Blue Blood (Series of Blood Book 3) by Emma Hamm (books to read this summer .txt) 📕

Sitting in a cell across from him was the end of the world. Mercy was potentially the most powerful person in existence, and Malachi had her in the palm of his hand. The Five and their supporters had lost. They had already lost, and no one knew.

He heard Ella shifting next to him.

She walked up to her bars and crossed her arms firmly over her chest. Ella’s voice was wary but strong. “Has he already made himself your master?”

All eyes in the dungeon appeared to turn towards Mercy. She shook her head. “No. He wanted to make certain I was truly a Phoenix first.”

“Could we make another your master?”

The lizard raised its head at the question, and Mercy’s expression darkened. “Yes. But I have no wish for a master.”

“Forgive my presumption,” Ella said, “but I think this may be more important than your pride. That Void is planning the end of the world. We are all here because he wants to use us in some way. He has been shaving down my horn to give himself healing potions. Soon he will take it entirely. This will leave me vulnerable and likely result in my death.”

Jasper stood up. “He used me to get you out of the tree. I am an agent of the only people who could stop him. By keeping me locked up, he ensures that they are distracted and not focused.”

One by one, the prisoners stepped forward to tell her why they were there. The list ranged from useful powers Malachi could rip from their souls, to weaklings he was slowly draining to provide strength to his guards.

Mercy remained stoic in her cell. Jasper didn’t think she was even listening. Her face was completely still, a statue in the center of chaos. The lizard, however, had moved to stand on its back legs with a foot propped against her cheek. If Jasper listened carefully enough, he thought he could hear it whispering to her.

When the lizard finished whispering, fire erupted along her arms. He could sense the turmoil in her as though it were a physical wall she had built around herself.

She rose abruptly. “And who is it then? Who do you wish to bind my soul to? Who do you trust to command me?”

No one answered.

Mercy pointed to Ella. “You, Unicorn? I can feel your anger burning underneath your pretty skin. It calls to me just as a dormant volcano would. The hatred that resides inside of you is far stronger than that peaceful exterior.”

Ella stepped backwards into the shadows of her cell. Jasper wanted to argue in her favor, but Mercy jabbed a finger at him.

“And you? Fairy? You have no right to command me. You, who have all the power of green things growing. Don’t you know fire destroys forests? I would take everything you love and turn it to ashes before your eyes. You should think twice before feeding a bonfire more fuel.”

He recognized this reaction. Her eyes had widened in frenzy, her hands were shaking and uncontrolled showers of embers popped from her shoulders. This was not a woman warning them that she wanted to do them harm. She was panicking.

He sank down onto his haunches, holding his hands up. “Calm, Mercy. Calm down.”

Her chest rose and fell rapidly. The flames on her arms continued to grow. They danced down her hair and sparked in the air like tiny fireworks. Had he not just dealt with the same unruly emotions when he thought she would not return?

Somehow he doubted Ella would be able to ensorcel Mercy the same way she had manipulated him. All he had was his own wily tricks.

He shook his wings. They brushed against each other with a soft sound. Jasper smelled the dust drifting off of them, sickly sweet and cloying. They had been in the air for too long. They were supposed to shed the Fairy Dust while exposed to air, but he couldn’t release it in the prison. Instead, it had stuck to the membranes of his wings, leaving a fine coating like clay.

It would be easy to reach behind him and rattle his wings a few more times. With these subtle movements, he would have a handful of Fairy Dust in his palm.

He just had to distract her long enough to gather it.

“Why should I be frightened of you, Mercy?” he asked. “Tell me why.”

Sparks continued to shower onto the floor. “Have you never seen a forest fire in person? The heat is unbearable. It melts your eyes first, then it eats at your flesh until you roast from the outside in.”

“I think you can control it. The creature is inside of you. I met him; he doesn’t seem so bad.”

“Ignes is young,” she snapped. “He will assist me with whatever I see fit to do.”

“And you want to burn us all to death? Rather than take me as a master and trust that I will never make you do anything that you do not wish to do?”

She let out a little shriek of anger. “Trust you? I do not know you!”

Jasper quirked an eyebrow. “Sweetheart, you’re going to know me soon enough.”

He threw the handful of Fairy Dust at her as hard as he could. The pink powder traveled like a bullet and hit her square in the face. It trickled down her cheeks and onto her shoulders in a shower of bright neon colors.

She blinked a few times, stumbling in shock. He had forgotten how potent his own powers could be. It had been a long time since he used Fairy Dust, and perhaps he had hit her with a little too much.

“Uh oh,” he muttered.

Mercy staggered and fell onto her knees, looking dazed. Her ombre eyes stared at him with surprise that faded to a stupor.

“Sleep,” he told her. “You want to sleep.”

“I want to sleep.”

“Just for a little while. And when you wake, you will be calm.”

“Calm,” she repeated, lying down. The lizard on her shoulder was already limp. “Yes. I will