Page 126 of Lethal Souls
The women holler as they run my way. Swords swing, spears thrust, and shields slam into me, but I move faster.
I kick Milandra away while Asteria manages to get behind me, pressing the handle of her spear to my throat. Grunting, I lean forward to toss her off me, but Hassha claims her place, pressing a hand to my chest and blasting me through the forest again.
“This is how it’ll be, Caspian,” she yells when I crash to the ground. “Selah will be relentless.”
I shoot through the treetops and fly toward the meadow again, punching Milandra first. She eats the blow, grinning with blood in her mouth as she clutches my ankle, reels me down, and punches me back. Surprisingly, it doesn’t hurt.
I press a hand to her, mentally demanding chains to form, and they wrap around her like red snakes. With a flick of my hand, I force her to the ground. She grunts, trying to break free from the chains.
Asteria comes next.
Just let her fall.
I manage to open a hole within the meadow for her to sink into. She screams as she falls in, and though the pit is deep, she’s safe for now.
The only one left is Hassha.
The Regal strikes instantly. She’ll be much harder to conquer. I feel my energy waning, but I don’t stop as I match the fury in her eyes.
“When your energy runs low, think of your source,” Hassha says.
“My source?”
“Think of what fuels you. Family. Blackwater. Power.”
I throw a fist at her. She ducks.
“When you’re this close to Selah,” she says through gritted teeth. “When you’re staring into my sister’s eyes, I want you to grab her like this.” Hassha stops fighting, ridding herself of the swords to grip my head.
Without notice, pain spreads through my mind and seizes me.
“I want you to hold on tight, and I don’t want you to let go,” she says through a ragged breath. “I want you to make her scream as you absorb her energy, as you watch her shrivel and weaken, and when she feels like she can’t stand it anymore, I want you to rip her bloody heart out.”
I cry out as the pain grows sharper.
Willow calls my name, but I can’t find her.
I can’t open my eyes.
“She will do everything she can to distract you so that she catches you before you catch her,” Hassha goes on, still clinging to my head. “She will make sure you’ve lost most of your energy just to take you and will do exactly what I am doing to you right now. She will try to take what’s yours and make it her own, but you will not let her. You will fight, Caspian. No matter the circumstance, no matter how tired you become, no matter what happens to me or Korah or anyone else you love, you fight and you end her. You save Vakeeli because it is yours!”
I yell louder and throw my head back. It takes so much for me to open my eyes, but I manage, and when mine meet her blue irises, I grip her upper arms.
She can be a bit dramatic, right? Yuri says.
I huff a laugh, and her eyes widen a fraction, then a knowing look washes over her. I can hear her thoughts. She believes in me. She knows I can do this…but I have to prove myself.
She has no time to react as I fly us to the sky, and when we’re above the treetops, I release her. Her breath hitches and before she can get away, I stomp a heavy foot on her chest.
Like a missile, she plummets to the land beneath us. I watch as she’s drilled into the ground, forming a crater so large it destroys what’s left of the meadow. Dust rises, and electric sparks of blue and red filter through the cracks.
I float down, searching for her in the hole her body created, but she’s not there. I sense her though. Behind me. I spin around with a conjured sword as she stands there with a bloody bottom lip and a cut on her cheek.
Then she does the unexpected.
She throws her arms around me and reels me in to hug me tight. It takes me completely off guard. The fire in my veins rinses away, returning me to my normal state. The sword disappears from my hand.
I hug her back.