Fae of the South (Court of Crown and Compass Book 3) by E. Hall (libby ebook reader .txt) 📕

buildings and trash pollute the water, I will set it alight. I want people wild in the streets, running to me for liberation. I will bring the end of law and the beginning of chaos. And part of your shadows will be within me, reveling in what you helped ruin.”

He’s vile.

Lea’s eyes light up, twin fountains of dark flames, hatred.

He takes her hands in his. “You and I, for all eternity, ruling these worthless humans. Whatever we want, it’s ours, Leajka.”

Just like that, her eyes glaze over. She leans toward him with a private look as if he’s finally convinced her. No, he’s entranced her. He’s a mage, which means he can use her true name to control her. I learned that in one of the classes here.

“You have great aim.” He passes her the knife. “Now, you can kill Tyrren.”

A terrible smile blazes across Lea’s face. “Good idea. First, just one kiss, Emeric.”

The words run roughshod over my heart. She’s tricked me. They’ve been in league with each other this entire time. Whatever good is left inside of me hardens, turns to stone, and then crumbles.

Emeric’s lips move toward hers.

When they’re an inch apart, she mumbles, “I’ve been studying grim magic too. You’re right. I just can’t help myself.”

Lea’s mouth opens wide as if to scream and magic blasts from her. She looks brutal and wild. She’s revenge embodied as she flares red hot magic at Emeric. She produces a heavy gale with the force of her own energy and her hair blows behind her, unleashing her potency. Her fingers claw the air. The other Emerics produced from his grim blood flurry toward her from the darkness as if she’s summoned them. They explode into a million shadowy parts.

The real Emeric, pale and ghostly, looks horrified as she casts magic in a ring around him, closing him in a blazing cage. Her retribution is written into the angry angles of her face. Her sharp movements. The mastery she has over the power she’d once feared. If she continues, the world will soon be rid of Emeric.

“He’s mine and so are you,” an oily, female voice shouts. Glandias has reappeared in a curl of gray smoke.

Lea doesn’t hear over her rageful roar.

She doesn’t see Glandias’s approach.

I lunge at the bald mage, muscles clenched, teeth bared. I somehow miss, landing hard on the ground. Glandias is more ephemeral than solid as though she’s moving within the cloud. She stands between Lea and me.

In one great gale of power, Glandias grips us both. We fall with the mage into cloud and smoke.

Chapter 21

Leajka

 

I wake up to dim overhead lighting illuminating a stained ceiling and crumbling cement walls. No windows. The scent of decay suggests this is an abandoned building. I sense that I’m not alone.

Complicated instruments and beakers containing sinister liquids are on a nearby metal table.

I blink my eyes as pieces of the last hours return. I try to fit them together like a puzzle and fail.

Jurik sent me to retrieve her son.

I found Emeric in a warehouse and managed to get him back to campus.

Jurik somehow transformed into a mage named Glandias and is actually Emeric’s mother.

She sought to destroy him...and they both want to use me as a weapon—Emeric wanted my shadow for himself. Glandias’s plan is less clear.

Tyrren appeared and tried to help me.

Now, I’m here. Where is he?

The clock on the wall stopped at four p.m. at some other point in time. I have no idea how long I’ve been here or where here is.

My stomach rumbles with hunger.

I push to sitting atop an examination table.

My appetite vanishes. Nerves take their place.

The filthy tile floor has a drain in the middle. There isn’t anything in here that I could use as a weapon, but then again, according to what I’ve recently learned, I am a weapon. However, right now I feel weak, limp, and like the fire and iron that exist in me, prompting me to rise up and fight for my freedom have been depleted. I feel spent and exhausted and my mind filled with fluff.

A single, golden cuff with strange writing rings my wrist. Its polish stands in stark contrast to the decrepit room. Unlike regular handcuffs, there’s no keyhole. And unlike regular handcuffs, it seems to suppress magic because my attempt to blast it off does nothing.

Firing frost fae magic at Emeric was like a release of something so great, so vast, I feel invigorated even though whatever happened when Glandias reappeared has left me feeling like a wrung-out rag.

She emerges from the shadows. “Lea, you are a strong, clever girl. We got off to a rocky start. You had quite the ordeal yesterday. I regret to say that I had to break you.” She wears a self-satisfied smile.

“You’ll never break me,” I hiss.

She clucks her tongue. “I suppose you’re right. I won’t break you, but I will rend your shadow.”

“Only demons can take shadows.”

“Lucky for you, I’m part demon.” Her grin is wicked. “Mages can layer curses. For instance, my son was raised as a mage, turned into a vampire, and wanted to add fae shadow to the roster. I have to give him credit. He’s clever for having figured that out.”

My blood stills and I take note of the exit and shadowed, out of sight spaces. I must establish an escape route.

“If you’re wondering if anyone is coming to your rescue? Don’t count on it.”

“What did you do with Tyrren?”

“He’s being put to use.”

A shiver winds through me.

If it’s true and no one is coming, which wouldn’t be entirely surprising, I’ll rescue myself. I go deep into the center of my being, to the core of my inner ice and fire.