The tattoos covering her body were reminder enough of all the lives that had been lost at her hands. The people she’d killed in retribution for their evil acts didn’t bother her—but the ones she’d killed out of mercy had destroyed her spirit. Could she bear to add Evette or Lukas to her artistic tributes?
Rho’s heart split in half, and she whirled around to stare at Eldon. The floodgate of his mind opened easily to her this time, and she welcomed his presence. She’d never needed him more. What do I do?
We can’t give it to them. It’ll compromise everything.
She glanced from Evette to Lukas, and then back to Eldon again. I can’t let them die.
He shook his head. I don’t know what to do.
Suddenly, power surged inside her mind, a vortex of energy slamming into her so hard, she had to blink just to make sure she hadn’t been hit. But this wasn’t just energy from her enemy. This had come from somewhere else.
“Max!” A familiar female voice boomed from somewhere in the darkness. “This ends, right now. Let them go.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Rho whirled to her right, shocked to see the leader of the Collective standing by her side. Cadence stepped forward, her fiery red hair pulled into a tight ponytail, cobalt light pouring from her hands like waterfalls of electric power.
“You have no business with them.” Cadence strode forward to position her body between Max and Rho.
Behind Max, Evette whimpered faintly, still clutched in Lanky’s grip. Lukas stood strong in the grasp of Stumpy, his gaze never leaving his wife.
Every doubt Rho had ever had about Cadence’s alliance to the team faded instantly. Judging by the fury in her eyes, she’d had no idea what Max had been up to. This man was in her innermost circle, a confidant she’d taken with her everywhere, even to the Council meetings. She’d allowed him to be privy to information and spells that very few others would ever know.
“Stay out of this, Cadence,” Max hissed.
“Your business is with me.” Cadence took another step forward and shook her head. “I’ve allowed you to stay by my side because you’re my blood. I trusted you.” She turned to Rho. “Meet my cousin Max.”
Rho’s brows lifted as her gaze darted between Max and Cadence. Cousins? Eldon’s wide eyes told her he’d had no idea either, although the matching shades of reddish hair and similar shape of their faces should have given her some sort of clue. No wonder Cadence had allowed him to be so close to her. He was family.
Max scoffed. “If you cared about our family, you’d align yourself with those who could bring glory to our name. Make you more than what you are.”
“I’m the leader of the Collective.” Cadence lifted a shoulder. “I’d say I’ve done pretty well for myself.”
“You would say that. You and the whole damn family.” Max stepped forward, closing the gap between Cadence and himself.
“Is that what this is about?” Cadence asked in disbelief.
Rho edged to her right. This was family drama, and she couldn’t have cooked up a better distraction. Now would be a great time to get her teammates the hell out of that net. She reached out with her right hand.
Don’t! Eldon’s voice shot through her mind.
Rho frowned. Why?
If you touch it, it’ll collapse. You could kill us.
How can I get you out?
He shook his head. It’s tied to Max. As long as he can keep the spell focused, the net stays.
And you can’t access the ley lines. For a brief moment, Rho considered robbing power from Cadence, then shoved the thought aside. She wouldn’t dare. Even if she and Max were family, Rho couldn’t know that he wouldn’t hurt Cadence. Plus, she could be their only true source of protection now. Rho wouldn’t leave her that vulnerable. And where the hell was Nick? Was he the one who’d tipped off Cadence about their location? If so, why wasn’t he back by now?
“You always thought you were better than me. That you were more important than I am.” Max balled his hands into fists at his side, the sour stench of resentment pouring off him in waves. “That’s why you made me your assistant—to keep me under your thumb.”
Cadence barked a laugh. “I gave you that job because I thought you’d do well at it. You had a lot of talent.”
“Just not as much as you, right?” Max strode forward until he was nose to nose with Cadence. “Surprise, cousin. I’ve been training on my own, with the help of my friends.”
“Who?” Cadence demanded.
