Page 110

No, this fucking mage needs to suffer.

“Raina.” There’s something strange in Drake’s voice—I might even call it worry or fear—but I don’t waste time analyzing it or stop to listen to him beg me to spare Melody.

The band in my chest strains, and lightning strikes all around me. I guess the magic is tired of being contained.

The floor seems to tremble as I take another step and spread my hands at my sides, tasting the rush of power like sweet strawberries in the heat of summer. The stormcraft responds to my delight by strengthening, the bolts around me turning thick, the thunder rumbling through the room like a freight train.

Distantly, I realize everyone—Melody, Bart, Brittany, the vinculum, my friends—is watching me, breaths held tightly in their chests.

Their hearts are racing so fast it sounds like the Wild Hunt is racing toward us. They’re . . . scared, worried, maybe even excited. I hesitate, wondering if I should be wary, but the stormcraft surges and gale force winds rush through the space, whipping my hair back.

Fat drops of rain pelt my skin.

The magic is getting stronger the longer I hang on to it, like trying to grasp a flag in a hurricane. At some point, I’ll need to decide. Let go or let it drag me into the eye of the storm. I don’t know how it’s growing, but right now, I don’t fucking care.

Melody flings her hand at me, and a tiny spark of lightning shoots out of her finger, as small as one of those sparklers the humans invented. It’s as though she has nothing left.

She realizes this with a gasp, staring at her hand in horror. I close the distance between us in two strides, seizing on her shock, and wrap my fingers around her throat, lifting her into the air. Her nails gouge my skin, breath wheezing out of her. Her foot slams into my stomach.

I blink, not even fazed, and lift a hand, lightning spitting out of my fingertips.

“I’m so fucking tired of your childish games,” I tell her, placing my hand over her heart and pinning her to the clock tower’s gear system, not caring if they shred the skin on her back. I bring my face inches from hers and bare my teeth. “You messed with the wrong fucking mage.”

And it’s about time she finds the fuck out.

I flex my fingertips. Go for the heart. For a beat, I worry the lightning won’t listen, but it swirls to attention. One bolt drives through her chest in a beautiful blaze of white. Melody screams. My lips twist back. Another slams into her. Her skin buzzes with electricity.

“How does it taste, Mel?” I hiss, gripping her chin in my hand and forcing her to meet my gaze as another streak of lightning slams into her.

I watch the agony in her gaze, the pure bewilderment that her own magic can be turned against her, and I don’t feel an ounce of pity. Not a single regret. “You hurt my friends,” I murmur, shaking my head. “No one hurts my friends.”

“Are you going to do anything?” Bart asks, to who, I don’t know and don’t care.

It’s too late to save Melody, anyway.

With a thought, I send a dozen jagged flashes of light to my palm, covering it like a glove, and cock my hand back, holding it there so she knows what I’m about to do. So she can picture the agony. Feel the pain before I even deliver the final blow. Enough lightning magic could burn her alive.

Melody’s eyes are saucers. Her skin is so pale, I think she might faint. Realizing her mortality, the terror of what’s about to happen, she’s even stopped fighting, simply trembling in my arms.

“Look at you,” I say with a dark laugh. “What’s the saying?” I tip my head and pretend to think. “Oh, that’s right. Pick on someone your own size.” I bring my palm down hard and fast, ready to punch through skin and bone and muscle, to hold her fragile heart in my hand and watch it burn to ash.

But at the last second, strong fingers wrap around my wrist, catching my hand inches from Melody’s chest.

My own clenches tight in anger, and I whip my head to the side, fury rising up like a tidal wave. Who would dare to stop me?

Drake is holding my hand, stopping me, protecting her.

Acid pours through my veins. “Let me go,” I snarl, tugging on my arm.

The mage’s face is as stormy as the magic raging around us. The clock tower sways, wood creaking, metal groaning. Wind swirls like a tornado, flashes of light ricocheting around us, inside, outside, rain dousing everything.

Then he says four words that make me hate him more than I’ve ever hated anyone. “You can’t kill her.”

Bitter tangs on the back of my tongue. Of course he’d protect her. I swallow my disgust, ribs aching as if the stormcraft is threatening to tear me apart. I need to release it before it destroys me. Without even fully thinking through it, I send a rush of magic to my other palm, release Melody’s neck, and punch Drake’s chest.

“No!” Melody sobs, the cry loud enough to pierce the room.

Drake’s mouth parts in surprise, and I wait for his features to twist in agony as my fingers unfurl, as lightning riddles his body. He glances down, takes in where my hand is buried inside him, and lifts his gaze to meet mine. There’s a riot of emotions swirling in his emerald eyes.