Page 145 of A Trial By Blood

Oh yes, she was a bitch, all right. She was trying to distract me, throw me off, so I’d be unprepared when she attacked. This was always going to be a defensive fight for me, and she knew it as well.

She hissed, her eyes flashing with rage, and she threw her arms toward me. The flames reshaped into a dragon, and it stormed toward me, breathing fire. I ran, diving to the ground and tumbling out of the way. Fire licked at my hand, burning my skin before the dragon of fire flamed out.

Marianne laughed again. “You’re pathetic.”

I was almost ready. I could feel the magic growing steadily inside me. Like a lot of the members of her coven, she was a one-trick pony. They relied too heavily on their fire magic, the fear it induced, and the destruction it caused.

She was building up again, fire dancing in her eyes now. She smiled wide and did another of her little dances for the crowd. Several members of her coven laughed as they cheered her on.

My anger rose. I wanted to go on the offensive, badly. There were spells I could use to throw her off her game, but only momentarily, and I didn’t have the knowledge to back them up. I also didn’t want to expend an ounce of my magic, not yet. So when she spun and fired her next creation at me, I rolled again, crying out when the claws of a big cat made of fire swiped at my ankle and burned through my tights.

Marianne laughed again as I crawled away, and so did several members of her coven. I didn’t look over at Ronan or my sisters surrounded by members of our coven. I didn’t need to. I felt their quiet support, their love for me, win or lose. And I felt their strength. I also didn’t need to look to know Bram was probably holding Mags back from those laughing in Marianne’s coven.

My own anger shot higher as well, but I kept it under control. I had to stay calm for this to work. My hand and ankle burned, and as Marianne stood over me with that smirk on her face, the urge to retaliate caused a spike of adrenaline that had me gritting my teeth. I flexed my fingers, calling my magic forward, because I knew what was coming, and I was going to be ready.

“That’s right, crawl away, Rose,” Marianne taunted, fire dancing between her fingers. “Crawl back to your coven before I burn up that pretty face.”

I didn’t bother responding. Instead, I bit down on my lip again and smiled up at her when more blood slid down my chin.

She scowled. “Are you stupid? What the hell are you smiling about?” The fire grew between her fingers. “Run, or I’m going to burn you.”

I let go of the anger I was holding back—and I had a lot. Not just at Marianne or at the mother, but for the years I spent in that bed slowly starving to death and the pain my family had gone through because of it. The shift came instantly. My fingers elongated, claws growing from the tips, red veins now visible through my skin. When her eyes widened, I knew mine had changed and were now totally black, that she could see my fangs and pointed ears.

“What are you doing?” Marianne’s face screwed up in disgust. “What the hell are you? You’re hideous.”

In two days, the stubs of my wings had started to grow. Small, perfectly formed bat wings had sprouted, white and shimmery, and were currently not much bigger than one of my little bat familiars. I quietly said the spell I’d created, unique to me, repeating it over and over again.

“I’m going to burn those disgusting things right off your back,” Marianne said down at me and lifted her hands, muttering her own spell. No little dance this time, no messing around, she fired a stream of fire right at my face.

I threw my hands up as well and fired my magic back at her, calling out my spell louder. Her flames collided with the barrier I’d created, causing the fire to flow to the right, singeing the ground.

She shrieked and fired more flames as I got to my feet, repeating my spell without pause. And again, her flames didn’t touch me. Flames danced in her furious gaze. I wanted her angry. It was her anger that would cause her to lose.

She screamed, again telling me I was disgusting, that I deserved to die, while she tried repeatedly to burn me alive, throwing more and more power at me in her rage, until her flames became weaker. I wrapped my magic around her, pulling it in tight, and she screamed louder, struggling, and when she tried to throw fire at me again, nothing happened. Using my magic, I tossed her to the other side of the clearing and released her. She quickly staggered to her feet, and with a cry of alarm, tried again and again to burn me. Nothing.

In her rage, she’d drained herself of power completely.

The barrier that surrounded us dropped, the mother’s way of declaring a winner.

I’d won.

“No!” Marianne screamed. “No. You cheated. You’re not even a proper witch. This isn’t right. It’s not fair.”

I turned away from her and strode to my cheering coven. Ronan grinned down at me, so incredibly handsome, he stole my breath. He caught me up in his arms. “You were magnificent,” he said against my ear, before he put me back on my feet, something I knew he didn’t want to do, judging by the look in his eyes.

If my mate had his way, he’d carry me everywhere and never let me out of his sight. “Thanks,” I said.

He took my hand, and surrounded by my coven and my family, we headed back down the road and away from Blood Hill Grove. Ronan glanced down at me. “So that’s it for you, right? You’re done?”

“Yep,” I said, still riding my high. Hopefully, we’d be done with the mother for a while, at least for another year, until she called on Magnolia.

His expression was serious as he nodded. “Good. Now say goodbye to your family, petal.”

I frowned. “What? Why?”

“Because I’m taking you home, and I don’t plan on letting you leave our home, or our bed, for at least a month, maybe longer.”

I laughed.