Текст книги "The Fallen King"

Автор книги: T. A. Grey

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Текущая страница: 4 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

“One that I must remove. That is all.” He left it at that.

She shook her head in disbelief. “Fine, but I’m not doing it.”

His gaze shot across the fire to her. She flinched. Good, he thought. “You might want to rethink your words, human. I know of someone very precious to you. Someone whose life I could take as easily as I stole you from your home.”

She shot to her feet. “My mother?” she yelled, her cry echoing off the walls.

Alrik let out a stuttering breath as her anger caressed him like a soft hand. His eyes fluttered closed, hand flexed over the hand of his blade. “Yes, I know who she is and where she is. If you are wise you will abide me on my journey. After, you can return to her unharmed both of you will live.” He let his lie hide beneath his dark eyes. He couldn’t stop from noticing the way her heavy breaths moved her quite full breasts up and down in the most erotic way. He jerked his gaze away and stared into the fire, focusing on banishing the unwanted, lustful thoughts.

“Let me get this straight, if I help you kill some woman I don’t know then you’ll return me to my mother?”

“Yes.”

“I’d sooner believe I could throw you through this wall than a bunch of horseshit like that.”

Alrik tensed. He needed her to believe him or this would never work. Standing tall, he stepped into her, backing her into the wall. Her chest flattened against his and he stifled a groan. Quite full breasts indeed.

Her gaze darted anywhere but at his face, but he stared down at her until finally, without a choice, she lifted her chin and met his stare.

“I do not lie.” Lie. “You do this with me and I’ll protect you every step of the way.” Truth. He needed her alive. “After the deed is done, I’ll return you to the earthen-realm and you’ll never hear from me again.” Partial-truth. She’d never make it back to the earthen-realm.

He tried to read her eyes—did she buy it?—but they revealed nothing other than a stony stare.

“Get away from me,” she said. Did his ears betray him or was that a tremble in her voice? His chest expanded and his gaze fell to her mouth. Her lips looked soft, welcoming. A soft sound caressed his ears…a hitch in her breath. A hot knot formed in his chest and shot down to his cock at the sound. Those shapely and pouty lips beckoned a man like a sin.

Before he did something to hurt his cause, he stepped back and took his seat by his weapons.

Picking up his whet stone, he scraped it hard across his blade. For the millionth time he wished things were different, that he was different, but he couldn’t change what was. Couldn’t change who he’d become. But he could kill his mother and hopefully right some past wrongs.

With an edge to his voice he said, “You will help me or I’ll slit your mother’s throat before your eyes. I’ll force you to help me anyway and kill you after the deed is done. You have your choices, now decide.”

The human pressed a hand over her heart. The pained expression on her face hit him strangely in the chest. For some reason the look didn’t fill him with a rush; instead, strangely, guilt ate at him. He didn’t have time to study the emotion he hadn’t felt in so long because he ruthlessly shoved it away.

The human straightened her spine, lifted her chin, and stared down at him with a loathing he welcomed over guilt. “I’ll do it.”

“Good choice.”

In a flash, the look on her face changed. Her arms flattened to her sides, fingers spreading open to the earth. He had only a moment to feel the magic swirl around him before he felt invisible binds wrapping around his body, locking him into place in less than a matter of seconds. Under different circumstances, he might have been overjoyed to see her magic skills used so well. She didn’t even need to speak a spell to cast magic, but he wasn’t overjoyed now.

His eyes flashed to hers and found her light green eyes shining bright like a light in the cave. The binds twisted tighter around him, binding his legs together, his arms to his side, snaking around his chest and squeezing just enough to make it difficult to breathe.

“Stop this, witch,” he warned, his own eyes beginning to glow.

Her body relaxed and she stumbled backwards hitting the wall. She winced, then ran up to him. He sucked in shallow breaths through the invisible binds as he brought forth his own magic. He started chanting the words to break the binds as she picked up one of his swords. She started to lift it but she’d underestimated how heavy demon steel was and dropped it back in the sand before taking off on a sprint.

The last of his spell left him and the binds loosened the magic around him. “Abbigail!” he roared.

He surged to his feet with blazing fury roaring through his veins as he charged after her.

Chapter Six

Water engulfed her. Her mouth filled with it and she swallowed the fresh, cold liquid. The frigid temperature slowed her movements but still she slugged through it and thrust her arms through the water, kicking her legs until her muscles burned. Finally, she saw light above her and shot towards it. She burst to the surface and sucked in a breath of air. Her heart raced and she quickened her movements, paddling swiftly to the surface.

