Of course, my father had created those wards, even if Ilianna had rerouted the magic within them. And it would be just like my parent to have created a back door within the original magic for such an eventuality as this.
"One move, Hieu," Azriel said, voice soft and yet filled with death, "and it will be the last move you ever make."
Amusement spun around us, thick and sharp. "Save your meaningless threats, Mijai. I have no intention of harming anyone here. Elsewhere, however, it is a different matter entirely."
My eyes widened. "Don't you dare touch Mirri —"
"Touch? I assure you I have no intention of ever touching another human, even if I had the capacity and the form to do so."
"Then why threaten —"
"Oh, I do not just threaten," he murmured. "I do. And your friend is not human as the word is defined in this world. And she is, unfortunately, no longer a part of this world."
Someone screamed a denial. I wasn't sure if it was me or Amaya or both of us. Suddenly she was no longer in my hand, but aiming toward the wash of heat and power that was my father's presence in this room. Only she did so silently, and in full shadow. She was an unseen and unheard arrow of revenge.
Azriel gripped my arm, as if to hold me in place. He was speaking, I knew he was speaking, but I couldn't hear the words, neither aloud nor in my mind. All I could see, all I could hear, all I wanted, was death.
And that's exactly what I got.
Amaya sliced deep into the heart of the energy that was my father. For a moment, nothing happened. There was no immediate response from my father, and no reaction from Amaya.
Then her chuckle filled the silence.
There was nothing nice about that chuckle. Nothing nice at all.
Azriel swore, but the words were distant, meaningless. My mind was still with Amaya, with the destruction she was about to wreak.
He spun, wrapped his arms around me, and transported us out of there. We'd barely reappeared in the street when the entire warehouse – and everything Ilianna, Tao, and I owned – exploded into a million different pieces.