The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 6 by Bella Forrest (books for men to read .TXT) 📕

raised, rippling magic already flowing around their fingers. The energy bristling from them was like nothing Alex had ever experienced; it was tangible, emanating from their very beings. There was no way they could fight this kind of soldier—they were too few, too weak, too helpless.

One of the elite sent a thin ribbon of magic through the air toward one of the Starcross warriors who stood at the front of the gathered force. It seemed innocuous enough, but when the warrior tried to conjure a spell to protect himself, it sailed straight through and snaked beneath the warrior’s skin, embedding itself deep inside. Those standing beside him stared in horror, not knowing what was going to happen next.

If they had known, they would have run.

The poor victim unleashed a blood-curdling scream, his eyes bulging outward, before he exploded into a million bloody pieces, his body splattering onto the nearby onlookers in a fountain of scarlet. The thin ribbon that had done the damage retreated to its owner, carrying a coil of pulsing red light behind it.

It reminded Alex of what he’d seen at Kingstone, giving him the feeling that this was a similarly quick, nasty way of removing essence. He shuddered, watching as the elite soldier fed both ribbon and essence into one of the black bottles fastened around his chest on a bandolier. Alex wondered if Julius was expecting to fill all those bottles by the time the fight was over.

Spurred on by the sight of the exploding man, the Starcross warriors charged toward the elite band of soldiers, ignoring Ceres’s cries for them to flee. She charged after them on her Kelpie, trying to draw them away from battle, but they simply kept running, ignoring her futile pleas for them to stop and turn around. Alex agreed with her—these soldiers were simply too powerful.

Alex tried to conjure shield after shield of anti-magic to protect the others, but his defenses disintegrated at the touch of the golden ribbons. All he could do was watch in despair as explosions of scarlet went up from the crowd, bodies bursting like crimson water balloons. All a soldier had to do was flick their wrist, and another innocent life would be snuffed out. They barely broke a sweat, though the Starcross inhabitants were conjuring with all their might, their features straining under the exertion of using whatever they could muster, some of them feeding their own essence into the spells in the hope that it would make a difference.

It didn’t.

“Ceres!” Alex yelled. The one-eyed royal rode toward him, tears streaming down her face, her skin speckled with red.

“This is all your fault!” she screamed at him, her eyes hard.

Alex had no time for self-pity or guilt, only action. “We need to surrender,” he said. “You need to go to them and surrender before anyone else loses their life. Your people are fierce—they won’t give up unless you tell them to.”

“I’ve tried. They won’t listen to me!” she cried, gesturing at the chaos.

“You have to get them to stop, or everyone will die!” Alex shouted desperately, taking hold of the bridle of her steed. The Kelpie reared back, snorting in Alex’s face, but still he held on.

“You think I don’t know that?” she raged, pulling back on the reins, the savage Kelpie tearing its face out of Alex’s hands. It seemed the beast was infused with its rider’s fury, its enormous hooves kicking out toward Alex. “You brought him here, Alex. I want you to look over there, at that battlefield, and I want you to remember every second of what you see,” she howled, every word dripping venom, before she turned her steed around and headed for the fray.

The words struck Alex like a punch to the gut. She was right. She had always been right. He didn’t want to face the truth of his mistakes, surrounded by a bloodbath he was helpless to prevent, but her words hit home, and they hit hard.

He didn’t have long to wallow in his despair, however. Julius had broken away from his group of elite soldiers and was sauntering toward where Alex and his friends stood, far behind the battle that was raging. Their eyes met, and the king flashed a terrifying smile.

From all sides, Starcross warriors, seeing an opportunity, tried to lunge for Julius, but the king simply knocked them away, like they were little more than flies. A few times, just to mix things up, the smug royal sent out a stream of glittering energy, which was followed swiftly by the sounds of necks snapping, bones cracking, and lungs imploding.

Alex felt it was like watching a freight train coming straight toward him, and he knew he didn’t have enough time to get out of the way. Certain death stood only a short distance away, gaining ground. Alex’s heart began to pound in his chest; there was no escape from the side of the bargain he had agreed to with Julius. With a smirk that smug, Alex was under no illusions about what the king knew—the fiasco at Kingstone Keep didn’t appear to be much of a secret at all; he could see the knowledge of it written all over the Julius’s face. The satisfaction of a victor, about to claim his prize.

He glanced at the friends who stood to either side of him, their faces turned toward the king, their hands raised to defend themselves until the bitter end, if that was what it took. Though fear glittered in their eyes, they would not be cowed—they were the most courageous people Alex had ever met, yet he knew this was a battle they could not win, and he wasn’t ready to see his friends fall.

A moment later, however, Alex felt himself plucked out of the air. Storm flapped her wings above him, clutching his shoulders in her large talons. Where she had emerged from, he didn’t know, but he was pleased to see her. A corner of her wing was singed, but she looked