“Didn’t think so,” Ovailia said, pulling my mind right back to her, only to see her move from my line of sight.
She moved so fast I barely saw her, her body right in front of me one minute and behind me the next. My body tensed in fear as her hand wrapped around my braid as she pulled it down, my back arching uncomfortably at the forced movement.
“You might as well give up now,” she grunted in my ear as the smell of burning hair met my nose. “Die now, die later, what does it matter?”
Her voice ground between her teeth, her words a taunt that hit more in fact than in fiction. She just didn’t need to know it, and right then, it didn’t matter.
I screamed as she pulled me down further, my back aching as the fragile bones bent unnaturally. The smell of the beautiful braid as it burned beneath her fingers hit my nose, the heart-wrenching aroma growing as she destroyed the most precious thing that anyone had ever given me.
I screamed louder at the smell, my heart ripping open at what she was doing. My magic surged in my frenzy, the air prickling as my magic exploded in a flame of white light, the pulse of energy releasing my hair from her grip as she fell away from me.
I had wanted to fight her, to defeat her. But now, smelling the charred remains of Ilyan’s gift, it became more than that. It became an angry flame that wanted to destroy her. I lunged at her as she stumbled away from me, my legs locking around her waist, pinning her beneath me as I compacted her into the dirt. I pressed my hands against her face, my fingers clawing into her as I kept her in place, the fire of my magic working through her body as the earth attempted to swallow her.
The earth beneath us rippled like quicksand as I screamed in anger. The dirt swallowed her body as the ferocity of my magic led it on. My body ached as my heart thundered against my chest, my blood heating as I stared into her, watching her fear seep through her eyes before the movement stopped, her own magic beginning to fight back. The dirt that had been engulfing her began to shake, small explosions popping around us as Ovailia screamed against my hands, sending an explosion of earth right into my face. I fell away from her as the pulse threw me to the ground, the simple weapon blinding me as I scooted away from her over the piles of dirt I was now surrounded by.
I wiped the dirt from my face in a panic, my chest heaving in fear as I tried to regain my vision, knowing she wouldn’t wait. I wiped the dirt from my eyes when her fist made contact with my stomach. I could taste blood and bile on my tounge as lightning struck into a tree right behind her, sending it into a blaze, the dried leaves that covered the ground catching and spreading the fire as it moved to surround us.
The rumble of the earth’s energy roared through me as Ovailia’s hands moved to wrap around my face. She clenched her fingers into my cheeks, pressing against the gentle bones before her hands lunged forward, sending my face into the hard surface of her knee. I screamed in agony as the pain rippled over my face and down my spine, the bones snapping as my nose broke. Blood flowed freely down my face as my magic swelled to heal it, but I knew it wouldn’t be fast enough.
I knew it would be foolish to wait.
My head spun as the blood flowed, a sight I knew would kill me threatening to break through. I fought it, knowing that if I were to black out for even a moment, Ovailia would end me. I couldn’t let that happen, even if I were to survive it; I couldn’t risk Edmund finding out that I was a Drak.
I was beginning to understand why Drak’s did not have offensive magic.
The fearful pressure in my chest ached as I spit the blood out of my mouth and pushed the sight away with a gasp, my blood-covered hands jutting forward as I pulled at Ovailia’s slender legs. The action was unexpected and she tumbled to the ground in a heap right onto the already smoldering leaves. She screamed as the fire surrounded her, rolling away from it as she extinguished her now-singed clothes.
I shuffled away from her just as the air prickled with the storm, the magic of the earth screaming into my heart, crying through my fear and telling me what to do.
I wasn’t one to question it.