Oh, no. Chills crawled up Rho’s spine, and she glanced down at Eldon. The only person she knew with power to rival the Collective’s belonged to one woman—their single greatest threat. If he’d been training with Rhyannon, they’d all be screwed.
“Once I have those Kamens, my training will be complete.” A dark smile tugged at Max’s lips. “I’ll be more powerful than even you.”
“Who have you been training with, Max?” Cadence’s voice lifted with worry. Blue light still poured from her hands, but her demeanor reminded Rho of a police officer trying to talk someone off of a bridge. Her words were carefully chosen, but her posture suggested she was ready to act if she had to.
Max let out a loud laugh. “Someone stronger than you’ll ever be. Someone who can give me what I need to become the most formidable mover on the planet. I won’t need you anymore, and I’ll have everything I’ve always deserved.”
“They’re lying—” Cadence started.
“No!” Blue fire erupted at Max’s hands and forced Cadence to step back. “You will not tell me what to do anymore! And you can’t stop me!”
Rho, move! Eldon shouted into her mind.
Rho hit the floor as a ball of blue flames streaked across the room toward Cadence. Evette screamed, the sound muffled behind Lanky’s hand as he cupped her mouth with one hand and held firmly to her waist with the other.
Cadence ducked, and the magick smashed into the wall behind her, dissipating into a million fragments before disappearing altogether.
“This isn’t the way to handle this,” Cadence shouted.
“Don’t tell me”—Max huffed as he swung another ball of fire—“what to do.”
Move, Eldon ordered.
Rho didn’t hesitate. She army-crawled around the blue net holding her teammates and away from the magick-filled version of a Jerry Springer episode. When she reached the far wall beside a stack of picture frames, she sat up, pressing her back against the cool stone. Lukas and Evette were still in the grips of those fae men, and Rho considered her options to get them out. Since they were nothing but collateral, they were the greatest weakness. Max wouldn’t kill her teammates if he thought he needed them. Those two, on the other hand, were sitting ducks.
The hair on Rho’s arms stood on end. The familiar sensation of magick washed over her, a warm bath of static electricity against her nerves. She glanced over at Cadence and Max. They were both running energy, but somehow she knew they weren’t the ones causing this shift in the air around her. The fae men weren’t glowing green, either. She turned to Eldon, but his hands remained dark against the stone floor. If it wasn’t coming from them…
“Pssst,” a tiny sound came from her right.
She glanced up and stifled a gasp, the gaze of the last person she’d expected to see only inches from hers. Her brows shot up as she stared at Nick, hiding behind the stack of frames. When the hell had he gotten here? Had he ever left?
Blue fire flew overhead, crashing into the wall behind them. Rho cringed but quickly refocused on the magick mover she’d thought had abandoned them all.
Nick. Eldon’s surprise echoed in her mind.
A million questions rushed through her thoughts at once, and she shoved them all aside. There was no time to worry about the whys—they had to get out of this fast.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Rho asked, her voice barely a whisper.
Nick’s brows furrowed. “You think I’d leave you alone with all this?” He motioned ar
ound the room.
“Kind of. What took you so long?”
“Timing is everything. And I’d hoped you think better of me by now.” He shook his head then pointed to the net. “I’ll unravel this. You take care of Evette and Lukas.”
She nodded, doubt pouring through her mind. How the hell was she going to get them out of this place? Max and Cadence had created a great distraction, great enough for those men to be watching the fallout intently, but not so much that they wouldn’t notice if Evette and Lukas suddenly disappeared.
Cadence and Max stood at opposite ends of the room, hands raised over their heads. Blue light spilled from their fingertips and slammed into the space between them, the light fusing into one continuous stream in the air. Each stood their ground, unmoving as the blaze teetered from one side to the other, but never reached a target.
Evette squirmed and kicked but couldn’t get free. Rho needed to hurry. She crawled across the ice-cold floor and tried to remain unnoticed in the chaos. After what seemed like an eternity, she stopped beside the boxes only feet away from Evette and Lukas.
