Capture the Crown (Gargoyle Queen #1) -Jennifer Estep Page 0,156
you.” A cruel smile curved his lips. “I wonder what he’ll think when I kill you.”
My gaze cut to the left. In the distance, on the refinery roof, Leonidas was still sitting atop Lyra, both of them looking tense. His gaze locked with mine, and I remembered what he had said to me in the woods so long ago.
You’re soft and weak . . . soft and weak . . . soft and weak . . .
Leonidas had chanted that at me over and over again. Not to hurt, mock, or tear me down, like I’d thought back then. No, he’d been trying to enrage me, to get me to embrace my mind magier magic, to use it to save myself, and Xenia and Alvis. And I realized something else that I should have known all along. My magic might not always work the way I wanted it to, but I always had the power to act, to fight, to battle until my last breath.
“Time to die, Glitzma,” Milo sneered.
He hurled another round of lightning at me. This bolt had more magic than all the others, and I could see it growing and growing as it streaked toward me. But instead of trying to get out of the way of the killing strike, I reached for my own magic, snapped up my hand, and curled my fingers into a fist, yanking tight on all those invisible strings of power.
The lightning bolt stopped in midair, inches away from my heart.
I stared at the mass of magic hovering in front of me. The lightning kept spitting, hissing, and crackling, like a coral viper trying to twist, turn, and wrench its way out of a gargoyle’s mouth. Milo was by far the strongest enemy I had ever faced, and he was just as powerful in his magic as I was in mine. Sweat poured down my face, and my entire body shook from the strain of holding back so much hot, deadly, electric force.
“You think you can stop me? Never!” Milo yelled.
He hurled another bolt of lightning at me. Then another one, then another one.
Somehow, I managed to grab on to all those invisible strings of energy, and I stopped each and every bolt, although they all kept dancing and crackling in front of me, like wayward kites I was trying to wrestle in a tornado.
Surprise flickered across Milo’s face, and he actually took a step back, as if he couldn’t believe that I was holding on to so much magic at once.
I should have done more. I should have fought harder. Once again, Alvis’s voice echoed in my mind, quickly followed by Xenia’s. Fucking traitors. I’ll kill as many of them as I can. Maybe Gemma can live, even if Alvis and I can’t.
I was fighting harder than I had ever fought, but the battle wasn’t won yet, so I gritted my teeth and tightened my grip on all those strings of magic. I drew in a breath to steady myself.
Then I screamed and threw every last one of Milo’s lightning bolts right back at him.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Milo’s eyes widened, and he lurched to the side. He managed to avoid most of the lightning, but one of the bolts punched into his right hand, making him scream. He whipped around and tossed another bolt at me, but I threw that one back at him too, punching the power through his left hand.
The crown prince screamed again and clutched his hands to his chest, his skin burned, blackened, and smoking from his own power.
I held up my bandaged hands and waggled my fingers at him. “Now we’re even,” I hissed.
Milo snarled and raised his hand to try to hit me with his lightning again, but Wexel grabbed the prince’s arm, jerking him back.
“Let’s go!” Wexel yelled. “Before she kills us all!”
Milo tried to lunge at me again, but Wexel kept dragging him back toward a waiting strix. My hands curled into fists, and I stepped forward, determined to kill them both—
A lightning bolt slammed into the ground at my feet, shattering the flagstones and making me stagger back.
My gaze darted to the left. In the distance, on the refinery roof, Maeven held up her hand, more purple lightning crackling on her fingertips.
That’s enough, her voice snapped in my mind. You’ve made your point. You don’t have enough magic left to fight me too. Don’t do something stupid and make me break my promise to Leo not to kill you.