King of Gods (Vampire Crown #2)
Scarlett Dawn & Katherine Rhodes
Chapter One
Kimber
S’Kir
Island of the Unseen Gods
Blood.
A thousand tiny droplets flew from my face.
I had no idea I could bleed like that.
My back slammed against the wall, taking most of the impact of the spell.
I swiped at my nose and found a fist full of blood where the power of Master Dorian’s spell crashed into me.
The hit to the wall would bruise me, badly.
Master Argo chuckled. “He’s going easy on her.”
Master Bebbenel nodded and folded his arms. “He is. It’s ridiculous. She’s the Breaker of the Spine, and she can’t hold off a simple spell.”
From my new vantage point on the ground, I whipped around, throwing a blast of power at their ankles and knocking their feet out from under them.
Master Dorian and Master Tymon let out a loud laugh as Master Argo and Master Bebbenel landed on their asses.
I climbed to my feet.
“He is going easy on you,” Mistress Lunella whispered, wiping the blood from my face with a soft, wet cloth. “Watch yourself. Dorian always plays to win, even in training and practice.”
“Thank you, Mistress Lunella,” I answered.
“You need training. I’ll help you with that.” Mistress Lunella smirked. “After we visit the spa to get your poor battered body some relief. I can’t stop the ass whoopin’ that Dorian is set on handing you. And for all the love, stop calling me ‘mistress.’”
My eyes grew wide. I didn’t know what statement to process first. “What? He only hit me with—”
My thoughts were hacked before they could form. A lasso of power closed around my waist and yanked me back into the practice ring with no mercy.
“Come on, girl!” Master Dorian snapped at me. “Come on! Fight! Use your power!”
I answered him with a scream. “I told you I don’t have a lot!”
“Horseshit!”
Master Dorian flung another spell at me, and all I could do was duck. It flew past me, and Master Argo batted it away without a thought.
I whirled back, and the next spell landed on my shoulder and spun me around, throwing me off balance. I was falling.
Again.
Rolling with the momentum, I managed to tuck my head and end up in a crouched position but facing away from Master Dorian.
I heard the spell, and it struck me right in the back. Jerking me off the ground, it hurled me through the air at least ten feet.
This time, I hit the ground face first, hard.
All the air in my lungs whooshed out in a single breath.
“Get up!” Master Dorian was unrelenting.
I couldn’t move. I desperately rushed to catch my breath.
Another spell hurled through the air, flipping me up and over onto my already bruised back.
“Get up!” Master Dorian stood over me, his hands raised for another assault.
The magic gathered in his hands, and I rolled away as fast as I could. He tried to follow, but the spell hurled into the ground where I had been. Turning myself onto my hands and knees, I scrambled away, putting distance between this merciless asshole and me.
When had I started cursing like this?
I didn’t have time to figure out the answer as another spell pummeled into my other shoulder, spinning me in the other direction.
Now, I was getting mad.
As I spun yet again, I caught sight of Master Dorian. I heaved as large a ball of magic at him as I could muster. He laughed and dodged—and he didn’t see the ball of magic in my other hand.
I flung it at him as he was standing back up, giving me time to stand straight again.
Since he hadn’t given me time to recover, I returned his consideration.
I used a whip of magic to his same hip. Yanking him around, I used a blunt club of magic to smash into his shoulder.
Now, though, Master Dorian was pissed, and I wasn’t prepared for his anger.
Magical hit after magical hit, he came at me. Tossing me in the air like a rag doll, letting me hit the earth again, throwing spells impossibly fast. Inhumanly fast. The magic bent around him when I managed to get a glimpse.
No one should have been able to bend magic like that. It distracted me, and he was able to toss me in the air again.
I was going to hit the ground hard and bruise my bruises.
I grabbed the bent magic Master Dorian was whipping around and pulled it under me. As I bounced off the strings of power, it was easy to find my balance and land with both feet.
A small—the tiniest—flicker of respect danced across his face just as he yanked back his magic and crashed it against me; it sent me into the wall.
Again.
Gasping, I held up a hand. “Stop! Uncle!”
The assault stopped, but Master Dorian held the magic ready.
Lunella was already over to me with the wet cloth, wiping my face off again, finding more blood from the bloody nose that hadn’t healed as well as a dozen new small wounds.
She was smiling. “Good.”
“Good? I just got my ass handed to me.”
“You’re still standing. Hell, you’re still conscious. That’s more than most people can say against Master Dorian.”
I sucked air into my starved lungs, trying to alleviate the burning while the very man who had just beaten the tar out of me strode over.
“Done? You’re done, girl?”
Holding the towel to my bleeding nose, I cocked my head. “Yes, I’m done! You’ve beaten me to a pulp, you sadistic bastard.”
The magic unwound, and he let it settle. “You are pathetic.”
My jaw dropped. “I’m a teacher, not a fighter! You expect me to be good at this the very first time you take me out and beat the crap out of me?”
“You don’t even remember your basic defensive magic.”
“I never took defensive magic!”
The audience of masters fell silent.
Lunella spun me around. “You—what?”
“I never took defensive magic,” I repeated. “I was excused from it because my abilities were so weak. Do you think I’m kidding? Look at me!” I stepped back so she could really see me. “I’m bloody and bruised. My poor clothes are ripped and stained. I don’t know how to fight! I have been a teacher all my life.”
Master Argo folded his arms and cocked a hip. Sheer disgust took up residence on his face, twisting his lip. “Dorian, do you really think this…schoolmarm is the Breaker of the Spine?”
“This is a little ridiculous,” Master Bebbenel agreed.
Tymon stepped forward. “Have you been to the Breaking Cave? Either of you?”
Both masters shook their heads in the negative.
Tymon nodded, his unruly mane of mahogany hair moving with him. “Then cram it.”
“Without reason, that’s the answer?” Master Argo’s eyes flared gold.
Tymon spun to Master Argo. “The rocks of the Spine dance for her, you jackass. They light in her presence and twinkle with her laughter. You have not been to the cave to see that, so I don’t expect you to believe it. That’s why I told you to just cram it, you ignorant bottom feeder!”
Master Argo’s anger burst out of him as a whip of magic. It snapped at Tymon as he walked away, aimed for his neck.
Instinct made me whip my own magic out and grab Master Argo’s before he could touch Tymon. I only imagined bad things happening to Tymon if that lash had wrapped around his neck.
With a hard, angry yank, I pulled Master Argo closer to me. “Why would you ever think attacking someone with a lash of magic to the throat while they walk away was a good idea?”
Master Argo fell to the ground in agony, his features distorting and pain writhing across his face. “Let go, let go!” He started clawing at his arm, tearing at the sleeves.
I stepped back, suddenly afraid.
Lunella’s hand landed on my shoulder. “Release his magic, little one.”
I tossed the string of the lash away from me, and Master Argo spun with the magic. He collapsed on to the cold bricks by the wall.