Except, it wasn’t my Quandary side that I engaged to fight back, but a new link to unexpected Warrior magic.
Zeph.
I also sensed Shade.
What is happening to me? I asked, suddenly cold and hot all at once. Stop this madness!
I threw out my arms, forcing Emelyn to let go of me, and screamed as the cyclone released me from its smoky grip. I landed with a thump, my pants tearing as my knees met the knifelike grass below.
My chest heaved, breaths coming in and out of me in sharp gusts.
Too much magic. There’s too much! I expelled my mounting energy into the ground below, forcing wave after wave of the overwhelming surge to go deep into the earth. Only, I felt Shade and Zeph absorbing it through our bonds. Kols, too.
And a fourth source I didn’t understand.
A source that reminded me of home.
My eyes widened as I realized what that had to mean—I was feeding dark energy into the earth source! I immediately pulled back, collapsing onto my side into a ball of shivering nonsense.
Abomination, I told myself. This is why everyone fears us.
Because I couldn’t control it.
I couldn’t stop it.
And I’d just attacked my home. My element. My very reason for being.
I reached out on a tentative strand, begging whatever fae gods existed that I hadn’t done any permanent harm. But as I poked at my earth energy, I found nothing nefarious or changed. Just my deep-rooted connection to the existence of life.
My brow furrowed. That’s impossible. I felt the fourth link, the—
“Aflora!” Emelyn shrieked, forcing my attention to her and the threats surrounding us.
My lips parted in shock.
We were no longer in the training yard, but in the LethaForest.
And the encroaching shadows whispered danger.
Emelyn sent a sizzling web toward one, which resulted in a sharp, screeching echo to sound through the black tree trunks.
Hot, acrid smoke billowed in the air.
This was not the same part of the LethaForest I’d visited with my mates, but a deeper section that clearly didn’t see fae life often. Because streams of fiery liquid slicked the obsidian rocks, one of which was less than a foot from my prone form. Had I landed just a few inches to the left, I’d have been burned alive.
“Fae…,” I breathed, glancing around to gather my bearings.
The sky overhead lacked stars, the inky curtain creating an icy atmosphere that the flame streams heated and illuminated in shades of red and orange.
“Aflora!” Emelyn shouted again, fear etched into her voice.
A rock creature of some kind came toward her, the fingertips long talons of black flames. It lashed out at her, catching her wrist. She cried out in pain, her spells no match for the monster.
I forced myself to my feet, careful of the surrounding terrain, and searched for my wand.
Where did I—
The thing’s talons whipped out of its opposite hand, encircling her throat and forcing me to act on instinct. A spell left my mouth—one I had never learned—and hit the being directly in the torso. The creature grated out a loud, crunching growl, then exploded into a mound of pebbles.