to breathe any deeper with the torment wracking my body. A lamia moves in front of me, his smile self-assured and confident as he watches me struggle. Before he knows what hit him, I slash at his throat and watch as his head slides off, and his body collapses to the ground.
I step over it, just as the guard’s body turns to ash, and I slowly move toward the next guard that stands in my way. This one isn’t as stupid, and I thank fuck for muscle memory as my body works to avoid his hits and land my own. I dodge and strike without giving it any thought, and I give a triumphant shout when his head leaves his body and his blood spatters across Adriel’s fucking throne. Unfortunately, I can feel the toll the fight and effort to hold my magic is taking on me, but I don’t care if I have to granny-sloth work my way through these guards, I’m going to end this once and for all.
“Stop! Or I will kill him,” Adriel’s voice rings out.
I turn expecting Adriel to be threatening me with Lachlan, and I drop my hold on my short sword and call on another dagger. I know Lachlan would rather I kill this fucker than save him. Lachlan is screaming like a feral animal and trying to get out of the grip of the two lamia who are holding him, but I sweep my gaze right past him in search of the fucker I need to kill. I find him and his smug fucking smile, but when I take in whose throat he has his hand around, I freeze.
Becket stares at me wide-eyed and afraid, and his sudden appearance throws me completely off.
“Fuck!” I scream out, frustrated and enraged and once again completely fucking impotent. I release my hold on the small dagger and feel too much of my energy drain away with my magic.
“Whooooo!” Adriel shouts out excitedly, and his eyes fill with fire. “I knew you would be the one, pet. All that power just waiting for the right vessel to wield it. Did you see her?” he asks no one in particular. “None of the others could ever work through the pain to do what she just did,” he announces to the room, and I swear if he didn’t have to keep a threatening hold on Becket’s throat, I wouldn’t be surprised to find him jumping up and down and clapping like a kid at Disneyland.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I ask Becket, my voice filled with gravel and my limbs growing heavier by the second.
“I was taken,” Becket croaks out before Adriel squeezes tighter and his ability to talk is silenced.
“You really should be more careful with your Shields, Vinna. When you let them wander off alone like this one was, you’re just begging to have them taken,” Adriel teases, and I once again wish I had the energy and ability to rip his fucking head off right now. A small amount of relief fills me at knowing Becket didn’t show up here because he was working with Adriel after all, but it’s quickly squashed under the reality that Adriel just put another obstacle in my path to turning him into ash.
My legs buckle, unable to hold me up anymore, and my knees slam to the ground as fatigue fights to shut me down. “Shield?” I manage to ask, not able to help my confusion from slipping out as I replay Adriel’s words in my mind. He looks a little shocked by my question, and he tilts his head and studies me for a beat.
“You don’t know what he is to you?” he clarifies.
“This shit didn’t come with an instruction manual,” I snark, and I try to fight my vision as it starts to tunnel.
“I have one, pet,” he states casually. “Would you like to read it?”
I stare at Adriel’s red-gold eyes, and just when I think I can’t find anything more to hate about him, he shows me something new. I stay quiet, mostly because I’m pretty sure I’m going to black out at any moment, and I’m trying to conserve my energy.
“Shields can be called as guards or protectors. You bond with them in a unique way, bestowing on them the markings of your choosing, and they live to protect you. If I recall correctly, there’s about a page of information on them in the book I have. I’ll let you read it, pet,