Crown of Moonlight (Court of Midnight and Deception #2) - K.M. Shea Page 0,54
its head to him.
Dion’s eyes narrowed, and his poppy red magic flowed from his artifact—a bejeweled pin forged in the shape of a bird.
The creature I was attacking rammed into Leila’s barrier again.
The surface didn’t even ripple, but Leila growled. “These suckers pack a punch.” She shook her head as if shaking off pain—and maybe she was—and arranged her feet in a solid defensive crouch. “I can’t cast anything else at this rate.”
“I’ve got a bit of a line on them,” Dion shouted. “They’re forged of magic, and they’re controlled by a fae compulsion spell.”
“Can you break it?” I tried stabbing my blade through my snake’s head, but it was also insubstantial, and I did no damage.
“Nope—too powerful,” Dion said through gritted teeth. “I can hold this one here, but that’s about it.”
I briefly flicked my eyes at him. Dion is very powerful in compulsion magics. For him to be unable to do anything…whoever made these is incredibly powerful.
“Try blowing them away,” Indigo suggested.
“How?” Leila asked. “Fae can’t use elements—like wind.”
“No.” I yanked one of my hidden daggers out of a bracer. “But we can make things explode. Aer.” I jumped backwards and threw my activated dagger at the snake. Just as the blade started to pass through the creature’s head, I activated an anti-theft spell on the dagger.
The magic stored in the dagger exploded, blowing the smoke that made up the shadow across the lobby.
The creature flopped to the ground, then the rest of its body lost its definition as the shadowy-smoke dissipated and it disappeared altogether.
“Oh,” Leila said. “Yeah, that’ll work.”
Chase came shooting out of the theater, the pixie hovering over his shoulder. When he saw the creatures he ran toward the chaos.
“Now!” Dusk shouted.
The Night Court fae in the lobby all threw the little glowing orbs commonly used to light up rooms at the remaining monster.
The orbs that landed in the snake lit up its innards. Everywhere the light touched, the monster’s smoky flesh faded away.
Only half gone, the snake swung around to face Dusk and the others.
“Oh no you don’t.” Leila’s eyes glowed purple, and with her jaw clenched, she forged another ward that protected her people.
When did she get this skilled at wards? I saw her practice, but it normally takes more than one fae to keep barriers like this going.
“Again!” Dawn yelled as she threw her own orb.
Since all fae were capable of the low-level spell, the lobby was soon bathed in the glowing light cast by every member of the Night Court present as they pummeled the creature.
The snake tried to strike at Leila again—ramming her shield.
But she held out—though I could see her muscles were shaking.
I retrieved my dagger just as the fae finished off the second monster.
Indigo made the killing blow. She crept around the edge of Leila’s shield and tossed an orb of light that was the size of her head at the monster.
The snake dissipated, leaving no evidence of the monsters behind.
I cut off my magical connection to my sword, instantly shrinking it back into a stowable size. I tucked it back in my boot and sheathed my dagger into my bracer as I looked around the lobby.
The wreckage wasn’t as bad as I had expected.
The monsters had slithered through the front doors and knocked over a stand filled with pamphlets that were strewed across the theater’s sticky carpet, but it seemed that they hadn’t caused any damage to the building—or to the theater’s other customers.
I scanned the area, looking for anything—or anyone—unusual.
Chase was the better investigator—with his nose and his men he was able to cover more ground and at a more thorough pace. I merely killed things. But it had occurred to me that the person who’d hired me for the original contract on Leila might still be trying to kill her.
It seemed odd—why be halfhearted about it?
Regardless, I couldn’t tell Leila—or her people—anything about my contract due to the geas on me, but I could confirm my own suspicions.
Or I would have liked to, but since only creatures of shadow and smoke had attacked us—and they disappeared, leaving behind no evidence—it was proving to be difficult to suss out the perpetrator.
I stopped scanning when I saw Lady Chrysanthe.
She was standing by the soda dispensers. Though her expression was haughty and her chin was slightly tilted up, she was wringing her hands and her eyes were fastened on Leila.
Is she concerned for Leila? She had a similar expression at the supernatural market, too.