CHAPTER21
Ihelp North up as he gets his breath under control. If I can do that for North, then I can do it for the other men, I’ll find a way.
I want these ropes undone. I raise my hands up again and do the glamour once more, picturing the ropes undoing and falling, sending my two other mates down to the ground, to freedom.
Cain and Raven go crashing to the floor this time, both coughing and sore. All three of my men are littered with bruises and struggle to get up, to stand, shaking out their limbs to get the blood flow back into them.
I fling myself at them, wrapping my arms around them and kissing them repeatedly. Relief and joy fills me to know that I’m not going to lose them, that we’re still all together.
“How did you do that?” Cain gasps out, his voice rough from the ropes.
“I don’t know!” I admit. “I just wanted it to be real so badly, I wanted it to happen, and I could picture it happening with my glamour, it was just, kind of an instinct, I guess, and then the next thing I knew it was actually happening. I don’t know what I did differently.”
“Glamours are illusions,” North says. “That wasn’t a glamour. That was altering reality.”
Could it be true? I’m connected to every other fae. I seem to have their powers magnified. Glamours give the illusion of reality changing. Could it be that I have enough power that all the glamours combined makes my ability go from giving the impression of change to real, solid, actual alteration?
Raven hugs me tightly. “That was amazing. However you did it.”
“The question is, can I do it again,” I ponder.
“Of course you can,” Cain says. “If you did it once then you can do it again. This isn’t the kind of thing that’s a fluke.”
“What are you thinking?” North says quietly, his gaze searching my face.
“I’m thinking,” I say slowly, “that if I can alter reality… I know there’s one piece of reality I’d really like to alter.”
I can see my mates are on the same wavelength that I am. I doubt I could destroy Roanac completely with the power of altering reality. It’s a pretty damn hard thing to do, to wipe someone from existence or take their life. Even just making the ropes unwind took a lot out of me.
Ripping open his chest wound, however, to make him vulnerable…
I smile at my mates, who all smirk back at me. “Let’s get this asshole.”
CHAPTER22
Outside the temple, it’s absolute chaos as we suspected. I’m glad to see that our three-pronged attack is holding strong, especially the fae since I wasn’t commanding them while I was distracted by my mates being in danger.
I send out positive messages to the fae through our bond so that they’re heartened and don’t think that I’ve abandoned them. From my vantage point behind the enemy lines, coming in from the back, I can see where we need to go next, and I direct the fae accordingly. The shifter and vampire factions then adjust to go with it.
We’re all working together as one united front, and it thrills me. I never imagined, even just a few weeks ago, that I’d ever see the day.
Our armies are going up against Roanac and his shades. The shades are proving to be more of a nuisance than anything else. We can’t coordinate a main attack on Roanac if we’re busy having to deal with these shades attacking us all the time. It’s like having a bunch of ants in your kitchen.
Roanac himself is almost as powerful as an entire army of his own. He’s sending out blasts of pure power and lightning that are pulverizing people, literally. And the more time he gets, the more his magical power grows, which saps the strength of everyone around him. The darkness that flows from him is killing the life all around him, and that includes us.
Fuck. We have to move quickly if we’re going to have a chance at killing him before we’re defeated and out of energy.
There’s no time to lose. I stick my hand out and imagine sinking my nails into that line on his chest, ripping out the stitches, wrenching it open and exposing it to the world. I want it so badly. I want it more than anything. Once Roanac is dead, my mates and I will be safe. All of the fae will be safe.
I’m aware of it this time, doing it consciously and knowing what’s going to happen, so I can feel it as the world of reality around me begins to shift and re-knit itself. Like I’m adjusting threads in a piece of fabric.
Roanac has his back to us. A stupid move, but he probably figured we’d die in whatever his traps were so there was no reason to worry about it. Hopefully now that overconfidence will be his downfall.
Come on, come on, come on…
I picture it happening in my head, just like a glamour, and I can feel it when it happens. Roanac whips around to see me, his eyes blazing black with rage, and he roars in anger and pain as the wound on his chest unseals itself and is open once more.
That’s my goddamn blood he’s got inside of him. I want it out,now.