Finally, I arrived at the scene where Maggie sat atop a mountain of corpses like some gang boss lady. Actually, that picture fitted her more perfectly than any nun or Grand Inquisitor or whatever she was rumored to have been when she was alive.
I stepped through the entrance. Behind me, the others held back as if pressed against a wall. Sulin, Jose, every single one of them stood well away from the threshold. Not one of them had crossed it.
The moment I appeared, their heads turned.
"Boy, where have you been?! I was worried sick about you!"
Jose smiled. "See, I told you the guy was somewhere taking a nap."
Sulin looked at me and said nothing.
I didnât say anything either. Just nodded and started forward when the wiry lady caught my wrist. Her grip trembled, but she didnât let go.
Dull spoke as if translating.
"Youâve not been around, boy. This battle got viciously explosive since you left. I donât know if thatâs even good or bad for us, I really canât tell, but what I can tell is this: I admit youâre strong. Stronger than many here. But that thing sitting there? Itâs on another level from us. Please, donât go near it. From what I witnessed, it could shatter you with a kick."
I gulped. Honestly, I agreed with them.
âMaggie is that fearsome...â
I chuckled.
"She wouldnât want to... unless she wants to get an eviction notice quickly."
I walked forward regardless. Behind me, a few of them shifted as if they wanted to reach out and pull me back but couldnât bring themselves to move any closer.
"Actually, getting an eviction notice will be the least she has to worry about. I wonder whoâd win between her and Kassie."
I chuckled again. Then every nerve in my body fired at once.
My reflexes, sharpened over the past few months, threw me sideways before my brain caught up. A leg wreathed in white radiant flame carved through the space where Iâd been standing and cratered the ground. Debris and shattered stone erupted upward, a thunderous boom tearing across the ruins. Everyone behind me scrambled backward, some tripping over rubble, others shoving each other aside.
Dust swallowed the air.
I rolled to my feet inside the cloud, brushed off my coat, and walked through it. By the time the dust cleared, I was standing in front of Maggie again.
Behind me, the muttering started immediately.
"What â he survived that?! No one survived that!"
"How in the world did he dodge it?"
"I didnât even see him move!"
I scoffed and turned to Maggie. My expression hardened.
"What are you doing?"
She raised those corpse-pale eyes. Glared at me without a word, and then she lunged, blurring into motion.
I backpedaled, listening, and at the right moment I launched forward to meet her. We closed the distance in a heartbeat, faces inches apart.
She flashed me a maddened grin. I flashed her an even more demented one and shoved myself sideways. Then I slammed back into her at a vicious angle. Her head snapped to the side, eyes widening, that mad grin stretching even further.
She snagged my hair before she fully faltered, brought her other hand down like a claw â but something like distant thunder split the air. Maggie wrenched her hand away and the projectile screamed past us, a streak of light that punched through the buildingâs parapet and blew it apart. Shards of stone rained down. The exhausted mercenaries below scrambled for cover, though not all of them made it clear.
Maggieâs face twisted with dark fury as she glared toward the source.
I stared in the same direction. But for a different reason.
"Cressida?"
Maggie coiled to move. I grabbed her wrist first and released a fragment of Emperorâs Presence. My voice dropped low, carrying weight that had nothing to do with volume.
"Thatâs enough."
She stopped. Glared at me.
I held her stare.
"Weâll settle it later. Thatâs Cressida. Iâm not letting you hurt her."
She scoffed and turned away. The next second, she was gone.
My gaze shifted to the distance. Golden light poured across the horizon, washing out details, but I caught a figure sprinting through the ruins.
âIs that really...â
It was. My eyes widened.
"Cress!"
I broke into a run. We collided at a broken ridgeline.
"Cade!"
"Cressida!!"
"Cade, I suffered!!"
I stopped mid-step. "Uh? What happened?"
Her face twisted into a scowl.
"That bastard Blood Mage! He kidnapped me and wanted to take me back home!" She caught herself, the words piling up faster than she could sort them. "Oh right, I havenât told you... my family is quite important. So if the Blood Mage is doing something like this, it must mean he doesnât want to offend my family. Which means that bastard intends to wipe us all out."
She grabbed my sleeve, practically yanking me forward.
"Cade, we have to hurry home to everyone."
I scratched the back of my neck.
"I donât think thereâs any need for us to run back home, really."
Her jaw dropped. Then her brows slammed together, fists clenching at her sides.
"What do you mean?! You donât know â if someone has to go to the extent of kidnapping me to send me back home, thatâs very bad, Cade. Very bad!"
I laughed.
"Whatâs very bad is someone having to face Kassie. I really donât pity them."
I laughed again and yawned.
"Now that everythingâs all over, Iâm feeling sleepy."
Cressida stared at me, mouth still open. I tapped her shoulder and gave her a wicked smile.
"I have a lot of gist too. I also went through a lot, you see."
She was still frozen, looking between me and the crowd.
"Youâre just going to walk away? Arenât you worried about the other?"
I smirked and gave her a dark look.
"Iâd be worried about Blood Mage and whoever decides to attack them, if I were you."