Page 115 of Commanding Flame and Shield
Somewhere above my tower of steel and stone, rang out a cackling, cold, joyless laugh. The demon was with me. With me and...not. Preoccupied, perhaps.
The command rang through each muscle and bone, the summons of The Great Commander, calling me home. Ordering me to come back. I had to go back. Had to go back...had to goback. I gritted my teeth as I yanked on that goddamned face guard with all the strength I had, sobbing as it pulled on my skin.
Ally, baby, come home. Come back to me.His muffled voice wrapped around me, a scarf of warmth within the fortress. I had to go back…
A knowing settled in my ribs. “I am a daughter of the King. In Jesus’ name, you will release me.” The mask did. As though the name unlocked it.
Again, that command rang in my ears, as though it had reverberated off each stone I had built in my tower to defend my mind. To defend...him.
Fucking hell.Alvara, you come back. Come back to me, baby. Just me and you. Okay? We haven’t even started. You’re stronger than this. Be stronger than this.Again, and again, and again his voice echoed off the stones, smashing into my soul, my body.
I snarled again, “I am a daughter of the King. You cannot touch me. I am a daughter of the King. You are not welcome here.”
A low, serpentine hiss. “Silence, pretty one. This is my body now.”
“The fuck it is.I am a daughter of The King. You have no power here.”
Another hiss, as those words again echoed through my very bones. That voice, like an iron anchor within a tempest sea, holding me to my center—to my very core. The storm battered against the ship, the world tilting as cold, and ice and ache beat against my very being.
Ally, I’m right here. I’ve got you—We’ve got this. We face thistogether.He growled.Come on baby, show them who you fucking are.
“You have no power here. You WILL leave me, in the name of Christ-” The thing recoiled, the ice retreating from my skin. “Get thefuck out!” The roar exploded through the walls, through the black granite. It tore through the world, through all that I was. Searing pain, and yet…
“I am a daughter of the King,” I gasped. “No harm will come to me.”
FORTY-SIX
FIRESTORM
AUGUST
“Fucking hell,” I growled, throwing a crackling wall of fire out around us. “Alvara, you come back. Come back to me, baby.” I gritted out, holding my shield against the demons hurling themselves against it. My gaze flicked between the round obsidians where emeralds should be, searching, praying...“Just me and you. Okay? We haven’t evenstarted. You’re stronger than this. You have to be stronger than this.”
Alvara brought shaking hands to her face, as though she was clawing at her eyes to get the monster out of her skin. She bared her teeth, her energy pulsing like that of a wild beast being unleashed. She began screaming. The sound was a defiant roar as I lunged for her, but the powerful smash of metal against wood had me turning.
Aren, Lana and Ansel came in, blades drawn, and teeth bared. A roar erupted from the Commander, and he charged, the others on his flank. I turned again for Alvara, who still screamed her outrage, and dove for her hands as her nails dug into her skin.
Leave her.Aren’s command froze me to the floor. Anger rippled through me, and I pushed against the magic locking my muscles in place.Trust me. The thought was a growl.
I whirled on him, but he was slicing down demons like stalks of wheat. A veritable wall of muscle and metal. With one glance back at Alvara, I obeyed, staggering away from her a step, but unwilling to leave her side.
“Ally, I’m right here. I’ve got you—we’ve got this. We face thistogether,”I commanded, voice hoarse with the effort of blocking the attacks. Another assault slammed against the shield, but it didn’t buckle. The air began to crackle with electricity.“Come on baby,show themwho you fucking are.”
Her melodic voice cut through the din, “I am a daughter of the King,” a haggard breath. But it was Alvara’s voice, clear as day, “no harm will come to me.”
The world seemed to freeze as it exploded.
From behind us, double doors burst open, and the bay and roar of great beasts came through the open hallway. But beside me, Alvara exploded in light, and fire, and wind. The blast sent me slamming to the ground, knees singing at the impact against the marble floor. Alec and Fae fell from the wall. Through the pounding in my skull, their gasping breaths cut across the roar of the demons pouring into the ballroom. I threw my physical shield out wide, and it shuddered as they battered the perimeter. Undiluted fear cut through my body, adrenaline sluicing through my veins. Heart a hammering staccato beat, I couldn’t decide what to focus on—the herd of demonic, skeletal beasts barreling towards me, or Alvara…
Alvara, whose every inch of skin glowed white hot, like starlight, eyes now a vibrant gold, her hair and gown floating and whipping on a phantom breeze. Her fingertips and the very air around her were engulfed in blue flame. Whose hands splayed out to both sides, arms stretching wide, as water solidified out of the very air beyond her flames. Her rage felt like a tsunami racing down the horizon. One word came barreling down the bond, clear as day.
Duck.
We did. All of us. Unquestioning, and unified, we each abandoned our positions—even Aren who wielded two blades against three rabid blood wolves. Shields erupted from every side of me, and I swore through his gasping, Aleclaughed.
The world seemed to rumble and swell with the power she demanded of it. Dark and light and rattling outrage mixed and roared forward as a crackling blue wave of light burst out from Alvara. The epicenter of a nuclear explosion. The boom was deafening, as the very building shuddered. Every towering window in the ballroom shattered, the crystal chandeliers bursting into countless tiny shards of glass, now projectiles trained on her enemies. They roared as the pieces embedded in their flesh. Water and fire and ice all burst forward, incinerating, drowning, freezing and crushing each and every demon within the blast.
Save for Jones, now cowering in the corner, shielding his face.
