Page 153 of Commanding Blood And Bonds
Once. Twice. Three times. I jumped back and forth, dragging clusters of screaming mortals into the shaded grass. But I felt the power thinning, slipping.
No. No. No.
God, I could do this for hours—if I had my own well.
Fuck it. One more.
I landed hard on corporate carpet, lungs seizing, the sound of evacuating chaos crashing into me.
Get out, now! Ansel’s voice snarled in my mind.
My mouth went dry.
I…I can’t leave them, Dad. I—
Now!
That wasn’t my father. That was the Third of Grayshell giving an order.
I scanned the floor one last time. A woman clutching a baby. A lunch pail hanging from her elbow.
Shit.
I sprinted. Wrapped my arms around both her and the baby and jumped. We hit the ground harder than before, my knees screaming at the impact. The baby burst out crying as the woman staggered to her feet, eyes wide, staring back toward the building.
“My…my husband. My husband!”
“Fuck.”
I leapt again.
Inside, a confused-looking man with too much belly and no neck was yelling into the now-empty office. Terrified Reyna’s magic had run dry, I bolted for him.
“Here! Run!”
His eyes met mine. I snatched his hand. The world twisted—like we fell through the floor and rose through the grass—and landed.
Holy shit, we did it.
The woman dropped to her knees, weeping. The three of them folded together, sobbing in the grass as I stood there panting.
The sound of my name caught my attention, and I jumped to Ansel, the last ember of power flickering through my fingers.
“Here. Fine,” I gasped. “I’ve got to take Reyna more seriously during training. Hard to follow a Barbie, but—”
BOOM.
I hit the ground in a crouch, hands flying to my ears. Ansel’s arms wrapped over my head, shielding me.
We watched in mute horror as the building crumbled.
A plume of dust and debris blasted into the city.
No.
We were out of time.
Cyrus