Her feet sank into sand as she stood and, without time to take in her surroundings, she rushed into the forest. It looked strange. The leaves too green, the flowers too pink and red on the buds. Not a tree she’d ever seen before. Aside from the gray and pinkish swirl of the hazy sky above her, the forest looked familiar and she stuck to it, her lungs burning with every breath she took.

She raced through the forest. He had magic skills she’d never witnessed before. Hell, the fact that she’d been able to bind him when she hadn’t used magic in years surprised the hell out of her. She’d just been so mad, so desperate to get away from the demon that some deep-seated magic had come forth.

It didn’t take long for her gait to slow and her muscles to burn. She didn’t run much. In fact, never. Her lungs felt like they were on fire but she couldn’t risk stopping to catch her breath. She could almost feel him right behind her.

The demon was insane. Straight up fell-way-off-the-tree crazy. How did he find her? Why her? Why did his mother curse him? These questions roared in her head with the need for answers.

The forest broke and she stopped, her gaze swinging behind her searching for a dark, deadly man. Maybe his magic wasn’t as good as she thought because he was nowhere in sight. Good, really good. She took in the scene in front of her. The strangeness of it was enough to make her want to stick to the forest but it didn’t seem very big or like the best choice right now. In front of her was rocky, dirt-laden land. Two crumbled stone buildings looking ages old reminded her of an ancient battlefield. What she didn’t find was anything that looked like a city or town and no people.

A sound made her freeze and flatten her back against the tree. She strained, pressing her lips together and breathed as quietly as she could through her nose as she listened. There it was again. The whoosh of leaves being brushed. He was closing in on her!

Without a second thought, she took off on a sprint for the stone building where a small rocky hill led up to it. The incline was too steep to run up so she went on hands and feet and crawled up, kicking up chalky rocks and sending them tumbling down behind her. She winced at the noise she made but continued.

Breathing hard she made it to the top. Her energy waned fast and she found it took her longer to stand up and run for the temple than she wanted. She made it and breathed a sigh of relief as she darted inside. With her back to the cold stone, she tried to collect her wild thoughts. The ceiling of the temple had caved in on one corner, and the inside was empty save for the stone floor.

“Abbigail!” the wild demon roared.

She squeaked then slapped her hand over her mouth to stifle the noise hoping like hell that she wasn’t too late. God he sounded close.

He yelled her name again, this time sounding farther away and off to the left. Her eyes shot wide at her one chance. He’d check in here for sure. Hell, she knew she would if their roles were reversed. She spotted her next goal out of the crooked opening of the temple and saw a fierce mountain in the distance. It looked unused and old. Trees and foliage grew thickly up to the white peak. She didn’t need to go up it; maybe if she could get to the base she could trek around it until she lost him. The forest looked thick enough that she might be able to lose him.

“Abbigail!” His voice came back, closer to the temple.

This was her chance.

She tore out of the opening, her feet slapping against the dirt and rocks. She didn’t turn back to see if he saw her, just kept her eyes on the mountain and mentally calculated the distance. A couple hundred yards at least. The land wasn’t flat but lifted and dipped in waves. Eyes wide, more scared than she’d ever been, even when the demon had come to her house, she let her instincts burst inside her, and flat-out ran.

The mountain came closer and closer, getting bigger as she neared. The heavy, thick tree line surrounding it beckoned her with welcome arms. Something flashed in the trees. She kept running. An animal. A stroke of fear went down her spine but still she ran straight towards it.

A distinct sound came from behind her. Her heartbeat pounded like drums in her ears as she pushed her body harder. He’d spotted her and his heavy steps were coming right after her.

Another flash of movement darted in the forest. She had no clue what kind of wild animals lived in the nether-realm where a variety of demons resided, but none could be as bad as the demon after her. None of them had threatened to kill her mother.

She smiled with joy. Less than fifty yards—nearly there. She’d make it. She heard him calling her name, his heavy steps beating the rocks. After she got a safe way in the forest she’d turn and look back, but not now.

Movement flashed again in the forest. Something shorter than her. That’s all she got to see before it disappeared behind a mass of wide tree trunks. She neared the forest but never got to enter it.

