole, but she was more than happy to see this man dead.
And then, as some of the guards started to flee while others came at them again, Lexi sent out two more streaks of fire that lanced across the stone. More flames branched off to destroy ten more of the Lord’s men.
The increasing smoke filling the air allowed the shadows to spread further until they nearly had free rein of the room. They danced in and out of the flames as the stench of burning flesh and blood permeated the room.
Lexi’s stomach heaved as bile rushed up her throat, but she somehow managed to swallow it. The Lord would not have the satisfaction of watching her vomit.
When she went to release more fire, something crashed into her back and knocked her to the ground. Someone must have charged at her, knocked her down, and kept her pinned there, but it took her a second to realize no one was kneeling on her.
One or more of the warlocks was using the element of air to pin her to the floor. Lexi struggled against the force, but it felt like a thousand-pound weight pressed into her back.
It pushed her forward until she lay flat on the ground with her hands beneath her. She tried to shove herself up, but the weight was unrelenting.
She wheezed tiny breaths into her burning lungs. Unable to concentrate on keeping them lit, the fires went out from her hands, and the breath was crushed from her lungs. White light exploded in front of her eyes as the world swam.
Then, a roar unlike any she’d ever heard reverberated through the room. Though it wasn’t in his voice, and it sounded like thousands of things were yelling at once, she knew the eerie sound emanated from Cole.
Shadows leapt in front of her, but they couldn’t stop the wall of air from squishing her. When one of her ribs cracked, she squeaked because it was the only sound she could get out as darkness flashed across her eyes.
