Page 76 of A Kiss of Flame
"The Dökk blade, the ring you stole from King Thurin, the piece of the Temple of Celaria, and the Heart Orb,” she told him.
The shadow in Vane's hands dissipated, his gaze sharpening. Tsuki shifted uneasily, moving closer to Barith. The masked thief holding the sword to the dragon’s throat let it drop slightly. Merlin had been right—they hadn't expected her to come with such leverage.
"You lie," Vane snarled, his voice filled with suspicion. “You cannot have the Heart Orb.”
Levian spotted Barith’s sister, Cat. Her eyes were glowing faintly as she clung to the platform’s edge, out of sight. This was her signal that they were all in position.
“I’m not my father,” Levian told him flatly. “I don’t play games.” She reached a trembling hand slowly into her pocket. Tsuki snapped a threat for her to stop, and the blade was pressed harder against Barith's throat. When Levian pulled out the small black Heart Orb, Vane's eyes widened, shock flashing across his face before narrowing with greedy delight.
"Release him," Levian demanded, her voice unwavering. "And it's all yours."
Vane straightened, a cruel smile curling over his lips. “Does Merlin know you have the orb?” he asked with amused curiosity.
Levian hadn’t told Merlin she possessed the orb—only that it had been one of the objects pursued by her thieves. “Merlin doesn’t know everything,” Levian replied sharply, waiting impatiently for Cat’s signal that she and the others were in position.
Vane laughed, the sounds echoing off the distant cave walls around them. Levian tensed at his raw amusement, and Tsuki glanced uneasily in his direction. “That—” he said with utter unnerving enjoyment, pointing to the orb in her hand, “is not the Heart Orb.”
Levian teetered nervously on her feet, unsure if this was one of Vane’s games. He chuckled at her reaction and shook his head. “You really are nothing like your father,” he chuckled. ”And to think Tsuki and the others were worried you might try something clever to rescue your dragon. Is this your grand plan?”
Before she could even attempt to reply, Vane snapped his fingers, and shadow shot out from the pit like a spider's web. Levian tried to counter it, but the shadow wrapped around her too quickly, and her spell smashed into the ground beside her foot in a violet flash. She dropped her torch, which bounced off the edge of the platform into the abyss below. The orb slipped from her hand and rolled across the stone until Vane caught it beneath his foot.
Levian’s heart lurched, and she glanced about the room at all the others, worried her plan might not have been as clever as she’d thought. Levian spotted Barith’s sister, Judith, her eyes glowing faintly as she clung to the platform’s edge out of sight, her signal that they were all in position. Relief cut through her anxieties.
Vane picked up the orb and inspected it closely. “This is far better than the Heart Orb," he told her, his voice dripping with smugness. “If only you weren’t too much a brat and too stupid to know how to use it.”
Levian glowered at him. She didn’t know what the orb could be if it weren’t the Heart Orb, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it now, even if his ominous tone made her skin crawl. “You’ll never find the rest!” she hissed, trying to draw everyone’s attention to her.
Vane dropped the orb in his jacket pocket and looked about the room. Levian’s heart stopped. When he turned back to her, he smirked and said, “Actually, I think you’ll tell me exactly where to find the rest, or I'll start carving your dragon into little pieces."
Barith let out a muffled snarl, the masked figure shifting to press the tip of their sword into a stretch of his exposed wing between the silver netting. Levian shifted against her shadowy restraints at Barith’s snarls but felt relieved. Her shielding spells had worked. Vane couldn’t sense the others.
“I don’t play games,” she snapped smugly. “But that doesn’t mean I fight fair.”
Suddenly, a burst of flame lit the platform as Cat shot out of the sky and kneed the masked thief, knocking the sword away. She growled, her throat and eyes burning with fire.
Judith flew in from the darkness, swinging her sword at Tsuki. The half-fae vanished in a cloud of ash to dodge the attack. Vane snarled, sending a ball of shadow flying toward Cat just as a blinding flash filled the platform, followed by a crack that sent thick clouds of purple gas swirling everywhere. After that, all Hells broke loose.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Levian coughed and twisted against the shadows wrapped around her, each movement causing the dark tendrils to tighten painfully. The snarls of combat, clanging swords, and muffled coughs echoing as the dense purple smoke swallowed the stone platform.
The smoke cracker buried in her enchanted bag had been so old Levian hadn’t been sure it would work for more than a few seconds—enough time for Jude to create a diversion and allow the other reinforcements to rush in unseen. The thick haze of the cracker filled every inch of the space, burning Levian’s eyes and making it difficult to breathe. Apparently, she’d made it more potent than she’d remembered—and had added a flair of purple.
With a grunt and significant effort, Levian managed to tap a finger against the shadow binding her, sending an array of her violet magick skittering through it until it shattered.
Freed, Levian dove forward into the fray, the ground beneath her trembling with the force of the ongoing battle. Behind her, a snarl echoed, and Barith's roar came from the archway to her right. She slunk deeper into the fog, moving toward the glow of his blazing fire. Suddenly, a short silver blade cut sharplythrough the haze. Levian barely managed to twist out of the way as Tsuki slashed at her with a sharp snarl.
Levian responded by sending a pulse of violet magic at her, the energy knocking away Tsuki’s second sharp strike, forcing her back. The half-fae woman snarled, her dark, round eyes flashing angrily as she lunged at Levian, delivering several quick, relentless strikes. Levian stumbled backward, panting, her heart pounding against her ribs. She managed to deflect the blows with magick until she unleashed a blast straight into Tsuki's chest. The force of the hit sent Tsuki hurtling backward, disappearing into the swirling fog.
Levian's breathing was ragged, her body trembling with nerves. She felt the sudden shudder of magic ripple through the air—a shift that told her Vane was conjuring something. The oppressive energy thickened as monstrous spectral creatures made of black shadow rose from the stone. One of them growled before it sprung straight for her, its hollow eyes locked onto hers.
With a gasp, Levian summoned a haphazard spell of dispersal, shaping it into a small violet sword that appeared in her hand. When the creature swiped for her throat, she struck it mid-air, slicing off an arm and then a leg. It roared, swiping at her again. Its claws raked across her shoulder, leaving searing lines of pain. She hissed but retaliated, plunging her blade into the creature's chest. It writhed, its form flickering, before she sent a pulse of magick into its face, causing it to disintegrate into nothing. Vane's back became visible through the shifting fog just beyond.
Levian stepped forward and realized he was looming over a fallen and unarmed Judith. Tendrils of shadow held one of Judith's wings outstretched while Vane raised a fae silver sword, ready to sever it.
Without hesitation, Levian hurled a blast of magick, and it smashed into Vane's arm. He snarled, dropping the sword. Shesent another pulse toward him, which he dispersed with shadow, disrupting his concentration enough to release Judith. The dragon scrambled forward with a swirl of furious fire, snatching the sword beside her. Before she could strike, one of Vane's shadowy creatures lunged through the fog, grabbing her and pulling her out of sight with a snarl.
Levian hurled several more pulses of magick at Vane. He deflected the first strike out of sheer luck and the others with a semblance of skill, his eyes narrowing with visceral contempt. Sweat dripped from his face, his expression twisted in rage. He raised his hand, and two of his spectral creatures came at Levian from either side.