A creature stepped out and she dug her feet into the ground to stop. A scream curled up in her throat but never escaped. Something nasty and very scared uncurled inside her. This thing would kill her without blinking, she just knew it.

It looked like something out of a nightmare. Evil yellow eyes with red spider web veins glared at her. Its bony body looked undernourished with knobby knees, elbows, and knuckles with extra-long fingers sporting a set of black hooded claws worthy of a bear. Surrounding its bony body was a layer of hard looking muscle. Its greenish skin looked leathery and rough to touch. Black claws stuck out sharp looking from its fingertips. The creature peeled its blackish lips back and hissed, bearing rows of sharp pointy yellow teeth.

She’d heard about other demonic creatures in the rift. Evil, horrible ones that feasted off living flesh, whose poison could kill within minutes. Was she staring at one of these creatures?

Abby started walking backwards. Her hammering heart pounded recklessly as the creature took a step towards her and didn’t stop. She wanted to turn and flee but couldn’t give this strange, hairless creature her back. It had green skin and was short probably not even five-feet tall yet its small size didn’t ease any of her fear.

Its jaw snapped open wide like a snake’s mouth detaching its jaw to eat a large prey, then a horrible ear-piercing cry split the air. Abby couldn’t fight her instincts anymore. She turned and ran—straight into the arms of the crazy demon.

“Stay back!” he demanded.

Finally, an order she could comply with. He thrust her away and she toppled backwards landing hard on her butt. Half scooting backwards on her butt, she watched as the demon lifted his arms over his head and unsheathed the two swords from his back.

The creature’s eyes swung to the tall, dark demon, then sprang jumping the clear twenty feet that separated them as if he had bounced off a trampoline. The demon didn’t move. Abbigail watched wide-eyed as time slowed. The demon’s teeth bared, its claws spread open ready to slash as it fell towards the king with a nasty cry. And yet he never moved.

Abby crushed handfuls of dirt in her hands. Her muscles tensed as the creature neared the demon. “Watch out!” she screamed. She didn’t know why she’d decide to help the demon now but she couldn’t take back her scream.

She didn’t need to say anything apparently because as the creature nearly landed on the demon, he slashed his swords in a cross pattern. The creature howled in agony and goopy green blood spurted from its body. It dropped almost neatly at the demon’s feat, twitching as it died.

Abby couldn’t catch her breath. She knew she was shaking but couldn’t do anything about that either. The demon stepped over the creature, and then turned so he faced her. With a cold, hard look in his eyes, he lifted his sword then swung it down in an arc.

Abby screamed as the creature’s head flew from its body, severed.

She couldn’t catch her breath. Her heart wouldn’t slow down. She was breathing too fast and she knew it. All she could do was watch as the demon strode towards her, sheathing his blades with practiced ease. He stopped in front of her with an expression she could only describe as enraged. His hands hung at his sides, curled into tight fists.

“This land is dangerous and you’re not going anywhere. You need me,” he said.

She agreed, but she couldn’t form any words. He studied her, a slow frown forming at his rather nice looking mouth.

“Breathe slowly, Abbigail.”

She shook her head hard. No, she couldn’t. Her breaths came too fast and shallow. She knew a panic attack gripped her. She’d had them before. The most embarrassing of which happened during her first real crime scene.

The demon knelt beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She tried to push away from him but couldn’t do anything more than raise her hands to his chest and curl them in his wet shirt.

“You must breathe slow and deep. Do it now!”

She wanted to slap him for trying to order her not to have a panic attack, but she couldn’t manage to do that either. So there she was. Her escape plan had failed and she now sat in the arms of the man who had threatened to kill her mother and wanted her to murder someone she didn’t even know. Not that knowing the person might make this any easier, but still it was the principle of the matter.

He cursed harshly. Or she guessed that’s what he did because whatever he just said was in Demonish not a language she understood. Pulling her around like a ragdoll, he settled her back against his chest then flattened a hand across her collarbone. Sucking in ragged breaths, she tried to pull away but his hand held her tight.

Then he spoke. “Iridona tradeen k’loshka.” He repeated the strange words and with each passing, her breathing came easier. Her lungs relaxed, air filled her, and her mind calmed.

Exhausted, she relaxed into his arms. Her body felt so weak she didn’t even care that she was using his body as a prop to lean up against. Okay, she cared a bit. After a minute of full normal breathing, she started to lean up. Just what did she say to him? Thanks for saving my life? She didn’t know what social protocol dictated in this kind of situation.