She glanced up, the blue flames still pouring from Cadence and Max in impressive tidal waves of power. At once, Rho felt a chill permeate the room.
“Rho!” Eldon shouted.
Rho’s eyes went wide as she spotted the top of the arc where Max and Cadence’s power had fused. A black cloud streamed from Max’s right hand, somehow generating from the red stone on his finger as he murmured softly.
Sweet Jesus. Death magick.
She fought the urge to scream at Cadence, terrified she’d ruin her concentration. But as the cloud continued to creep along the connected plane of energy, Rho had to act. She’d already nearly lost one person to a death spell.
Rho jumped to her feet and spun toward the only person who could help her now. “Now! I need it now!”
Nick’s mouth gaped for only a second before a blue spark ignited in his open palms. He remained crouched behind Eldon, hidden behind a stack of paintings. Eldon rose to his feet and extended a hand, as if to call magick to his palm, despite it being impossible beneath the net.
A blaze rushed forward, appearing to come from Eldon. It nailed Rho in the chest and forced the breath from her lungs. Energy enveloped her at once. She shoved the shock of the sudden power aside and tried to refocus.
She spun around, still extending one hand toward the power offering from Nick, redirecting the magick from her chest to her palm. Her gaze locked on to the black cloud, every ounce of concentration dedicated solely to one purpose. The magick filled her up, and she tucked it away in every crevasse of her consciousness until she was certain she had to let it go or explode.
The black cloud crept forward, only inches now from Cadence’s azure flames.
Rho, do something! Now! Eldon ordered.
Rho lifted a hand toward Max. God help her, she’d only done this once before. But Eldon had coached her then, and he’d coach her now.
Need a little help here, Rho said.
Let it go.
All of it?
Right. Don’t hold anything back; just release it.
Rho took a deep breath and did as he instructed. Energy exploded from her hand, rushing across the room at lightning speed and striking Max in the center of his chest. He stumbled backward, the blue flame laced with black fog sucking into his body as if it had found its way home.
Cadence’s brows lifted in shock, her own stream of energy ending abruptly with the reaction and returning into her with graceful speed. “How did you do that?”
“No!” a male voice shouted.
A blue light flashed out of the corner of Rho’s eye, and she spun to find the source. A blaze of black energy swirled around Max’s open hand, generating from the ring on his finger as he jumped to his feet. He lunged forward, expelling the energy in a rush—directly toward Rho.
She hit the ground. The black-laced energy bomb flew through the air, heading directly for her. She rolled to her right, and the ball of fire adjusted its course like a heat-seeking missile. Cadence threw a blaze of her own clean energy, but the black bomb deflected the power and sent it sailing across the room.
“Rho!” Cadence shouted. She threw another ball of blue energy toward the black-filled mass. It bounced off again and hit the ground. “Move!”
Rho rolled again, and the energy followed. She braced herself for the impact. But it didn’t come. She blinked her eyes open just in time to see a male figure fall to the ground, landing on the stone floor in front of her. He lay motionless, and she realized at once what had happened.
Rho’s eyes lifted to the woman who’d taken her and her teammates in, the woman who should have never been dragged into any of this at all. The terror in those eyes would brand Rho’s soul forever.
And then Evette started to scream.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
No! What had Lukas done? This couldn’t be happening.
Eldon’s heart wrenched in his chest as the sound of Evette’s screams pierced his ears. God, no. He stared down at the broken body of the man he’d called a friend for well over a decade.
Grief flooded Eldon’s mind, trampling over the denial and filling him to the brim. Bile rose in his throat. Lukas’s body lay twisted on the stone floor, the impossible position only solidifying what Eldon already knew. Lukas was gone.
Tears burned in Eldon’s eyes, but he refused to let them fall. Lukas wouldn’t have stood for it. They’d grown up together, just two young, carefree kids in school, inseparable troublemakers. Lukas had been there at Eldon’s father’s funeral. He’d helped Eldon as he’d transitioned into his father’s place in the Collective. Eldon had even stood by Lukas’s side the day he married Evette.
