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

and murmuring. They had stayed quiet thus far, but the sight of her flames caused fear to make them careless.

Mercy lifted a hand to her mouth and blew. The flames upon her palm warped and took shape. Long, serpentine necks stretched and grew until snakes of fire poured from her hands like water and dripped onto the floor.

They slithered towards the cells. Whispers grew louder, all saying the same thing over and over again. Not the prisoners voices, but Mercy’s. Her lips did not move but he could hear her voice amplified a hundred times.

The snakes, he realized with horror. Each time their fiery tongues lashed at the air, they repeated Mercy’s words.

“Silence or death.”

Jasper’s heart clenched. This woman was meant to be giving, meant to be kind. Her species had saved countless souls over thousands of years, and now she was reduced to this? Fire was meant to banish evil. Not exude it.

A few of the prisoners stomped on the snakes, but they lived on. Each time one was cut in half, two more took its place. It was impossible to control the creatures she had created.

She stood in the center of all that darkness, a beacon of rage. Her face a cold, unreadable mask. She held her fists clenched at her side while flames licked her cheeks. Even her hair lifted into the air as though it were made entirely of fire.

“Enough,” he told her. “Now you’re just frightening them.”

Her emotionless gaze fell on Jasper. “Good. Perhaps they understand now.”

“Understand what?”

“Who they should really be afraid of.”

He watched her swallow hard and then the flames disappeared. All of them. Instantly. The power she wielded was immense.

Part of him hoped she had been hurt. At least then there would be an explanation for her oddities. Another part wondered if she was just a twisted version of what she should have been, magical creatures weren’t always capable of changing the personality of the person they shared a body with.

She would have to be truly terrible to corrupt a Phoenix.

Ella pressed a hand against his spine. “Jasper, we’re wasting time.”

The muscles of his back flexed under her touch. The pain of his wings escalated, spiking down his spine and into his knees. Standing became infinitely difficult.

He had to remain strong. He had to keep going. Because Bluebell was whimpering in his mind, and he had never failed her before.

“Let’s go. Mercy, lead the way.”

“Don’t order me around,” she snapped at him. “I don’t like it.”

“You’ll do what I say, so you don’t get all of us killed.”

Her jaw clenched. “Step carefully, or you’ll have to use Fairy Dust on me again. Oh, I’m sorry.” She pressed a hand against her mouth. “You’re broken. You can’t do that anymore.”

The only thing that stopped him from lunging at Mercy was Ella’s hand still firm against his back. “Jasper, don’t encourage her. She’s looking for a fight.”

Mercy shook her head and muttered something about men. Her footsteps echoed loudly in the darkness as she stalked towards the door that led to freedom. The echoing sounds sent fear rushing through Jasper’s veins. She would alert the guards before they even reached that door.

“Quiet!” he exclaimed.

“It doesn’t matter. They know we’re out.”

“They don’t.”

“You think Malachi isn’t watching us all the time? You’re an idiot.”

She stooped down and peered through the keyhole of the door.

His body tensed as she prepared to open the door on her own. He wanted to protect her, but he also wanted to shake her for being so foolish. She was endangering herself needlessly. Why would anyone put themselves in harm’s way with no sense of self preservation? Was she so confident in her own power that she didn’t take precautions?

Mercy looked at Jasper and Ella. “When I say so, you need to run. Straight to the end, to the right, and then to the left.”

“What about you?” Ella asked.

“Don’t worry about me. There are very few creatures capable of withstanding my kind of justice.”

Jasper’s hands clenched. “We let you out of the cell to bring you with us.”

“And I told you to listen to me. You run, and you won’t get hurt.”

Jasper decided there was no way she fulfilled the prophecy. Not as she was now. Perhaps she might have, before she had been corrupted. But now? No. He chose not to believe it.

“We’ll run.”

“Then run fast.”

Mercy flung the doors open, and all Jasper saw was a wall of flame. Her hands raised, her hair whipped around her face in a wind he could not feel. At her beck and call, death waited.

Jasper wasted no time staring at the beast she had become. He grabbed Ella’s hand and charged forward. He tried not to think of the other prisoners, or of what might befall them. He would return for them. If he could.

They sprinted past lines of surprised guards. Each time a guard rushed forward with outstretched hands, a wave of flame would repel them. It was Jasper’s only sign that Mercy followed them.

They reached the end of the hall faster than he anticipated. He turned right and ran as fast as he could. Despite her short legs, Ella kept up. Together, they skidded to the left, and he saw the front door.

Unfortunately, he underestimated how quickly they were moving. He slid too far, slamming his body against the wall. His twisted wing crunched beneath his weight.

Jasper had never heard himself make the agonized sound that erupted from his chest. A new level of agony raced down his spine and brought him to his knees. He gasped and tried to stand, but his knees buckled.

Mercy was coming. He could feel the blast of her fires against the soles of his feet. She was too late. Guards were blocking the door, Minotaurs. They were strong and ruthless, unafraid of fire or death. They created a unified mass even her flames would have difficulty repelling. Malachi had chosen his elite warriors well.

“Ella, go!” he shouted.

“I’m not making it out of here.” She crouched beside