His hand stopped her from getting up. The demon was entirely too strong for his own good.

“What are you doing?” she whispered, her voice ragged from what she hoped was her panic attack.

He didn’t answer. He just held her in this strange position with his arm around her. He was close enough he could choke the life out of her, but he didn’t make any threatening moves, just kept her back to his chest and his hand flat to her collarbone. His thumb swiped once across the bare skin of her neck and something warm pulsed inside her.

“Let me go.” She swallowed over the lump in her throat.

His hand fell away from her, then his body was gone. She teetered backwards before she caught the motion.

“How am I supposed to help you?” she asked.

He gazed out at the land. “Kill my mother, the queen.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“The seer says you have great magical power inside of you. You are the key to killing her.”

Abby’s brow flew up at that. “I haven’t used magic since...well since in the cave, but before that...I mean it’s been years. A really long time. And what seer?” A seer knew about her. Had she met the seer before and just didn’t remember it?

“The Great Seer, one of the last living seers in the nether-realm. He has great wisdom. He told me to find you. He says only you can kill my mother, for the curse upon me won’t let me.”

Finally, he looked back at her. She hadn’t realized she wanted him to until he did. His dark eyes were interesting to look at, especially when they weren’t looking at her like he wanted to rip her head off. “I will help you to train your skills. You will be prepared for the fight.”

A thought hit her like a gunshot. He wanted to train her to use her magic? She didn’t know about this seer or about her being all-powerful or any such nonsense, but she did have some powers. If he helped to train her and make her strong then maybe she’d be strong enough to bind him for much longer or to even knock him out, then she could port home. She’d heard of witches porting, it could be done from such a great distance. It would just take a lot of strength.

“All right, I’ll do it.”

His eyes flared. She’d surprised him.

“Good choice,” he said.

Yeah, except that she was lying.

Chapter Seven

“Try harder!”

Abbigail wiped the sweat from her brow and glowered. “If I tried any harder I might collapse. I am trying.”

Alrik shook his head in frustration and paced in a tight circle. “Obviously not, witch. This isn’t good enough. Close your mind off to everything but your power and feel it inside you. Then push it with your mind out towards me.”

Abby made a gargled noise of frustration. “I’ve been trying to do that this whole time.”

He stalked to her, anger slashing his handsome features into a mask. “Obviously not. Obviously not well enough since you haven’t budged me an inch. Try again.”

“I’m tired and hungry. I need a break.”

His eyes looked up to the sky and he laughed. The sound wasn’t pleasant. “We are not stopping now. I told you, you can eat after you move me with the spell I taught you. Now, try it again.”

Abby wanted to strangle him. They’d been going at this for hours. Magic always took a physical toll on her and right now her body screamed at her to lie down and sleep for a few days. She didn’t know why the spell wasn’t working. Maybe because she’d never tried a spell that would push a person back or maybe because of the spell she used yesterday to bind him had just sapped her abilities for a short time. Hell, she didn’t know but she wished she did. All she knew was that her stomach wouldn’t stop growling, her eyelids kept drifting shut, and her limbs felt heavy as if she’d been holding weights all morning.

Alrik, or, she corrected, King Alrik as he wanted to be called, grabbed a small branch and stood it up against a tree. Crossing back to her, he stepped up behind her and her teeth ground at his proximity. He unsettled her, and boy did she want that feeling to go fast. Apparently, though her mind didn’t trust him one inkling, her body was more than happy to feel him press up against her back. The demon was big in many ways—tall, heavily muscled. He had that whole tall, dark, and handsome thing going for him in a big way. What that little phrase should include is tall, dark, handsome, and insane. The demon was not right in the head. However, she did wonder if it was the curse on him that made him so angry all the time.

Alrik bent low so his voice fell in her ear. His hands grabbed hers and thrust them forward. “Focus on the branch, witch. See the branch falling over, flying back, anything. Just make it move.”

His impatience only fueled her anger. Abby envisioned herself snapping her head backwards and busting his straight nose open, but she couldn’t do that. If she ever wanted to get out of this wretched place and back to her life, she’d need to grow strong. And for that, she needed his help.

