The ice wraiths circled, keeping a small measure of distance between themselves and their prey, toying with them to increase the pleasure in killing. If Alandra hadn’t been their intended victim, she might have found a small measure of respect for the wraiths’ attempt at fun in battle. As it was, she could only hope her organs wouldn’t soon be dangling from one of their prickly mouths.
In agreement with Aerolus’ prediction that they needed to stay and fight, she nevertheless instinctively reached for the small charm of Mir she wore around her throat. She froze in shock when she found it missing. Without it she couldn’t travel between planes or space.
Her eyes flew to Aerolus, noting his silence and the slight tightening of his lips as he glanced at her neck and away.
“Where is it?” she growled through clenched teeth, watching the wraiths behind the chair with distaste. “You bring this mess to my door, and you steal from me? Your own protector?” She smacked his chest and his eyes narrowed, a huge indicator he wasn’t pleased with her accusation. “I’ve been here for a year without incident. You visit and within hours I’ve got pests.” She glared over his shoulder. “I don’t suppose it occurred to you to conceal your mask.”
At his confusion, she sighed. “You masked your trail here, but did you cover that mask with a mislead? A good hunter looks for what isn’t there as much as what is.”
He kept his eyes on the circling wraiths.
“You covered your magic when you flew here, yes, but you covered it with a huge ball of nothing, clearly announcing your trail.”
He remained silent, but she could see a faint flush on his cheeks. Despite the dire situation they faced, she couldn’t help the tremendous pleasure she felt in instructing an arrogant Storm Lord, her Storm Lord in particular. The Light Bringers always thought they knew everything. Ha. When it came to raw magic, Aerolus was a novice.
“I apologise,” he said stiffly, his eyes darkening as he looked over her shoulder. “Follow my lead and hold on.”
That had to be the briefest apology she’d ever received. “What—”
A dense pressure invaded her body and mind, a subtle popping in her ears breaking the void where thought had once been.
As she blinked to regain her bearings, she watched Aerolus teleport back to the opposite side of the room, drawing most of the Netharat in his direction. Amazed, she could only stare, stupefied, as he turned from a calm, together sorcerer into a savage warrior bent on the decimation of their enemy.
Winds howled, and small swirls of air sucked the creatures in and crushed them into nothing. He muttered spells under his breath and some ice wraiths began melting, while others imploded, screaming bloody hell all around her.
Shocked at the actual violence pouring from the man she thought she knew, she was unprepared for the blast of blue fire from a nearby wraith.
At her small shriek, Aerolus shot a funnel of sheer Light at her attacker, shoving it into the wall, splattering wraith blood and guts across the stone. He flashed to her side and flashed away again, taking her with him into Trudy’s house.
“Are you okay?” He sounded breathless, his gaze bright with concern as he ran his hands over her abdomen where the blast had hit.
She looked down and saw the large, seared hole in her dress and cursed. “Do you have any idea how much this dress is worth?”
He blinked in disbelief as her skin absorbed the faint cast of blue surrounding the burn, healing as if she’d never been marked. Touching her stomach, he caused knots of need to develop within her. That he did so and didn’t seem to know it irritated her all the more.
“Take us back there, right now.” She glared and shoved his hand from her stomach, barely easing the ache within her. Sexual frustration, need and anger warred for dominance, and she defensively let go of her rage. “I’m not happy with the Netharat at all. And you left four of them alive.” When he only stood there staring at her dumbly, she grabbed him and wrapped her arms around his middle. “Well? While we’re young, Aerolus.”
Shaking his head, he squeezed her tight. “We’re going to talk about this when it’s over.” And suddenly she was dizzy and back in her gory refuge again.
“You leave them to me,” she ordered, hurrying to shake off the lingering fog from her mind.
“Alandra—”
The remaining four wraiths screeched with outrage and surprise when she and Aerolus reappeared. Before the creatures could do any more damage, she threw a spell of shadow over them, clouding their vision.
Immediately running into their midst, she ignored Aerolus’ shout and shimmered into the form of an ice wraith. Entering their small group, she began sucking the energy from the two behind her, invisible wisps of their power diffusing into her core. She could see the transfer easily, a being one with magic. She wondered if Aerolus saw anything other than shadow.
Clearing the obscure spell from the wraiths, she watched as they realised five, and not four of them, now stood together.
“How?” one asked.
“Trickery,” another shrieked as it felt its power being drained. She deliberately fed its power to the wraith across from it.
“That one,” she cried, pointing to the brightest of the lot. “It is the Wind Mage’s pet, an illusory Aellei! Kill it!”
The healthy wraith in front of her began raining slashing blows upon the accused wraith, which floundered for freedom as it died. Alandra felt more than saw the creatures behind her emptying of the pitiful force they called life, and would have felt sorrow had she not learned in the past that most wraiths warranted such retaliation. Two low thumps told her they too had crossed to the Next.
Only two wraiths remained now, Alandra and the enemy. They looked at one another before shifting their focus to Aerolus, who stared at them with an inscrutable look on his face.
“The master wishes him dead.”
“But can we not play a bit?” she whined, enjoying her deception. She couldn’t help it. Fooling the wraith was child’s play, but thoughts of tricking Aerolus made her giddy with joy. Games and trickery were better to an Aellei than chocolate, and she didn’t make the analogy lightly.
Aerolus stared at the two of them, no doubt wondering which of the wraiths was real. As the creature next to her took a step towards him, heavy winds whipped at her mage’s hair and tore at his clothes, as much a shield as an awesome weapon of attack.
His defensive posture made her sigh. He wasn’t going to be sporting about this. So much for playing with the last one. “Oh, hell, you can have him,” she muttered and shimmered back into herself.
He didn’t so much as blink as he wiped the remaining wraith into oblivion with a wave of his hand—right into the only unsoiled section of her room.
“This is going to take forever to clean.”
His eyes refused to leave her, the intensity of his stare making her uncomfortable.
“What?”
“I think it’s time you told me more about the Aellei and just what you’re capable of. Because until today, I’d have sworn the only beings impervious to blue fire were the wraiths and their evil kin, the Dark Lords.”
Silver eyes burned through her, lingering on her unharmed stomach. “Tell me again how the Aellei and the Dark Lords split all those years ago.”
She didn’t care for the accusation in his tone and crossed her arms over her chest. Reaching for her missing charm, irritation turned to anger. This on top of all she’d done for Tanselm, for him.
“I don’t have to explain myself to you of all people, Light Bringer.” She sneered, glad to feel angry instead of constantly in lust with him, for a change. “What’s wrong, Aerolus? Did I insult your manly pride by not needing you in there? Or is it that I’m obviously stronger than you when it comes to magic? I would never leave a trail so bright a wraith could follow it.” The disdainful glance she passed over him had him clenching his jaw. “I still have trouble reminding myself why you’re worth the effort, so back off before you truly offend me.”