Magic Binds by Ilona Andrews Read Free Book Online Page A

remember all their faces. They blend. The door is already wide open and you were the one who opened it. Are you ready for me to walk through it?”
    A shadow crossed his face. I felt the magic rise within him like a brilliant new star being born from the empty darkness.
    â€œMy proud daughter, my sensitive, kind child, compassionate toward her enemy, you have saved one man from his fate. But what will you do about them?”
    Magic rolled from him. The empty field to the left of us shimmered. Crosses appeared, like a mirage in the desert manifesting in the wavering hot air. Men and women, young and old, hanging from the wood. Oh dear God . . . There had to be thirty crosses in that field. The bodies sagged, completely still. Nobody moved.
    The odor reached me, the awful polluting stench of human flesh rotting. They were dead. All of them.
    Ice rolled down my back. The horror of it was too much.
    Roland looked at the lone survivor on the cross. The face of the Iron Dog contorted. His cross was facing the others.
    â€œYou made him watch.” They died in agony, one by one, and the Iron Dog saw it all.
    â€œYou have no idea of the things I’m capable of. You cannot stand against me. When I ordered him to kill these people, it was a kindness. He disobeyed and would not give them swift death, so I showed him what his defiance cost.”
    The ice reached the small of my back and exploded into an inferno. Roland was watching me now to make sure I got the message.
Oh no, Father. Don’t worry. I’ve got it.
    â€œBut for his disobedience, this wouldn’t have come to pass.”
    My magic screamed and bucked inside me, trying to break free, leaking into my voice.
“No.”
    Roland’s eyes narrowed.
    â€œYou speak as if it’s some outside force that tortured and murdered these people. As if it’s some disaster that was inevitable, and you, through yourbenevolence, tried to hold it off, but your subordinates failed you. But it’s you. You decided to kill them. You decided to crucify them. You. You are the source of this evil. It’s your fault, not his. You are the sick bastard who decided that he has the right to mass murder.”
    Roland recoiled. His eyes blazed. His magic shot out in a furious torrent, boiling like a thundercloud around him.
    Screw it. I let go. My power burst out of me, matching his. The castle wall shuddered under us.
    I glared at him.
“You have no right. Have you ever wondered why you always have to burn and kill your way to power? Why nobody ever comes and says, ‘Please, mighty Nimrod, lead us’? It’s because your reign brings pain and suffering. Nobody wants you in charge.”
    â€œYOU WILL NOT SPEAK TO ME LIKE THIS.”
    His magic splayed out, shooting up. Wind tore at me, raging out of nowhere. The stones under us rattled. Several stone blocks slid out, tumbling over the edge. In the courtyard, people cringed.
    â€œYou’re a usurper, Father. You keep doing horrible things for the greater good, but there is no greater good. There is only this.”
I pointed at the crosses.
“This is what our family stands for. Not for peace, happiness, or progress. This is your legacy. You’re a tyrant. The evil creature that people use to scare their children at night. On this entire planet, you are the only person who thinks you are fit to rule.”
    â€œSILENCE!”
    The blast of magic hit me, nearly taking me off my feet. Oh no. He would not shut me up. I had things I needed to get off my chest. They’d been building for months.
    My magic surged back. If it had a voice, it would’ve roared.
    â€œYou can’t handle any authority but your own. Even now, it gnaws at you that I have this city. You can’t let it go. You scheme, and manipulate, and push me, and when I’m forced to retaliate, you’ll placate your guilty conscience by telling yourself you gave me a choice. If only I would go