Eldon swallowed hard, another scream slapping him back into reality. Evette lay on the ground, her body covering Lukas as if to protect him. Her sobs echoed in the room, muffled by Lukas’s freshly tearstained shirt. Eldon wanted to comfort her, to run and pull her into his arms, but he couldn’t move. His legs had turned to ice, the numb sensation spreading to his hands and gripping his chest until he could barely breathe. Lukas was gone.
Eldon raised his gaze to meet Rho’s horror-filled eyes. The pain in the depths of her stare would haunt him for the rest of his life. She knew exactly what he’d done. And he’d done it for her.
Lukas had sacrificed his life to protect the most precious thing Eldon had. In that moment, as Max cast an unforgiveable spell, Eldon thought it would be Rho. He’d seen the dark energy track her, despite Cadence’s efforts to deflect it, and he’d known death was coming for her. He’d thought he’d lost everything.
Evette stared at the ground beside Rho’s feet in shock, the tall, lanky man still holding one of her arms tight in his grip. The other fae man stood beside her and followed her gaze. Her eyes were full of unshed tears, her cheeks pale as her chin quivered. Devastation clouded her lovely, delicate face, and Eldon felt his own heart cracking in two.
“How dare you?” Cadence’s voice was reverent as she glared at her cousin. “You’d murder for the sake of power? That is what matters to you?” Fury boiled just beneath the surface of her emotions.
Eldon surveyed Lukas’s motionless body, sprawled on the ground. They didn’t need to check his pulse. Eldon had heard the exact phrasing Max had used. The death magick Rhyannon had used before had been time-based, designed to incapacitate and cause eventual death. Max had aimed for an instant kill.
Anger flooded Eldon’s emotional radar, the fear and sadness shoved to the sidelines as he glanced at the glowing barrier surrounding him. In all of this, he’d been utterly useless, trapped behind imaginary walls, incapable of reaching his friend or his female. How had he not foreseen this? Of course Max would know about Eldon’s abilities and aim to neutralize them. He should have seen this coming. All of this could have been prevented had he not been trapped inside of this stupid bubble, castrated of his powers. He’d been so incredibly stupid.
The sound of a
scuffle stole Eldon’s attention, and he glanced up.
“Evette!” Rho shouted.
Somehow Evette had sprung free of the tall, thin man’s grasp. Tears poured from her eyes and obscenities rolled off her tongue as her long skirt flowed behind her. She rushed forward—but not to the person he’d expected. Evette plowed into Max, her hands raging with blue flames.
Max’s focus faltered. The blue net isolating Eldon from the outside word collapsed. Max fell to the ground beneath Evette.
Eldon sprang to his feet and turned to Preshea and Tim. “Secure those men!” He pointed toward the two fae now heading for the exits. His teammates took off toward the doorways, and he spun back around. “Evette! Stop!”
Max struggled beneath Evette, his hands glowing blue to match hers as they each struggled for the high ground. Cadence lunged toward Evette but stopped suddenly.
“Impediendum motum!” Evette growled, magick flowing from her hands into Max’s body until he fell completely still.
Holy hell, she’d paralyzed him.
Rho stilled, and Cadence took a step closer to her, eyes wide in awe. Evette’s entire body began to glow blue, and Eldon skidded to a stop. What the hell was she doing? He’d seen magick emanate from many places before, but never like this. Never from someone’s entire being. It was as if her magick was being summoned by her whole body. He’d never seen anything like it.
Evette didn’t acknowledge anyone as she straddled Max on the ground. His wide, shocked eyes glared up at her, but he didn’t so much as blink. God help him, he was completely at her mercy. And the agony she must be feeling had her out of her right mind.
“Evette, let him go. This needs to go to trial,” Cadence said softly, taking a step forward. She glared at Max, and her voice turned cold. “You’ve done no service to our family here tonight, cousin. I’m ashamed to call you my blood. And you will be brought to justice. I’ll gladly bear witness to what I’ve seen.”
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