Page 394 of Commanding Blood And Bonds

THE BELL TOLLS

ALVARA

Fucking shifting shadow birds.

Alec was lucky to make it out—barely. Talons slashed across his arm before the bird shifted midair, spearing forward. Thank God he’d always been the fastest of us, parrying and striking with desperate precision.

But Adrastos moved like me. Just as lethal. Just as relentless. He must’ve lost his blades along the way because he came in swinging with bare fists—goddamned fists—like a monster unbothered by steel.

Aren! The cry echoed through my mind like a scream. Kingsley!

A desperate plea. A Hail Mary hurled into the ether.

None of it—none of the planning, the sacrifice, the strategy—would matter if I didn’t get this damn portal closed.

My body burned. Sweat poured from my skin as a scream curdled in my throat, fighting its way up as I funneled every scrap of power I had into sealing the rupture.

And then she was there. Freya. Her hand slammed to my spine as she bellowed her fury to the heavens. Darkness surged around us—raw and radiant. Fire bloomed back to life in my chest. I gasped as my clairvoyance flared open, vision bending and snapping as familiar magic surged into me.

Oh.

Oh.

I knew this magic. It poured through my veins like it had always belonged there. Like I was built for it.

Him.

Adrastos hit his knees. Arms wide. Palms open. Shadows ripping away from his skin as Freya—now screaming—tore them from him strand by strand.

But his eyes locked on mine. Dark. Determined. Pleading.

My mouth opened, but no words came. I didn’t understand—none of it made sense.

Still, I turned back. Threw up my hands. Another wall of flame exploded from my core, this one jagged with shadow, streaked in shades of orange and ash. It devoured the Renown. Sent crawlers skittering from the light.

Grabbing the border of the portal again, I yanked.

Seal. Please seal.

Still, I pulled. Still, I begged. My limbs shook with the effort as the Callahans, Alec, and Cyrus surrounded Adrastos where he knelt.

Wait! I tried to cast it down the bond, but I couldn’t hear anything beyond my own thundering heartbeat. My hands trembled, vision blurring.

Did they hear me?

We need him.

A vision slammed into me—vivid and brutal. Him. Stealing Magnolia away.

I gasped. Eyes flying wide as I cried out and shoved the last of my power into the portal’s closing edge.

With a deafening snap, the magic sealed. The flow stopped. And Adrastos vanished.

“Mags,” I whispered.

Aren

In a rapid burst of motion, my coven appeared on the rooftop, all of us heaving for breath.