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Mathias fell to his knees, and he clutched his sto the sas crashing Mathias’s syste to heal hiy Without it, healing any faster than a human would be impossible Blood oozed from his wounds as quickly as it left his face It dripped frolared at Ice with accusing eyes

"You said you would," he choked "Concede"

"I lied, just as you did You abducted Sabelle and never had any intention of letting her go freely You intended to use her to manipulate the Doomsday Diary, then kill her"

"Not so stupid, after all," Mathias hissed "But it’s too late"

"What’s this you say?" Blackbourne interjected "Mr d’Arc has Ms Rion?"

"Hostage sorateful that a wizard had locked down the property froone forever

Ice dropped his sword and ran for the force field’s door He had to find Sabelle, now, in case Rhea had seen Mathias’s injury through theand harmed Sabelle in retaliation

Blackbourne call out, "Wait! If you leave the challenge ring before I declare a winner or someone forfeits, Mr d’Arc wins by default"

Damn! Bloody stupid rules He didn’t care Sabelle was more important

"No!" Tynan shouted just outside the ring "Stay Braer--"

"And all we’ve worked for will be lost if you step outside that ring now I’ll end this danger to Sabelle You finish him" Tynan nodded at Mathias

AsMathias to win the Council seat only gave him more power later to hurt her His patience was at a the very end, but he gave Tynan a curt nod, then focused on the opportunity to ensure that Mathias never frightened or harain Time to dish out death

Tynan addressed Blackbourne "Lift the teleportation lock I must reach Mathias’s witch as soon as possible I need the ele, Blackbourne reave it a dramatic wave "It’s been re"

Perfect, Ice thought

Retrieving his sword, Ice crouched before Mathias and pressed the blade to the back of his neck "How does all that pure-hearted blood that’s seeped into your wounds feel? How do you like the enchantony Ice resisted the urge to wince Instead, he noted that Mathias had grown paler He coughed up blood Ice had suspected earlier that his own blood, mixed with the enchantment, would serve as a sort of poison to Mathias’s systeood measure, he would try to sever Mathias’s head from his body Ninety-nine percent of the tiood And with the blade of the sword pressed against the evil wizard’s neck, Ice’s hand treain"

"As you’re so fond of saying, fuck off" Mathias crawled toward the challenge ring’s door

"Stop hied "No one has conceded or won this challenge I cannot interfere"

More bloody stupid rules Did Council the thought to the back of his head, Ice leapt at Mathias The other wizard clutched his stomach as he crawled out the nearly-invisible door Ice latched on to his ankle before Mathias could break free of the challenge ring

"No, you bloody bastard This is a fight to the finish To the death Let’s end it Why don’t you die?"

"You first," Mathias snarled as he tried to pull his leg free froo

Blackbourne tsked and clucked, observing with great concern Ice ignored hi every muscle in his body to reel the other wizard back into the challenge ring, one clawed inch across the floor after another

With a roar, Mathias glared at Ice over his shoulder, then leapt up, pinning Ice to the floor The rip and pressed his forehead into Ice’s

Fuck Having Mathias panting in his face an to drain, pouring out his body everywhere Mathias touched hiht it crashing down on Mathias’s back again The other wizard bucked and snarled--but didn’t let go

Before Ice could yank the sword free and stab hiain, Mathias bulldozed into his head, created a es of Gailene He’d shared links with others before and knew this was a true memory, one that only Mathias could have put in his head Gailene naked, bloody, pleading for help Begging for Ice to save her

The sight was bad enough, but the words … crushing Ice screahs as she cried, tied down to a filthy bed, shaved, branded A line of Anarki stood behind hi to perforic, too inexperienced with this sort of violence, she sobbed

Ice heard her call for hih his soul Shreds of it flauilt and fury and shame When his own beloved sister had needed him, he had been unable to rescue her Even now, he couldn’t ain

The vision continued, and another wizard knelt to Gailene Her sobs increased She knew the death Mathias planned to deal her and begged for e unfold

"Are you ready to die, begging as your sister did?" Mathias taunted, wand raised

This vision was the past The painful, awful, twisted past, yes But it ritten Done And he could do nothing to change it The future … That he could i Gailene back But the future could be full of bright tomorrows if he could focus on it, on Sabelle, on escape and eli deep inside him, then jerked his body away from the other wizard’s, deter hi his head Muscles screa, he lifted the sword and stabbed Mathias in the shoulder with the sword dipped in good blood and enchantain, and the wizard howled