Page 161 of First Light
“Yep. Super ordinary.” She tried to move her feet and couldn’t. “You should leave me and take off.”
“I should—” Regan blinked. “What is that?” She stepped back, and her shoulders curled inward. “What is that?” She screamed as her eyes locked on the door.
There was a thunk, then another one.
Thunk.
Regan gasped and threw a hand out.
Thunk.
Craaaaack!
“Who did this?” Regan screamed. “Who brought iron into this place?”
“Not iron.” Carys felt her feet loosen as Duncan’s sword broke through Regan’s wards. “Steel.”
“No!” She waved a dismissive hand in Carys’s direction, flinging her into a wall.
Carys flew through the air and hit the stone wall, crumpling to the floor.
It hurt. Every part of her body was screaming, but she scrambled to her feet, moving through the pain. She lunged toward the fireplace and the other journals sitting precariously near the flames. She grabbed them as the door cracked open and the walls of the cottage shook.
The ground thrust up beneath her and she fell, cracking her forehead on the slate hearth, but she managed to grab Seren’s journals and hide them under her body even as coals rolled out of the fire and singed her skin.
She cried out, and Cadell roared from the window, breaking through the warded glass with a massive fist.
“Carys!” He pushed inside, shoving the stones around the window to widen the space as the cottage door fell inward.
Carys rolled away from the fire, the journals clutched to her chest as she scrambled under the table and all hell broke loose.
Duncan broke through the doorway with the dragon-steel sword, taking a knee and bending low as Lachlan leaped over his back with his bronze sword drawn.
“Brother!” Duncan flung the steel sword toward Lachlan, who dropped the bronze, grabbed the steel, and charged Regan.
The sorceress pulled down a heavy wooden rafter, knocking Lachlan away before he could strike.
The roof of the cottage tilted precariously as the foundation shifted and the rafters rained down. Thatch, dust, and wood fell around Carys.
“Stay under the table,” Cadell shouted.
Duncan stood and lifted his arms, holding up a falling rafter with his massive strength to keep the cottage from collapsing in. “Cadell!” He roared. “Get her out of here!”
“Regan!” Dafydd shouted from the doorway. “You murderous hag!”
“And?” She bared her teeth as Lachlan climbed over the rubble to get to her.
“You’re dead.” Lachlan’s face was pale with fury. He swung the iron toward Regan, who had nothing but magic to defend herself.
And fae magic didn’t break steel.
She screamed as the sword slashed down, cutting across her body with a burning slice. Acrid smoke filled the air, and shimmering red blood sprang from the wound across her chest. Regan fell back, collapsing into the rubble of the rapidly disintegrating cottage.
“Cadell!” Duncan shouted, his chest heaving as he held up the ceiling. “Get. Carys. Out!”
“I have her, boy!” Dafydd ran over and grabbed for Carys’s arm as Cadell covered her body with his own. “Run!”
Regan threw out a hand, and blood spurted from Lachlan’s mouth and eyes, but he didn’t yield. He slashed again, cutting Regan across the legs and sweeping with an upward angle, slicing her belly with a killing cut.