28
Ashadow passed through the sky, blotting out the sun for a second, and that seemed like an appropriate omen as Jaro tracked the soldier to a disused chemist's shop in the dingy side of town. Maia craned her neck to watch the shadow, and swore the cloud had wings.
"Okay, call up as much magic as you can hold onto," Ark said, his back straight and expression severe as he looked them all over. They stood across the street from the chemist's shop, the dirty brown windows shielding them from view. When they were inside, it would make it difficult to see whatever they faced. There was no chance someone who'd produced magic as strong as the mirror would leave this shop unprotected; not being able to see would be a major problem.
"We know this man is strong," Ark went on, his hands clasped behind his back, "and we know he'll hit us with enough magic to weaken a sand giant, but if we work together, we'll overpower him. Azrail, Bryon, your smoke and air works well together—you'll go in first and blast through whatever traps he has set up. Kheir, use your illusions to get into his mind and weaken him. Maia, we'll need you to get us in the front door, dismantle whatever shields he's got around the shop like you did with the house."
Maia swallowed, her eyes widening. "That ... might be tricky."
She'd only done that because she lost control of her power, thinking about Yeven being with her mate. Not something she wanted to recreate.
But she sighed, looking across the street at the dingy shop. If the man in there knewanythingabout Vawn's abduction, they could rescue him by nightfall.
She groaned. "I'll figure it out."
Something was pulling her towards that chemist's shop, an insistent tug on her rib cage, and Maia knew it was the saints urging her. Knew the soldier would be inside this time, and would have answers for them.
"I'll go first," Bryon said to Azrail, throwing a smirk at him. "I'll be able to get through to him, soldier to soldier."
"Grumpy old bastard to grumpy old bastard more like," Maia muttered, but not quiet enough to keep the words from him.
Antagonising him took the edge off her nerves, though, so she shot him a sweet smile and watched his expression darken.
"Focus," Ark growled, in full guard mode. Or general she supposed now. "Maia,focus, you can dismantle the wards; we've seen you do it once, you just need to believe in yourself."
Maia nodded, chewing her lip.
"As for me and Jaromir," Ark said as Jaro shifted back to human form, shifting awkwardly until Az passed him his jacket, "we'll guard the rear and make sure we're not ambushed from behind."
If he kept shifting, he'd run out of the clothes he'd brought from the compound. Maia's heart screwed up tight, worry for her jaguar mate thumping her ribs, right beside her hurt and betrayal. She didn't know how to feel right now, so she distracted herself with memories of Ismene's cruelty.
Her power stirred, wind whipping through the glade at the heart of her soul, but no power blasted from her. She lingered on how it had felt to be crucified, on the agony of tearing the iron from her wing, and how terrified she'd been to wake up that first day and realise she was locked in.
She knew what would trigger herfear, even if anger wouldn't form right now. She preferred to skate around those memories. But if she needed extreme emotion to trigger it…
Maia kept her eyes fixed on the shop across the street as she locked her body and let out all her memories of Etziel torturing her.
Magic blasted through her on instinct, urging her to protect herself.
"Take hold of it," Ark said in a calm command. "You control the power, Maia, not the other way around."
Maia nodded jerkily, staring at the warped glass of the shop and letting all her worst nightmares unfurl in her mind. She remembered the stab of magic, the slice of knives, and Etziel's soft, patient voice, praising her—until his words twisted with cruelty and he laughed at her pleas. Tears strung her eyes now, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction, not then and not now.
"Shit," Kheir breathed, clasping her shoulders. "Maia, you don't have to do whatever you're doing. It's okay, my star, we'll find another way."
"I've got this," she choked out, curling her hands into fists as she felt Etziel's knife bite deep into her stomach. "I'm fine."
She almost had it, the power slashing like a tornado through her. All she had to do was send it at the shop, and it would be done. They'd find Vawn, take him back to Vassalaer, and never have to come here again.
She closed her eyes, the memories more intense in the dark, and she physicallyfelther mates flinch through the bond. It hit her far too late—she wasn't the only one who'd suffered at Etziel's hands. Kheir, her prince, had been cut up by him too.
Maia remembered how she'd found him in that cell, and like a supernova, her power exploded. She wrenched her eyes open and fixed her attention on the shop, a surge of magic moving through her and setting her hands aglow. Her mates moved to cover her from anyone who'd see her silver like a star.
The shield around the shop was slippery, like oil-slick feathers, but Maia's flowers stuck to the tar.
"Careful with the power," Azrail warned gently as she lifted her hand, magic covering her eyes in a sheen and making her feel weightless.
She took a slow breath, feeling concern from all the men around her, and shot her power like an arrow on her exhale. Her hand fell to her side, but it was done. Vines crawled across the front, flowers and leaves piled on the bowed window sills, and branches wove together in a path from where she stood to the door. No slippery magic coated the building; the shields were down.