something else entirely; all that mattered was he was unconscious on the dirt within the blink of an eye.
“Keep moving, Kaliah, and remember they won’t all be that easy to take down. That shifter perceived you as an easy target, most others will not.” Stryx’s words sank in, and I kept my power at my fingertips.
I’d be ready for whatever came at us next, because there was no way in hell that I’d let Alaryk get his hands on me. The more I tried to imagine what he wanted from me, the angrier I became. As I let my emotions build, I became a bubble of energy.
Magic radiated from every point of my body and there was a slight purple glow coming from skin everywhere I could see. Did you lift the blocks on my abilities? I asked.
No, you’re breaking through them, just how I wanted. This is how I hoped you’d do it, though not under these circumstances. On your backside, turn now!
Without missing a beat, I ducked and slammed my fist full of magic into the stomach of the beast before me, but he wasn’t the least bit fazed by my powers. Standing back up, I took in his nearly seven-foot frame before noticing the scales that lined his skin and the measly cloth shorts that he was wearing, nothing else.
“Hello, Princess.” The man-beast grinned, showcasing a mouth full of teeth that reminded me of Yelah.
Uh, Stryx, what am I supposed to do against this thing? I asked mentally.
You fight him until help arrives. The others can see us now, and they’ll be here soon. Do whatever you have to in order to keep him from getting a hold on you.
My jaw clenched as I realized that meant if I was able to, then I needed to kill the creature before he could do the same to me. If it was my life or his, I didn’t really have a choice, but I didn’t like it.
Crouching down to make myself a smaller target, I felt my dress begin to rip, so I gave it a little help and myself more room to move by making two slits midway up my thighs.
The beast swiped his hand out for me, and Stryx flew into the sky while I rolled out of the way on the dirt, losing my shoes in the process. Thankfully, my crown was practically plastered to my head and stayed in place.
“Oh, come on, Princess. I mean you no harm. Just come with me and everything will be fine,” the beast jeered as we faced each other once more.
“That’s never going to happen,” I snapped back.
He grinned once again, making my insides turn with fear. “That’s what I was hoping for.”
He’s a dragon hybrid. There are only two ways to kill him: free him of his head or remove his heart from his scaled chest, Stryx said as I practically did the two-step with the dragon-man, evading his attempts to grab me.
So, considering I have no weapons, what the hell do you want me to do? My voice was full of rage as the shouts from others could still be heard around us.
Just keep fighting, and I’ll be back.
You’re leaving me? I yelled in my head as I once again found myself on the ground, but Stryx never responded and I wanted to kill him.
Using all of my frustrations, I charged at the dragon-man, hands out and full of as much harmful magic as I could muster. When we connected, I grabbed onto his scales and began pulling, hoping I could find skin and cause more damage, but I’d stayed too close for too long, and his clawed hands took hold of my arms
Lifting me off the ground, the beast brought me even with his face while blood trickled from where he grabbed me. “Enough, Princess. I’m not supposed to hurt you, but I will if you continue to refuse me.”
“I will fight until my last breath,” I sneered, then called on everything I had, remembering that magic wasn’t just what I had within me. It was also in everything around me.
Water was another part of me, just like magic, so I reached far and called it to me, asking for its help. Within mere moments, an overwhelming amount of power slammed into me, and I did the only thing I could think of.
I released it and froze the dragon-man in place before wiggling free of his grasp and dropping a couple feet to the ground.
Just as