Crown of Moonlight (Court of Midnight and Deception #2) - K.M. Shea Page 0,100
be on us.
“Eclipse, go!” I shouted.
The mare tossed her head and took off, carrying a grim-faced Skye and a screaming Chrysanthe far away.
I peeled the banner off the staff and—fear curdling my stomach—touched it with my bare hand.
I felt magic everywhere. But instead of feeling overwhelmed as I had before I’d reunited the prism and the staff, this time it felt controlled and solid.
I could feel the ripples on the lake, the soft light of the stars in the sky, and could sense the heartbeat of every living thing in a mile radius.
And I could see wild magic—flashes of it, anyway. I could see it drift in the air and churn through the staff, which made it glow a beautiful purple color.
I didn’t even have to use an activation word to activate the staff. As if it recognized my touch, it started pouring magic to me—like a river. Half addled by the beauty and all the new sensations, I created a ward.
This time, when the monster collided with it, I only felt a twinge of pain.
I just had so much magic at my disposal, it didn’t matter that the monster was guzzling the magic straight from the barrier. More flowed in to take its place.
When the monster backed up, I dismissed the ward and created a huge orb of light—one the size of a car.
I flashed it in front of the monster’s skull. To my disappointment, it shook its head and chattered its teeth at me, but it didn’t seem hurt by the light.
In fact, it barged through the light to ram me again.
I scooped up magic from my staff and created another ward, forged of purple runes at my feet. I activated it just before the monster struck. It smacked with enough force to send me skidding backwards, my feet kicking up pebbles and sand from the lake shore as the water lapped at my heels. The barrier, though, held, and the pain was about equal to a weak headache.
I could hold the monster off, but we were locked in a stalemate. And even with all of this magic on my side, I wasn’t sure I could wield it well enough to win.
I gritted my teeth as the monster pushed me another inch or two into the lake.
I abruptly released the barrier and ran up the shore, splashing through the shallow water as I tried to come up with an idea.
The monster crashed after me, carelessly slapping the water with its tail.
It lunged for me, and I created another ward.
“Leila!” Lord Linus shouted.
Skye and Chrysanthe had apparently stopped and gotten off farther down the shore. Indigo, Rigel, Chase, Lord Linus, and—most annoyingly of all—Fell were with them. Eclipse and a few of the other night mares swarmed around the crowd, but the idiots had all apparently decided to risk their necks and stay behind.
“Give it up, Night Queen!” Fell shouted. “Drop it in the human realm!”
Sweat trickled down my back as I held the barrier up. “Words can’t describe how much I’d like it if the Autumn King would be temporarily disposed of,” I snarled.
“Got it,” Indigo shouted.
“What? No—get back!” Fell shouted.
There was a skittering of pebbles, then a metallic clang, followed by a thump.
“Okay, he’s out of it!” Indigo said.
“Perfect—!” I broke off in a shout of surprise when the monster shoved me knee deep into the lake water.
“Solis is on his way!” Chase shouted. “You just need to hold it off until he gets out to his sun stallions and ports in!”
“Yes, that’s great, except I don’t know that light is going to work like we hoped.” I leaned into the ward, the muscles in my arm straining as I clutched the unwieldy staff in my other hand.
It was so annoying! With all of this power at my disposal, you’d think I’d have a fighting chance!
Skye said it amplifies magic, and I should use whatever I’m most confident in. The thought drifted through my brain. Besides wards, what magic am I most confident in?
I gritted my teeth and poured more magic into my ward, making the barrier triple in size.
It smacked into the monster, catching it off guard and pushing it back a few steps.
I dropped the ward, planted the staff in the mucky lake bottom, and reached for the magic I was most confident in—my connection with animals.
Please—help!
Chapter Twenty-Two
Leila
My magic rushed across the Night Realm like a cresting wave as I reached out, searching for anything that could help me.