“I trusted you! I showed you mercy, and you—you killed him!” I grab her by the throat, her skin sloughing off under my grasp, pooling at our feet. “You did this to me!”
My eyes, dark voids of writhing shadows, bore into hers as they dissolve beneath my gaze. As she withers before me, I thrust my hand into her chest, seizing her heart.
With a brutal tug, I rip it from her body. She collapses, a pitiful heap on the floor, and I crush her heart until it disintegrates into dust in my clenched fist. Then, with a whisper of dark power, I incinerate her remains, reveling in the rush of destruction. The shadows within me purr with satisfaction.
A choked sound from behind snaps my attention back. I turn slowly, my full wrath now directed at Samael.
“My pretty bird, how I’ve missed you,” Samael coos in that sickeningly sweet voice of his. I shoot a glance at Nyx, wondering why he hasn’t made a move yet. Catching my look, he lifts his hands in surrender. “I don’t have my magic right now,” he admits.
“Leave us,” I command Nyx, and there’s something in my tone, or perhaps the look in my eyes, that makes him comply without protest. He moves toward the door, and though I can sense he doesn’t stray far, lingering by the threshold, it grants me the space I need.
“I can see now one of us may have underestimated the other,” Samael comments, his voice sickeningly high-pitched but laced with a slight tremor of uncertainty. I merely tilt my head, eyeing him like the predator I am. The mask covers his entire face.
“Think of all we could accomplish together, my sweet.Ruling with dark magic, all of Eguina could be ours,” he proposes, sounding deranged.
I ready myself for the inevitable. Sure, I could turn him inside out where he stands, but where’s the fun in that? I want to draw this out. With a casual flick of my hand, I send a surge of my power crashing into his chest. Had he not been braced against the wall, he would’ve stumbled.
Samael laughs, shaking his head as if in disbelief. He steps toward me, whispering an incantation and sending a shockwave that barrels into me. It throws me back, and the pain searing across my shoulder is almost a relief compared to the anguish gnawing at my heart. I crave more.
A smile curls my lips, unsettling him further. He retaliates, his power slamming me against the wall. My head thuds against the stone, and as I reach up to wipe away the trickle of blood from my nose, I laugh. Death, if it were possible, would be a sweet release right now.
“You’re going to have to try harder than that,” I giggle, mocking him. The challenge shatters his composure.
He charges, a scream tearing from his throat as he hurls another spell, the force crumbling the beam overhead. I casually disintegrate the falling debris with a mere glance, protecting myself effortlessly.
“Get them out of here,” I command Nyx, trusting his compliance. I feel his gaze locked on me, unwavering. Samael doesn’t obstruct him as he moves Colton and Chepi to safety.
Giving Samael a minor display of my power, I unleash my shadows, which playfully form a hand and slap him across the face—a mere tease of my capabilities. I withhold from seizing the mask, wanting him to keep his increased power, relishing the challenge it presents. It’s the only thing allowing him to evoke any sensation from me.
With a furious roar, Samael charges, his hands castingspells that shove me back before he can reach me, knocking me to the ground. In an instant, he’s atop me, his hands clamping around my wrists, pinning me down.
“We belong together. When are you going to give in?” he hisses, leaning in so close I can feel his breath. Panic flares within me, but I react swiftly, tearing the mask from his face. He strikes, trying to retrieve it, but I simply laugh, crushing the mask into dust in my palm.
His scream of defeat is delicious to my ears. He strikes me again, desperation coloring his blows, but I only laugh harder. My power is too immense, my shadows healing me faster than he can inflict any real harm. His repeated hits become futile, his frustration boiling over into a frenzied yelling.
“Lyra, enough!” Nyx intervenes, his voice cutting through as he reenters the room.
“It’s never going to be enough,” I snarl, forcefully kicking Samael away and bracing for his inevitable counterattack. My desire for the darkness to envelop me, for my dark magic to take absolute control, wars against the acute pain of loss for Colton. My insides are a tumult of agony and rage that I barely contain. Suppressing the urge to collapse in tears, I release a piercing scream instead.
The chamber reacts violently. The roof tears off and the wall crumbles. I barely register Citlali’s body tumbling with the debris—I hadn’t even realized she was still there. Exhausted and overwhelmed, I tilt my head back, gazing at the moon as hundreds of Sarrols swarm overhead, descending upon the castle and the surrounding camps.
“Fuck,” Nyx mutters beside me, his voice barely audible over the chaos.
Samael gasps, his eyes widening at the apocalyptic scene unfolding above us. I step toward him, the wind whipping fiercely around us, embodying the storm within me.
“Do you see it now? You can never defeat me,” I proclaim, as powerful and relentless as the gale that surrounds us.
Samael’s last desperate attempt to gain control unfolds chaotically. He screams, his feet stamping in a tantrum as he releases a horde of dark creatures. Black snakes and bats, formed from smoke, fill the room, but his spell backfires.
The creatures, recognizing the darkness within me, turn on him instead of attacking me. They swarm the room, bats diving into his body and disintegrating into clouds of smoke, snakes wrapping around his legs as he tries to shake them off in a fit of rage.
He slams his fists into the ground, and fire erupts, spreading flames across the floor and up the walls. I stand amidst the inferno, the heat searing but strangely welcome. Nyx’s voice breaks through, though it’s almost lost in the tumult.
“Lyra, it’s not all lost,” he says, though I can barely hear him over the cacophony. Suddenly, Nyx is before me, his hand on my chin, forcing me to look at him. “Come back to me. Come back for him. Let’s end this together,” he says, and I nod, our eyes locking with a shared resolve.
“This reminds me of old times, the three of us in here together,” Samael croaks, a twisted smirk on his face. Both Nyx and I turn toward him, disgust mounting inside me.
Nyx unsheathes his sword with a swift, fluid motion, metal gleaming under the flickering light from the flames licking the walls around us. Samael follows suit, his blade drawn with a sinister hiss. They circle each other warily, eyes locked in a deadly duel of wills.
