The torches guttered under the weight of our combined magic, the chamber trembling with each breath I drew. Forthe first time, the Elders shifted, unease breaking through their masks.
Kathar lifted a hand, as if to placate me. “Elena, listen—”
“Don’t.” My voice cracked like a whip. “Not another word.”
Shadows writhed at the edges of the room, drawn into blades at Dario’s will. My flames curled along them, gilding the darkness with searing light. The air itself seemed to bow beneath the force of our fury.
I stepped forward, my eyes burning into theirs. “I am not your weapon. I am not your shield. And I am not your puppet. Whatever you built, whatever bargain you made with him—” I jerked my chin toward Rindais—“ends tonight.”
Dario’s voice came low and lethal, a growl that rumbled through the stones beneath our feet. “You hear her. This ends here.”
The words thrummed in the air, echoing with finality.
Irina’s eyes narrowed, but there was a tremor in her hands now. Theron’s lips pressed thin. Kathar scowled, his face mottled red.
And still Rindais smiled.
“Good,” he whispered, delight glittering in his mismatched gaze. “Yes. Burn it all down.”
I bared my teeth, the fury in me blazing brighter than any sun. “I don’t need your permission.”
My power surged higher, answering the cry in my soul.
“This ends here,” I said.
Beside me, Dario raised his hand, moving in sync with me.
Chapter 20: Dario
The air around us thickened, heavy with anticipation, as Elena stepped forward, her light a flaming glow under her skin.
Rindais stepped forward, still smiling. “Yes, this ends here,” he said softly. “But not in the way you think.” He shook his head. “You have no idea what I’ve sacrificed,” he said, his voice low, dangerous. “I didn’t come this far to be defeated by the likes ofyou.”
“Then maybe it’s time you learned the price of overconfidence,” I spat, letting my shadows swell around me, coiling like smoke, eager for a fight.
Rindais laughed, his dark robes billowing around him as he called upon his powers. He glowed a sickly green as he turned to face us.
It was a look I knew well—one that reeked of arrogance, of a man convinced he could not be beaten.
“Do you truly think you both are a match for me?” he said, his voice dripping with mocking amusement, his gaze flicking between Elena and me. “The High Priestess and her pet shadow. How…laughable.”
I took a step forward, feeling the shadows swirl around me, ready to strike, to destroy. “You weren’t laughing when my shadows were choking the life out of you just a few days ago,” I taunted, smirking when he glared at me.
But the torches around the room, the sickly green light that glowed in Rindais’s hands—all of it made me wary.
I had noticed how my shadows dissipated into smoke with each contact with Rindais’s powers, and I knew I had to be careful.
Between the last time we had met and now, this mage had somehow grown more powerful.
He raised a hand, a twisted smile on his face as he summoned a swirling green light that pulsed with an unnatural energy. It looked…almost like the glow that surrounded Elena, but twisted, warped by dark magics.
My rage ignited. Had this bastard used Elena’s blood to makehimself more powerful?
“Elena,” Rindais said, his tone a sickly blend of pity and disdain. “You can’t tell me you don’t see it now. This was inevitable.”
Her voice was steady, though I could hear the tightly bound anger underneath. “What was your deal with the Elders?”
“Oh, my dear High Priestess, surely you understand by now,” he said with a smirk, his voice like the hiss of a serpent. “The Elders have no use for you—not as you are. You’re a vessel, a means to an end, carrying a power they’ve dreamed of controlling.”