She took all that anger, hunger, and exhaustion inside her and focused it on the thin, gnarled tree branch. She pictured her magic thrusting it, sending it flying away from the tree. Her breathing deepened as she narrowed her eyes on it. Nothing happened. She strained, sweat beading her brow and falling down her face in rivulets. The muscles in her arms strained, she squeezed his big hands in hers and willed the stupid branch to move. It didn’t budge. Not even a slight shudder.

“Gah! I can’t do it.” She pulled her hands out of his and stalked away.

“You can’t keep giving up.” He sounded disappointed. A small part of her actually felt guilty about this as if she didn’t want to disappoint him.

She threw her hands up and spun around to face him. He wasn’t the one hungry. He wasn’t the one tired. He wasn’t even breaking a sweat. “I’d say working for hours on this and not seeing a result should win me a break at the very least, dammit.”

His eyes closed and a shuddering breath escaped him. “I’d watch your tone, witch.”

She snorted. “And what’s wrong with my tone?” If she didn’t do one thing wrong, she did another in his mind.

His eyes opened, pierced her. “Your anger fuels me. It’s the nature of the curse.”

Oh, well she didn’t know what to say to that. Her anger fed his anger? Why? To what purpose? To make him a bigger jackass? She wanted to ask, but his eyes flittered away from her and she swore she saw a flash of—uncertainty, vulnerability, or maybe even shame.

That strange look in his eyes made her gentle her voice. “Listen, just let me eat and rest then I’ll try for as long as you want.”

He ground his jaw but made his way to the animal he’d killed earlier. It was a strange looking thing about the size of a rabbit but feathered like a chicken. He called it a fruthorc. From his tall boot, he pulled out a knife and fileted the animal into bite-sized pieces. Once upon a time, the sight of a bloodied animal might have made her disgusted, but she’d seen mutilated bodies. Nothing compared to that. It took something pretty gruesome to roll her stomach anymore.

He stuck the chunks of meat on a slender stick and handed one out to her with a watchful look on his face. “You surprise me again, witch. This dead animal doesn’t faze you?”

She shrugged and took the stick that looked like a shish kabob. She held it over the little fire he’d built earlier. “After you’ve seen some of what I have, it doesn’t really bother me that much.”

He stared into the fire, rolling his stick slowly so the flames licked each side of the meat. “What do you do if you’re not a practicing witch?”

Her gaze jerked to his. He wanted to know something about her? “I’m a medical examiner trainee for the supernatural department of the police department. The whole division just started a few years ago. I’m still new, in training, but with a little more work I’ll have my certification to work without supervision.” He looked over at her, his brow furrowed and she realized he really was curious. So she went on. “That means when someone is found dead, I’m sent in to inspect the body and try to decide how they died whether it was natural, an accident, or a murder.” She left the part out about how she examines bodies in the lab, cutting them open in some cases. To do that work alone, she still had another certification program to go through. In the meantime, she still worked under the steadfast eye of her supervisor Stan.

“I couldn’t imagine you working with the dead in such a way. You look so fresh and young.”

Ignoring the flutter in her belly at his words, she pulled the now cooked meat out of the fire and started blowing on it to cool it faster. It smelled delicious even without any seasoning. She nibbled a piece and moaned. The meaty flavor tasted like steak. She wolfed down the rest of the meat, careful of any splinters that might have gotten stuck in it.

Belly full, she sighed and laid down on the grassy ground. No sooner than her tired eyes closed, Alrik stepped up beside her. “Time to work.”

She groaned. “Let me sleep for a little while.”

“Work now. This isn’t up for argument.”

Grumbling, she opened her eyes to glare at him. Fine. She slowly stood. “Fine, then tell me what you’re the king of.”

He stiffened, apprehension filling his features. “Why do you care to know?” he asked, suspicion clouding his voice.

“Because I’m bored and you want me to kill someone I don’t even know. The least I deserve to know is a little about my kidnapper, right?” And maybe a bit more about this curse and the queen.

He shook his head and walked back to their designated spell casting area some twenty feet from the stupid branch that refused to fall over.

“You don’t need to know anything about me. Just do what I say, human.”

“My name is Abbigail. If that’s too hard then call me Abby.”

Again, his eyes met hers and she felt his look in a warm flutter down to her belly. The demon had a penetrating stare that never ceased to unnerve her with its intensity.

“I was the king of the shahoulin,” he said at length.

She focused on the branch and put the conversation on the back burner of her mind. She tried to conjure her magic and focus on knocking the branch back as he’d shown her he could do so easily.

