Capture the Crown (Gargoyle Queen #1) -Jennifer Estep Page 0,155

hadn’t even known me before the Seven Spire massacre, but they had still risked their lives time and time again to save mine. And how was I repaying their bravery, their courage, their sacrifice? By once again being a scared little girl cowering out of sight while Reiko, Grimley, and my people fought, bled, and died.

Well, no more—no more.

Despite the screams and shouts still ringing through the plaza, and the louder chorus of fear, panic, and pain buzzing in my mind, I crawled out from under the remains of the cart and staggered up and onto my feet.

Run, Gemma! Run! Grimley’s voice filled my mind again. You can escape, but you have to go right now!

He was right. There was an opening in the madness. I could slip out of the plaza, sneak through one of the alleys, and escape. But I wasn’t going to do that. I wasn’t going to let innocent people—my people—die. Not again. Not without doing everything in my power to help them.

No, I told the gargoyle, and myself too. I’m not running. Never again.

Then I turned and waded deeper into the fight.

* * *

All around me, the audible screams and shrieks continued, along with the silent ones in my mind, creating a crashing cacophony of sound, but I shoved it all to the back of my brain. The noise, the pain, the fear and dread and stench of blood clouding the air. I ignored it all and focused on myself, on my power, on my magic.

I had always thought of my mind magier power like a storm brewing in my mind. One that came and went, ebbed and flowed, intensified and lessened just like actual storm clouds in the sky. Something I had little control over and preferred not to think about or use unless absolutely necessary. Well, it was definitely necessary now, and I dove headlong into that storm in my mind, plunging down, down, down into its depths like never before.

It was difficult, so very, very difficult, but the noise, chaos, and commotion in the plaza slowly receded, even as my magic grew in commensurate measure. Not only could I feel my own power bubbling up inside my body, but I could feel the energy in everyone and everything around me, from the whistle of the guards’ swords through the air, to the bulge and strain of the miners’ muscles as they tried to defend themselves, to the water still gurgling in the ruined fountain. In an instant, I could sense all that and so much more.

A Mortan guard charged at me. I reached for my magic and yanked on those invisible strings of energy. He flew through the air and slammed into the cart that Milo had thrown me into, completely splintering the wood with his heavier weight.

Another guard charged at me, and I tossed him aside as well. And then another. And then another. One by one, they all sailed through the air, away from me and the innocent people they were trying to kill.

Blocking out everyone’s thoughts and feelings and still using my magic at the same time was much, much harder than I’d thought it would be. More than once, my resolve wavered, and I almost drowned in the sea of noise and emotions roiling around in my mind. But the harder I concentrated, and the harder I fought, the easier it became.

And I realized something important, something that so many people had tried to tell me, something that I should have known all along. My magic might be a storm, but it wasn’t caused by other people’s thoughts and feelings. Not really, not fully. No, that storm of emotion was all mine. My power, my feelings, my love and pain and rage.

I was the true storm.

Unpredictable. Uncontrollable. Unstoppable.

“The princess is pushing them back!”

“Rally to her!”

“Gemma! Gemma! Gemma!”

One by one, shouts rang out, and people’s fear receded, washed away by something much, much stronger—hope. That hope buoyed my own spirits, my own magic, and I strode forward, heading toward the Mortans instead of away from them. The miners, merchants, and shoppers grabbed the dead guards’ swords and went on the offensive, attacking the rest of the Mortans.

I had just tossed another guard through the air when I spotted a flash of purple out of the corner of my eye. I whirled around.

Milo was standing in front of me, a disgusted look on his face. “You’re a fucking mind magier, just like Leonidas is. No wonder he’s so fascinated by

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