Page 262 of Of Masks and Fury

CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT

TREW

Alfred’s magic crackled through the air, wild and unstable without Coralee’s guidance. He rushed around the ritual circle, aiming for where Fenmark leaned against a leafless tree, a blade gleaming in his hand.

Lexie and Derren intercepted the lord first. But something had changed in the man. He moved with impossible speed and grace, his body enhanced by the bloodfire magic Coralee must’ve shared with him before her death.

Derren charged, putting his full weight behind a powerful strike. Alfred sidestepped easily, using Derren’s momentum against him to send him stumbling past. Before Derren could recover, Alfred attacked him in a blur of steel.

Their companions growled nearby, but I could tell they didn’t dare attack because they could hurt Derren or Lexie.

Their blades rang against each other in rapid succession. Lexie clawed her way up off the stone slab and lifted a blade, engaging Alfred from his right. They fought with the same determination that had carried them through the Rite of Bonds, but Alfred had turned into a viper.

His blade scored a cut across Lexie’s forearm. She gasped and staggered, her arm dropping. Black veins spread from the wound, creeping toward her shoulder. Magical poison, designed to incapacitate and kill slowly.

“So weak,” Alfred taunted, circling her like a predator while flicking his sword at each of Derren’s attacks. “You can’t stop me. You’re nothing but peasants playing at being heroes.”

Derren roared and stabbed out with his sword, but Alfred parried the strike and kicked him in the chest hard enough to send him flying backward. He hit the ground hard and didn’t get up. Another blow sent Lexie reeling. She also fell and lay there, moaning.

Kira moved to flank the lord, but he blasted her with a wave of magic that made her cry out and fall to her knees.

Rage burned through my chest, hotter than dragonfire.

The wound in my chest where Coralee had stabbed me had closed, healed by the combined magic of our bond. Power surged through my veins, stronger than I’d ever felt it before, amplified by everything Isi and I and our companions had become together.

I let out a roar that shook the battlefield.

Lord Alfred’s head snapped in my direction, his eyes widening as I stalked toward him. Gavelle and Pherin rushed with me in firecat form, their eyes blazing with the same fury that consumed me.

“You want a fight?” I snarled. “Then face me, you pathetic coward.”

He smiled, that same calculating expression I’d seen at the Caldrith dinner table when he was measuring Isi like property. “The rebel king himself. How delightful. I’ve been looking forward to this. You stole what ismine.”

He rushed at me with that unnatural speed, leaping over Pherin and Gavelle as if they were still in their small forms, his blade seeking my throat. I met him with my sword, our steel clashing with enough force to send sparks flying. The impact jarred my arms, but I didn’t give ground.

We circled each other, trading strikes that would have killed lesser fighters. His borrowed magic made him fast, but I had years of training and the burning need to make him pay for every moment he’d made the people I loved suffer.

“This is for every lie you told Isi,” I growled, driving him backward with a series of powerful strikes.

He parried desperately, his smile faltering. “She was always meant to be mine.”

I feinted left, then struck right, scoring a line across his ribs. “She chose me. She chose freedom.”

“Freedom?” He laughed, though it came out strained as he blocked another attack. “She’s a princess. She could’ve had wealth, power, and aproperalliance. Instead, she degraded herself by spreading her legs for a traitor king.”

The crude words ignited rage inside me. Magic surged through my blade, making it glow with golden light. My next strike came with enough force to crack stone, driving Alfred to his knees.

“This is for every moment you looked at her like she was a thing to be owned,” I growled.

He tried to roll away, but I was faster. My boot caught him in the ribs, sending him sprawling. Levar descended from above, creating a terrifying shadow that engulfed us both.

Lord Alfred scrambled to his feet, raising his blade to defend himself. I channeled more magic into my sword and brought it down with all my strength.

His blade shattered.

Pieces of steel scattered across the ground, and the lord stumbled backward, his eyes wide with disbelief. I kicked him hard in the chest, and he went down on his side, gasping for breath.

I stood over him, my sword at his throat. Blood dripped from the tip where it pressed against his skin, promising death with the slightest pressure.