Kissed by a Dark Prince(103)

“Here.”

Loren’s eyes shot wide and he quickly shifted his sword, gripping it in both hands before him.

Kordula threw her hand towards him and black ribbons shot at him like spears. Loren ducked and rolled, came to his feet and growled as he brought his sword down in a swift arc aimed straight for her chest. She fanned her fingers out and more thick black bands blocked his sword. They curled around it and Loren quickly withdrew it and distanced himself. He didn’t have time to dance with Kordula. He had to get to Vail and end him before his brother could harm Olivia.

He looked to Bleu and Thorne.

Both males nodded and readied their weapons.

Loren called a portal as Bleu and Thorne attacked Kordula in unison, drawing her attention away from him. The purple and blue light flashed over his body and he leaped forwards and appeared right beside Sable. She gasped and attacked with her long knife, and he blocked with his left forearm. The blade struck harmlessly against his armour and Loren grabbed her and called another portal.

He came out on the other side of the manor, close to the scaffolding that covered it too, and growled when he saw Vail and then froze when he spotted Olivia. She hung from chains near the top of the scaffold, suspended with her arms out beside her and a loop of chain around her neck. The chains were precariously loose and if her hands slipped free of them, the one around her neck would strangle her.

Or worse.

His heart stopped when he realised a chain wasn’t the only thing around her neck. A fine filament caught the glow of the floodlights illuminating the gravel drive and the lower floor of the house.

If Olivia fell, it would decapitate her.

Loren snarled at Vail where he stood several metres away in the large clearing between three floodlights, clutching his side. Blood glistened on his hand and down his leg, and Loren could see the pain written across his pale face and in his dark eyes.

Sable cursed viciously, reached under her arm and sent three throwing knives flying at Vail. Vail easily deflected them with a wave of his hand, sending the blades firing back at them. Loren pulled Sable behind him and blocked each knife with his black sword, knocking them to the ground.

“Get her down,” Loren tossed the words at Sable before he released her, readied his sword in both hands and rushed his brother.

He had to be careful. It would only take a few blasts of telekinetic power to shake the scaffolding and cause Olivia’s death.

Kordula appeared off to Loren’s right as he clashed with Vail, bringing his sword down hard to strike Vail’s twin blades. Thorne appeared swinging his broadsword at her and the tip sliced across her upper left arm. Blood streamed down it and she shrieked at the demon king, who merely grinned at her.

Bleu appeared behind Vail and thrust forwards with his black double-ended spear. Vail disappeared and Loren had to dodge Bleu’s blow, shifting his hips to the right and clumsily knocking the spear away with his black blade. Bleu’s horrified expression was apology enough but the prickle of hairs across the back of Loren’s neck and the way his senses screamed in high alert said it hadn’t been meant as an apology.

Loren swung to face Vail, bringing his sword up at the same time. Too slow. Vail slashed down Loren’s chest, cutting a long gash in his black armour, a savage twist to his expression.

It faded a moment later, turning as horrified as Bleu’s had been, and then Vail growled and stumbled backwards, dropping one of his blades. He pressed his hand to his forehead and screwed his face up as he dug the points of his claws into his scalp, drawing blood.

Kordula shouted something that Loren failed to catch and Vail’s demeanour changed, turning vicious once more. He attacked again, striking hard and fast, driving Loren backwards towards Bleu. Bleu shot past him and engaged Vail, and Loren was thankful for the brief respite.

Bleu ducked and dodged, thrusting and parrying with his spear, keeping Vail on the defensive. Loren turned to check on Thorne and his eyes shot wide as he saw thick black and red bolts flying directly at him. Loren called a portal but wasn’t quick enough. The powerful spell hit him square in the chest, some of the spear-like bolts striking the gash in his armour and sinking deep into his flesh, and he shot backwards.

No.

Loren’s whole body reverberated with the force of the impact as he struck the scaffolding, causing the metal to bend and twist under the strain.

Olivia screamed.





CHAPTER 22


Olivia shrieked as pain tore through her and she came awake, her vision blurring and distorting, making the drop to the ground below her shrink and grow. It focused and she struggled and then wished she hadn’t when her left hand slipped free and she dropped.

Something cold tightened around her throat, cutting off her air supply, and she shot her hand up and reached for her other secured arm. Chains. Olivia stretched and grabbed the ones holding her other arm just as her wrist slipped free. The chain around her neck tightened further, making darkness encroach at the corners of her mind, and something sharp cut into her throat.