Capture the Crown (Gargoyle Queen #1) -Jennifer Estep Page 0,44

tearstone. Now Conley wanted me to have a similar accident. Greedy, murdering bastard.

Anger and determination roared through me, and I grabbed hold of my magic and used the invisible force of it to punch one of the miners in the throat. That man choked, dropped my arm, and stumbled away. The instant my feet touched the ground, I spun around and slammed my physical fist into the throat of the second miner, who was clutching my other arm. He too choked and stumbled away.

“Get her!” Conley hissed.

The other four miners advanced on me, all of them clutching a pickaxe. These were all Conley’s men, the same miners who’d been in the clearing yesterday, just like the first two who’d grabbed me.

She won’t get past me . . .

Hope she screams before we kill her . . .

This is going to be fun . . .

Their horrible thoughts crashed over me, each one as hard and vicious as a slap across the face. Suddenly, I was rooted in place, although my paralysis didn’t stop their malice from blasting over me like winds howling off a tornado.

With every step the miners took, the gargoyle pendant grew warmer and warmer against my chest, as the pieces of jet strained to block out the men’s deadly intentions. I seized on to that sensation and let it scorch away the horrid thoughts crowding into my mind and paralyzing my body. Then I focused on my own anger, which was burning even hotter than my pendant was.

One of the miners charged forward and swung his pickaxe at my head. I ducked his blow and curled my hand into a tight fist, grabbing hold of the invisible strings of energy attached to his weapon. A flick of my fingers yanked the pickaxe out of his hand. Another flick sent him staggering back into the rock wall.

The other three miners yelled and rushed toward me, along with the first two that I’d sucker-punched.

In the dim gray glow of the fluorestones, I battled them all, using both my physical fighting skills and strength, along with my magic, to dodge their weapons and shove them away.

I’d just thrown a fourth miner across the chamber and was reaching for the dagger in my boot when a fifth man, a mutt with enhanced speed, slipped past my defenses and punched me in the face. Pain exploded in my jaw, radiating up into my skull, and white stars exploded in my eyes. My head spun, throwing me off balance and making me stumble around. Given the dim light and the stars still erupting in my eyes, I couldn’t see where I was going, and I didn’t realize how close I was to the chasm until my boot slipped off the edge.

Somehow, I managed to jerk my foot back and stagger away from the chasm. I blinked some of the stars out of my eyes and whirled around—

Conley was standing right in front of me. I had been so busy battling the six other men that I’d lost track of him.

He gave me an evil grin. “If you want something done right.”

Conley surged forward and shoved me into the chasm.

Chapter Nine

For a split second, I had the sensation of being utterly weightless, like a butterfly floating along on a breeze.

Then, in the next instant, I plummeted down.

My arms and legs flailed wildly through the air. Desperate, I reached for my magic, hoping to find some thread of energy to grab on to, or some way to use my power to propel myself closer to the rock wall so that I might have a chance to latch onto something—anything—that would keep me from falling to my death. But my mind kept spinning and spinning, and my magic just wouldn’t work—

The left side of my body slammed into solid rock, and several audible crack-crack-cracks sounded as the bones in my left arm and leg shattered one after another. White-hot agony blazed through me, burning brighter than a magier’s lightning, although the force of the fall punched the air from my lungs, leaving me unable to scream and release any of the torment rushing through me.

Seconds passed. A minute. Two. Maybe ten. I couldn’t tell. All I could see, hear, and especially feel was that white-hot agony blazing through my body, pushed along with every frantic beat of my heart. Slowly, the agony receded enough for me to notice other things, although I still felt like a porcelain doll that had been dropped on the floor and