His smile was so vicious, so undeniably depraved—and yet she couldn’t look away.

“This mage is still alive. The person responsible for your father’s death is alive,” he told her. “It’s someone powerful, someone on the Magic Council. I could tell you who it is. If…”

“If?”

“If you agree to join me.”

Sera was so tired of being hunted and hated. His words sang to her soul, swaddling it like a warm, comforting blanket. Vengeance. It took every shred of willpower in Sera to shake her head in refusal.

“You are strong, Sera. Strong and far too stubborn for your own good. You allow yourself to be hunted. No, that is not the proper order of things. The strong should hunt the weak. Your first act as my sentinel and hunter will be to kill this mage who sent the assassin that killed your father. You will wipe away the old and bring in the new. They don’t understand. The crime of even considering ending you is unforgivable. They are monsters. The members of the Magic Council are monsters.”

He had a point, one that she’d made many times before. There were monsters on the Magic Council, but not every one of them was one.

“No,” she said.

I’m Ready. My magic is synched with yours. It’s time for us to blast out of here, her dragon told her.

Sera stepped forward, magic charging on her, building up. Her arms shook, her pulse pounding hard and heavy. She’d never felt so much magic inside of her, screaming to get out. She wanted to let loose. She wanted to burn them all.

Hold your horses there, cowgirl. We’re strong, but we’re not that strong. Mr. Death there has too much power. Plow a path through his flunkies and run like hell.

“You don’t care about my pain or my family or even justice,” Sera told Alden. “You only care about your power, your magic, your order. In other words, yourself. You want to use me like you’ve been using these poor people here.” She swept her hand around, indicating the magic-drunk mages. “I won’t make people stop thinking of me as a monster by acting like one.”

“They will always see you as a monster.”

“Maybe some,” she allowed. “But not all.”

“You are naive. Take your new boyfriend, the dragon.”

Sera stiffened.

“If he found out what you are, he’d turn on you.”

“That’s not true.”

“Isn’t it?”

Magic flashed, and Sera shielded her eyes with her hands. When she opened them again, she wasn’t in the cavern. She was standing opposite Kai.

“Abomination,” he spat, igniting the air with his rage. “Vile creature.” Dragon scales rolled across his arms.

“I thought you’d understand. You said I could tell you anything,” she said, reaching for him.

He shrugged her hand off. “I thought you were dabbling in something benign. Like blood or demon magic. Not this.” His eyes burned with hatred. “You are a monster. I don’t know how you survived this long, but I will correct that mistake.”

Magic pulsed out of him, blasting her across the room. Her back hit the wall in a crunch of agony. Tears and blood slid down her face, blurring her vision. Kai was stomping toward her, ready to finish what he’d started.

It’s not real.

She wiped her face with the back of her hand, glaring at him, willing herself to fight the illusion. Kai kept coming. He wasn’t going anywhere. Not until she made him.

She pushed up from the ground, pain cutting across her body. She felt like she was being burned alive. Slowly—too slowly—she managed to get to her feet. Kai’s fist pounded her against the wall. The back of her head was slick with blood. It gushed down her neck, staining her body red. He swung at her again. Ignoring the explosions going off inside her head, she caught his fist and slammed him against the wall. As he shattered, the illusion broke as well.

She was back in the cavern, Alden’s forehead was pressed to hers, his fingers gripping the back of her head. She threw her head forward, butting him hard in the forehead. He stumbled back and fell on his ass.

“You’re the real monster,” she said, glaring down at him. “And I clean up monsters.”

Then she blasted him with her magic. His head hit the ground, and she didn’t stop to see how long it would take him to get up again. She ran hard for the doorway, hurling a second blast that sent mages and monsters flailing through the air. The centaur was down. She leapt over him, through the doorway.

“Get her!” Alden’s voice roared from the hollow chamber.

Sera kept running, barreling down the long hallway as fast as her feet could carry her, praying that it led somewhere. She didn’t dare look back to see what was following her, but she could hear them surely enough, a rumble of magic and brutality. Death’s Army.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Death’s Army

SERA’S STRENGTH WAS fading fast. That blast had pretty much sapped her magic dry, and sprinting down an endless hallway to who-knew-where with a band of mages doped up on Grim Reaper magic on her heels wasn’t doing wonders for her stamina either. If she didn’t find the exit soon, she’d have to do something drastic.

More drastic than knocking Alden onto his bony little butt? her dragon sniped.

That wasn’t drastic. It was a calculated strategy. Too bad she hadn’t calculated an exit plan into her strategy.

The air feels better up ahead.

Define better.