“That means you’re a shahoulin demon then, right?”

“Yes.” Again, he seemed hesitant to reveal anything about himself. For some reason, that only made her want to learn more about him.

She was adjusting to the crazy demon because when he stepped up behind her she didn’t stiffen. Her body warmed as it did when she used magic, and she thrust her magic out at the tree branch willing it to move. Nothing happened. She took a deep breath and tried again. She couldn’t let frustration get the better of her. She never worked well that way.

“Why aren’t you king anymore?”

He stood just off to the side behind her so she saw his jaw flex in anger. “Stop asking so many questions, witch.”

She wanted to growl. “Stop calling me witch,” she said slowly. The whole ‘witch’ thing got old—fast.

He crossed his arms across his big chest. “You do not order me, witch.”

Anger flared inside her and she focused it on that branch. The branch shuddered then toppled over to the ground. She let out a squeal and commenced her jumping up and down victory dance. She turned to him, a big smile on her face, and held up her hand for a high-five.

He looked to her hand with a puzzled express then slapped it away. “Don’t try to cast magic on me again, witch, or you’ll regret it severely.”

Her hands curled into hard fists at her side. “You are such an ass. I wanted a high-five. I wasn’t trying to cast any damn magic on you.” He didn’t look swayed in the least. She held out a hand to the toppled branch. “Uh, hello, I just used my magic and made that branch fall over. I call that a good job”

He didn’t say anything, but went back to the tree branch. “Then do it again,” he said propping the branch back up against the tree.

The demon had to be the most insufferable man she’d ever met. What she wouldn’t give to slap him good and hard across the face just once. She started to focus on the branch again, then paused.

“No, you answer one of my questions and then I’ll do it. I’m not going to get nothing outta this deal.” She didn’t state that fact that she wanted to grow her magical powers so she could port home. Some things a girl had to keep to herself.

He growled—an actual growl that sounded too bestial to come from a person’s mouth. “You are the most frustrating woman I’ve ever met. If we were in my kingdom I’d have you sent to the dungeons.”

“Oooh,” she taunted in a high-pitched voice.

His dark eyes narrowed on her. “Be cautious, witch. My patience is at an end.”

“Yeah, well, so is mine. What will it hurt to give me some information? It’s not like—” she stopped herself short. Shit, she’d nearly said “it’s not like you’re not planning to kill me anyway.”

“It’s not like what?” he asked.

She shook her head and focused on the branch again. Anything to distract him. It took longer this time, sweat fell from her brow, but she knocked the branch over. It landed softly on the grass

“Good,” he said righting the branch, “but not good enough. You should be able to make it fly through the air at great speed and power.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do,” she said between clenched teeth.

“Then focus harder. You aren’t doing it right.”

That’s it; she either strangled him or exploded. She chose the latter. “Whatever! I’m done with this. You knock the fucking branch over.”

She turned on her heel and marched for the beach. She needed a damn bath and the thought of that only pissed her off more. She had no soap, no shampoo, not even a dang toothbrush. Oh and no change of clothes either. Yeah, this was going to be a great little vacation.

“Abbigail,” he called in a warning voice.

She laughed and didn’t stop or turn around. “Oh, now he uses my name. No, I don’t think so, demon. I’m done for the day. You hear me, d-o-n-e, done.”

God, she’d never been quick to anger. She’d always been a slow boiler but boy did her temper roar at a boil right now. She swore if he so much as laid a hand on her to try to drag her back up to that stupid tree branch she’d scratch his eyes out. Heavy footsteps followed her but she ground her jaw and pretended to ignore it. She broke through the trees and came upon the dark blue lake near their little cove in the water. The water lapped softly at the sandy edge.

“You are not done working, Abbigail.” He sounded pained to say her name as if he couldn’t say it without yelling it. “Get back up there or I swear I’ll–”

Oooh!

She spun around and let all the frustration and anger that had been building throughout the long day fly from her mouth. “Or you’ll what? Magically force me to cast a damn spell? Sorry, but I don’t think even you can do something so ridiculous. I think I did good today. I started not even able to make the stupid little branch move a hair. Now I’ve made it fall over twice, and you know what? I’m wiped. Totally freaking wiped. I’m hot and sweaty, my skin feels sticky, and all I want to do is wipe the dirt and grime off me. And nothing you can do, I mean nothing, will stop me from doing just that, you got me?”