Page 222 of Captive of Secrets and Storms

He straightens as if nothing happened, but he tilts into Silas’s side, betraying the unaffected act.

Light trickles into my fingers.

I have to help him.

I shift forward.

A firm hand clasps my shoulder and yanks me back.

“What in the hells do you think you’re doing?” Anders hisses in my ear.

I tug my arm free.

“Darius is weak,” I huff. “We have to get those manacles off him.”

Though I have no idea how we are going to do that.

Anders glances over my shoulder, and his jaw tightens before he grinds out, “Allow me.”

I blink. “How are you…”

Anders lifts a hand between us. He stares at it with a furrowed brow. Then⁠—

Light sparks.

The power bounces from fingertip to fingertip.

My mouth drops, and my shock rises like a cresting wave, ready to wash away everything I knew about the Mountain Fae.

Anders leans around me and flicks the spark toward the beach.

Blood roars in my ears as that single flicker of light zips through the air, faster than a firefly. It weaves through the Fae and strikes Silas’s manacle right at the keyhole.

“Get down!” Anders shoves me to the ground and hovers over me on his hands and knees.

A yelp tears from my throat. Frigid water soaks the back of my dress.

“What are you⁠—”

BOOM!

I curl forward. My forehead kisses the medallion hanging from Anders’s chest.

Screams crash through the air.

I count the seconds until the pain-filled cries stop.

When I reach ten, I open my eyes and exhale a ragged breath. “What in the hells was that?”

Anders meets my stare with a grim expression. “The destruction of astlerium forged with Fae Fire.”

He destroyed the cuffs?

My pulse stutters.

“D-did you know it would explode?” I choke out.

“I suspected. Though, I’ve never used my light magic that way.”