My dad’s eyes widened at that suggestion and his gaze flicked to the doorway beyond me.
“Hurry,” he hissed. “There are countless numbers of their kind here.”
“Seth drew them off,” I reassured him and Antonia whimpered in fear for her son.
“There are far more than those,” Dad insisted, but before I could reply, a pained howl made fear drive through my heart and I shoved away from him, taking several steps towards the door before glancing back at Caleb in uncertainty.
“Go,” he hissed, his gaze never wavering from the rift as he fought to push the needle through the barrier between our realms. “Seth needs you more than I do.”
I hesitated but as I heard Seth howl again, my decision was formed and I took off running back into the manor.
A crash of magic made the floorboards rattle and I charged towards it, ice coating my fists as I prepared my own attack, but as I ran past the sweeping staircase in the centre of the building, a slice of pain cut into my shoulder.
I looked down at the tiny point of pain, watching as a single drop of blood spilled from the wound and sucking in a sharp breath of alarm as I whirled around to see a spear of shadows shooting straight for me from the courtyard.
Dark energy slammed into me so violently that it knocked me from my feet and I cried out as my magic was locked in its grasp, the unnatural tug on it dragging it from that tiny cut on my arm as the shadows locked onto it with an iron hold and I was suddenly wrenched backwards across the floor.
I fought and yelled as I tried to grab hold of something to anchor me as the shadows ripped me back through the manor and out into the courtyard, my fingernails splitting as I tried to grip onto the doorframe before I was yanked free of that too.
I bellowed a warning to Caleb as I was dragged across the stones towards the altar and he whipped around, dropping the binding needle as he leapt from the altar and taking hold of me by the shoulders as he fought to pull me away from the rift.
“I’ve got you!” he bellowed as I kicked and fought to stay away from it too.
“Cal, someone cut me,” I gasped. “You have to-”
Caleb’s cry of pain struck me like a blow to the heart and his grip on me suddenly faltered as the shadows slammed into a cut on his arm and began dragging him towards the rift too.
I yelled as I was pulled towards it once more, the cries of our families’ anguish echoing in my ears as that dark expanse called me forth and offered me endless pleasure which I knew would only end in my destruction.
I thought of Gerry, of all the people I loved and I tried to cling to that love as I saw my end rushing towards me, but before I could be wrenched into oblivion, a manacle snapped closed around my ankle and I jerked to a halt, panting wildly on the floor.
Caleb met my eye as he found himself caught there too and the sound of heavy footfalls made me look around just as Vard strode out of the house with a look of merciless victory on his scarred face as a group of Nymphs dragged a beaten, bloody Seth out behind him.
Seth fought as they locked his ankles to a set of manacles too and I groaned as the tug of the shadows intensified and they latched onto my magic, using my power to feed their foul mistress.
“Looks like I saw you coming after all,” Vard hissed and as he stepped forward to slice a blade along the curve of my wrist, a cry of agony escaped my lips which was torn away from me into the endless sky as my power was taken hostage and I was locked at the mercy of the hateful stars.
I chased my father through the sky with the taste of his blood on my tongue and a hunger for his death in my gut which I was determined to see sated.
He roared in pain and anger as he was forced to flee, the long wound I’d gouged into his side dripping blood all over the hillside below us as I tore after him, determined to end this.
He was damn fast, but I was faster, and I bore down on him with my superior strength and size, roaring my victory as I collided with him and we fell tumbling from the heavens in a clash of claws and teeth.
I pinned him beneath me, lunging for his throat, my jaws snapping closed just short of it as he kicked me away again and I was knocked backwards, hitting the ground hard and rolling down the hill towards the fleeing rebels.
Father chased after me, his jaw wide as the screams of our army reached my ears and I shifted just in time to throw an enormous ice shield over the heads of them as he blasted his Dragon fire at their ranks.
I hurled spears of ice after him, snarling through the effort it took to maintain my shield while attacking him and cursing his cowardly fucking tactics as he wheeled away from me and flew overhead.