fire king, but the dark water king, Radagast, whom Gabby recognized from a text book in her class of History of the Royals last year, intercepted it with his magic.
He laughed and looked at them as if they were the dirt beneath his feet.
“You children think you have a chance against us?” Radagast bellowed.
“Our age doesn't matter,” Ra said calmly. “It’s the light we wield inside of us that guarantees us victory.”
“Naive babies,” Nimue, the dark earth queen spat.
Elias and Tara stepped up as they, too, began to add their power to the fight. Elias stomped on the ground and sent a pulse of power that caused the dark royals to stumble. At the same time, Zuri placed her hand on the dirt and spoke in the language of the earth elementals. A fissure opened up in the ground. It moved across the dirt toward the dark royals, rending a gash in the earth. They had to jump, right or left, to keep from falling into the crack.
Josie took advantage of their distraction and leaped at Viscious, the dark fire king. His arm shot out, and his hand caught her around the throat.
Gabby’s heart dropped to her feet, and she heard herself yell. She wasn’t the only one. Other voices joined in, and other bodies ran toward the dark royals. But the powerful dark elementals were joined by their acolytes, and no one was able to get through to Josie. Gabby watched in horror as Viscious jerked his hand, and Josie’s head flipped at an odd angle. Then he simply dropped her. She fell to the ground in a heap.
Gabby froze, staring at the lifeless body of the warrior she had come to know as a fierce fighter and funny woman. She was gone, in the blink of an eye. Just like Jax, just like Miles, and possibly just like Aston. Alive one second and then … dead.
The triplets—Atticus, Shaw, and Omar—leaped across the fissure, and one of them actually landed a punch on Viscious’s grinning face. One after the other, they either used their power or their fists to battle the fire king.
Professor Frost and Professor Fernis fought Lamia, the dark air queen, while Zuri and Elias kept trying to throw the royals off with ripples in the ground.
Gabby felt Liam’s arm wrap around her waist as he jerked her around, blocking a blast of fire from a fire acolyte. She narrowed her eyes at the acolyte and patted Liam’s back. “Thanks, babe,” she said. “Now do your mate a favor and drown that dude.”
Liam grinned at her. “As my lady wishes.” He turned and water rushed out of his hands. Gabby shot fire on either side of the acolyte so he had nowhere to run. She didn’t allow herself to feel anything when the guy finally dropped to the ground. Her friends were dying. She didn’t have time for mercy. She’d deal with her conscience later.
Liam was beside her a second later. “I’m with you, always. We’ll get through this.”
She knew he could feel her confusion and stress, but she nodded and then looked for her next target. They had to win, no matter the number of lives she had to take. Hell’s gates could not be opened.
Shelly was exhausted. Her hands felt like they were burning up, though she knew that wasn’t the case. If it wasn’t for Ra assisting her with his own power, she would have dropped long ago. She tried to assist Ra deal with three acolytes who were battling their way to the light royals in hopes of disrupting their spell to trap Dolion. But she was just so damn tired.
“Hang on, Mery,” Ra said as he put up a wall of fire between them and the acolytes. “It’s almost over.”
She looked over her shoulder and saw that the chalice in the center of the light royals’ circle had opened into a large hole in the ground. Fire leaped from it. A bellow shook the ground, and her head whipped around to see Dolion, the demon who Osiris had been fighting, throw back his head as his body began to crack—literally crack, as if he was made of stone and he’d been struck by a hammer. The demon shook his head from side to side, and fire sprang from his fingertips.
Osiris, who was looking all kinds of scary in his demon form—though Shelly would recognize those eyes and wicked smile anywhere—stood back, staring at Dolion with the satisfaction of a man who knew