Fatal Ties: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 7) by J.A. Cipriano Read Free Book Online
Authors: J.A. Cipriano
as agony shot up the length of my arm, I released all my pent up energy in one explosive arc.
“White Sparrow!” I cried. Fire shot from my hand and swirled up around the frost giant, lashing him down with ropes of fire. He struggled, trying to pull himself free as white light burst from the clouds above and slammed down around Hrym, encasing him in a superheated cylinder of light. It solidified around him, causing flames hotter than the sun to roil around him.
The ice covering his brow melted in a flash of steam as he struggled to escape my spell. Unfortunately for him, every single time he tried to break through the cylindrical barrier of fire, he seemed to melt, reminding me of a green plastic army man left out in the sun for too long. As his melting fists pounded at the spell, I realized I had him beat. If I could keep channeling power into the hungry flames of my spell, Hrym was toast. Literally.
Which was probably why the Vikings charged me. Evidently, they didn’t like how this fight was going, which was fair enough. A wordless snarl echoed from their lips. The thunderous cascade of a million boots on the deck of the ship made my blood run cold, and as I held my hand out toward the spell, I tried to force more power into it. If I could take Hrym down before they reached me, maybe they’d stop. It wasn’t the best plan, sure, but I really hoped it worked because there were way too many of them for me to try to fight them off.
“Die,” I whispered as I forced everything I had into the spell. Sparks snapped and popped all around me as fire leapt from my outstretched palm. It slammed into my spell and made it go practically nuclear. As white hot flames danced across the deck, the ship began to burn, filling the air with acrid smoke. Still, I was forcing way too much power out given my current state.
As my vision went blurry, and I collapsed to my knees on the deck, Isis’s glow faded to a dull glimmer. Damn. I didn’t have much time left. I had to finish this now.
“Get back,” Connor said, his words whipped through the crowd like hurricane. An ocean of darkness exploded from his outstretched hand and flung the Vikings backward like they were made of toothpicks and he was a bowling ball. He took another step forward and drew his hand in a circle that tore the darkness out of the air around us. It fell across the clearing, sealing Hrym and me in a bubble of pitch black void.
I wasn’t sure what Connor had just done, but a sudden surge of icy terror rippled through my body, snapping my focus back into place. Thankfully, before I could freak out, Connor strode through the wall of darkness and shot me a cheeky grin. He looked less taxed by his weird shield of death than I’d look taking out the garbage, which to be fair, was pretty gross most of the time.
“Didn’t want them interfering. Do your thing.” He gave me a thumbs up, and I realized something. Connor was way beyond my ability, and that was no good.
The scent of death clung to his power, and as the darkness undulated around me, I realized who he was. When he said he was the destroyer, he’d meant Nanashi. Jiroushou Manaka had been practically a god amongst the Dioscuri, and he had been so scared of Nanashi, he’d given me Haijiku to try to stop him.
Manaka had killed me in my former life with less effort than it’d have taken to squash a gnat, and even after he’d moved to the great beyond, he hadn’t been scared of much. But he was scared of Nanashi. Actually, scared wasn’t the right word. No, he’d been filled by sheer hysterical terror at the prospect of Nanashi coming back.
I wasn’t sure if Connor had become the actual destroyer destined to level the goddamned planet, but if he was, we were well and truly screwed. The destroyer appeared only in times of great imbalance. He had one goal and one goal only.
Quite simply, he was supposed to destroy everything and set the scales back to zero. He didn’t care about morality or
“White Sparrow!” I cried. Fire shot from my hand and swirled up around the frost giant, lashing him down with ropes of fire. He struggled, trying to pull himself free as white light burst from the clouds above and slammed down around Hrym, encasing him in a superheated cylinder of light. It solidified around him, causing flames hotter than the sun to roil around him.
The ice covering his brow melted in a flash of steam as he struggled to escape my spell. Unfortunately for him, every single time he tried to break through the cylindrical barrier of fire, he seemed to melt, reminding me of a green plastic army man left out in the sun for too long. As his melting fists pounded at the spell, I realized I had him beat. If I could keep channeling power into the hungry flames of my spell, Hrym was toast. Literally.
Which was probably why the Vikings charged me. Evidently, they didn’t like how this fight was going, which was fair enough. A wordless snarl echoed from their lips. The thunderous cascade of a million boots on the deck of the ship made my blood run cold, and as I held my hand out toward the spell, I tried to force more power into it. If I could take Hrym down before they reached me, maybe they’d stop. It wasn’t the best plan, sure, but I really hoped it worked because there were way too many of them for me to try to fight them off.
“Die,” I whispered as I forced everything I had into the spell. Sparks snapped and popped all around me as fire leapt from my outstretched palm. It slammed into my spell and made it go practically nuclear. As white hot flames danced across the deck, the ship began to burn, filling the air with acrid smoke. Still, I was forcing way too much power out given my current state.
As my vision went blurry, and I collapsed to my knees on the deck, Isis’s glow faded to a dull glimmer. Damn. I didn’t have much time left. I had to finish this now.
“Get back,” Connor said, his words whipped through the crowd like hurricane. An ocean of darkness exploded from his outstretched hand and flung the Vikings backward like they were made of toothpicks and he was a bowling ball. He took another step forward and drew his hand in a circle that tore the darkness out of the air around us. It fell across the clearing, sealing Hrym and me in a bubble of pitch black void.
I wasn’t sure what Connor had just done, but a sudden surge of icy terror rippled through my body, snapping my focus back into place. Thankfully, before I could freak out, Connor strode through the wall of darkness and shot me a cheeky grin. He looked less taxed by his weird shield of death than I’d look taking out the garbage, which to be fair, was pretty gross most of the time.
“Didn’t want them interfering. Do your thing.” He gave me a thumbs up, and I realized something. Connor was way beyond my ability, and that was no good.
The scent of death clung to his power, and as the darkness undulated around me, I realized who he was. When he said he was the destroyer, he’d meant Nanashi. Jiroushou Manaka had been practically a god amongst the Dioscuri, and he had been so scared of Nanashi, he’d given me Haijiku to try to stop him.
Manaka had killed me in my former life with less effort than it’d have taken to squash a gnat, and even after he’d moved to the great beyond, he hadn’t been scared of much. But he was scared of Nanashi. Actually, scared wasn’t the right word. No, he’d been filled by sheer hysterical terror at the prospect of Nanashi coming back.
I wasn’t sure if Connor had become the actual destroyer destined to level the goddamned planet, but if he was, we were well and truly screwed. The destroyer appeared only in times of great imbalance. He had one goal and one goal only.
Quite simply, he was supposed to destroy everything and set the scales back to zero. He didn’t care about morality or