Blackbird Crowned (The Witch King's Crown #3) - Keri Arthur Page 0,113

could only be used safely with Elysian’s aid.

“It’s … amazing.” He reached out and touched the nearest power-ridden ribbon. Elysian pulsed under our joint grip, and the ribbon’s energy washed through us, sharp, energizing, and utterly, terrifyingly unworldly. Flesh was never meant to contain that sort of power.

Max’s gaze widened. He wasn’t seeing the danger. He was only seeing the power. The possibilities.

I released one hand from Elysian’s hilt, reached back, and called Vita to me.

“Dear god, Gwen,” Max whispered. “This is beyond anything I could have ever—”

I’ll never know whether he sensed Vita’s presence or the subtle change in my stance. It didn’t matter either way, because without warning his grip on the ribbon tightened and he flung it at me. It hit with the force of a hammer, cindering my senses and leaving me gasping. Another ribbon hit, pushing me back, all but tearing my grip from Elysian. I somehow caught the end of the cross-guard and clung on, desperately attempting to regain balance.

He growled—a low, almost inhuman sound that echoed across the silence—and whipped around, the side of his boot smashing into my face, tearing my grip from the sword and sending me tumbling backward. Something cracked in my cheek and blood spurted. I swore, but the words caught in my throat, as did my breath. For one brief moment, the force of this place swept through me, tearing at me, pulling me apart, pulling me to pieces.

Then light pulsed from my finger and my waist—the crown and the ring, reestablishing the connection to Elysian, protecting me from the forces that would have otherwise killed me.

A heartbeat later, Vita came to life, her force thrumming through me, sweeping away the pain, but not the fury.

I scrambled upright and ran at him. He laughed, gripped Elysian tighter, and tried to raise her. She moved.

An inch.

Two.

Then she froze. He wasn’t the Witch King’s heir. He didn’t have the right to draw her.

That realization hit him hard, and he screamed—a sound filled with denial and fury. He released her hilt and reached, with both hands, for the gray’s energy.

“No!” I yelled and lunged for him.

I reached him the same time as the energy he’d called into his body. It tore through him, tore through me, through flesh and muscle and bone, until once again it felt as if every fiber of my being were being stretched beyond capacity and would surely shatter into a million tiny pieces. But just before the dissolution of all that we were and all that we could be actually happened, the triad reacted, and the shattering ceased. Then Vita pulsed, and energy flowed back into my limbs. She was drawing on Max’s strength through my grip on him. Draining him to save me.

I couldn’t let him die here, even if I’d brought him here to do exactly that. But that was before I’d felt the purity of this place—the utter perfection of its energy—through every inch of my being. Mo had been right—his death would forever stain the gray.

I took a deep breath, then plunged Vita into his neck, severing an artery—a wound that wouldn’t immediately kill him, though he would eventually bleed out unless helped—to strengthen the connection between him, her, and me. As warmth pulsed over the hand holding the knife, I reached for Elysian with the other. The minute my fingers wrapped around her hilt, I pushed us all away from the gray and back into the old farmhouse.

We tumbled to the flagstones in a tangled mess of arms and legs. There was a roar, a rumble of sound, and I became aware of movement, of anger, and magic. Something—someone—pounded at the door, and the oily wave of magic was weakening.

But not quickly enough.

Nowhere near quickly enough.

I pushed free from Max’s weight, then rose onto my knees and swung Elysian in an arc over my head. Steel clashed with steel, the sheer force of the blow reverberating down my arms. Light flared down her fuller and peeled away the shadows, revealing thin, pale gray-skinned men with gaunt features and pointed ears.

Dark elves. Ten of them. Max really hadn’t been taking any chances.

Movement, behind me. I swept Elysian around and up. Caught the edge of a blade and knocked it away. Reached for the earth, felt her fire respond. It burned through me as the gray’s energy had only moments before, but I didn’t immediately release it, instead channeling it into the blade and then beyond. Elves screamed as others attacked, forcing me