AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The Fire Goddess-in-denial enters the meeting room in a rush, creating a wall of thick flames to block the doorway.
Cotear can’t escape unless he wants to burn.
I doubt Madi’s flames are as easily doused as his campfires.
He grabs a handful of my hair, smashing my head onto the stone floor. Then he grunts as Madi curses under her breath. I push up, standing in time to see him swing at her. She dodges the face hit but takes the brunt of the force to her shoulder.
I jump on Cotear’s back, attempting to get my arm around his neck like Rin did, but he shoves backward into the wall.
“Let go,” Madi shouts. “I can’t light him up if you hold on.”
“Not yet.”
I reach for the water within his body, pulling his life force to the surface. It’s difficult to tell by his movements alone, but the water forms above us, out of reach and unwilling to return to its source. He doesn’t gasp like Poko did. He uses his element to fight back, blowing Madi with a gust of wind. The more he fights, the weaker he’s becoming, but he doesn’t give up.
“Now?” she whispers, though it looks like she’s screaming.
I shake my head and look up, silently begging her to follow my gaze.
Cotear slams his head back, clipping my chin and throat. I’m pinned between him and the wall. He pushes against me with all his might until he finally finds purchase on my arms, prying them apart. I drop to the floor before he can attempt to flip me.
He shuffles away from me and into the sights of his second opponent. Madi runs up and kicks him square in the chest, pushing him through the wall of fire in the doorway.
She drops her curtain of flames, and we follow him out. He climbs to his feet but drops back to his knees as he stares at us. His clothing is in tatters, singed and falling off his frame. Pink patches of raw skin litter his arms and face. The foul scent of burning hair floats in the air.
“This is a little more dramatic than Poko’s death,” I whisper to him. “I hate getting my hands dirty, but you deserve nothing less.”
I twist my hand so he knows I’m doing something… And water seeps from his skin, drying him out. He claws at the droplets, but they’re no longer in his control. They belong to me now.
“Ada!”
Shouts from the corridor beyond ring through the air as it thickens in Cotear’s death. Yet another thing he no longer controls, though he wastes his last bit of life still trying to fight.
“Rin?” I inquire softly.
“Fine,” she mutters, rubbing her neck.
“Would you like to take over?” I ask, giving her a gentle smile. “This justice can be yours since I took the last—”
“No. Finish him,” she instructs, casting a deadly glare his way.
Madi snorts, then coughs. “Sorry. It’s not funny. I was just thinking about—”
“Mortal Kombat?” I smile at her, knowing she’s thinking of her brother.
“Harrison used to say it all the time,” she murmurs.
Connak and Imryll slide around the corner just as Cotear falls to his side, a husk of the man he once was. His jaw locks, wheezing filling the room. I drop the sphere of sullied life force over his head, cutting off the sound of his gasping breaths and drowning him the same way I did his friend.
Rinya stands at my side, watching as Cotear’s body tenses into a mummified version of the fetal position. For only a moment, she takes my hand and squeezes, seeking comfort at the end of her nightmare. Then she lets me go, straightens her shoulders, and stares down at the last of her demons.
Madigan takes one look at the pixie of a guard and nods at me. She takes a step forward and kicks the husk of Cotear, the top of her foot burning so hot it melts through her sandal and leaves nothing but dust on the floor where a man once lay dead.
18
ADELAIDE
DAY SIXTY-NINE
