“How dense are you?” he asked, his voice laced with venom. “I have to destroy my own flesh and blood, because you, his supposed shieldbearer, were too weak. I now have to do the unthinkable, because you…you…are a poor excuse of a friend and brother. Go back to whatever hole you crawled out of. I’ll do you the favor of killing you, once I’m done with Tristan.”
I heard Peaches whine, and then saw him crumple over on his side.
“Peaches! What did you do to him?” I asked as the anger surged. “What did you do?”
“I put a little something in his sausage,” Dex said, stepping back as I ran to Peaches’ side. “Even something as simple as feeding your bondmate, even in that, you’re incompetent. Removing you will be doing the world a favor.”
“I take care of him just fine,” I said, checking Peaches. “C’mon, boy.”
“Ignorance in the world is a bad thing. Willful ignorance with power…well, that’s a dangerous and lethal thing, and should be destroyed whenever encountered.”
“Destroyed?”
“Even now, boy,” he said, looking down at me and shaking his head. “You don’t understand. Some people are truly too stupid to live.”
“What did you do?” I asked again, focusing on my hellhound. Peaches was still breathing, but he was knocked out cold. “You drugged him?”
“I removed him from the equation,” Dex answered, his voice grim. “I don’t need him trying to rescue you when you’re undone. After your bond is broken, sadly, I’ll have to put him down, too. He’s too dangerous to leave alive. A shame, really. At least he was honorable; he knew what it meant to protect his own, unlike the bloody Chosen Victim of Kali.”
“You know what, old man?” I said, standing slowly and shaking out my hands as the anger took over. “Let’s not wait. I’m here now. You want to ‘remove’ me? Do it.”
I never saw the blast.
That’s how fast he was. One moment I was standing up and daring him to remove me, and the next, I was sailing across the courtyard. I hit the far wall hard and fell to the ground, with the wind knocked out of me.
“You think you can challenge me, boy?” Dex called out as he walked toward me. “I’m not old because I’m lucky; I’m old because I fight dirty. No rules and no quarter given. You may not be a mage, but at least you can die like one.”
“No quarter asked,” I said, getting into a crouch, drawing Grim Whisper and firing in one smooth motion. Ever since the attack at Haven, I was using entropy rounds. I wasn’t going to waste time trying to persuade someone out to kill me.
He waved his hand, creating a wall of green light and deflecting the rounds.
“That’s the best you have?” he jeered. “No wonder you failed Tristan. Just quit, accept your fate and end it, boy. You’re outclassed, outmatched, and outwitted. You have no hope…it’s over.”
“I’m not dead yet.”
“Yes, you are,” he said, his voice low. “The message just hasn’t reached that thick skull of yours.”
He muttered something under his breath and formed a group of six green orbs around his body. The grapefruit-sized orbs were crackling with power and energy, and slowly hovered around him. Every single one of them looked deadly, and somehow I knew, if one of them hit me, it was over…literally.
“Don’t do this, Dex. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Child, not even in your wildest imaginations does there exist a place where you can hurt me,” Dex said, looking around. “Much less in this place. It pains me to do this, but it must be done. I’ll make it quick.”
I saw him take a deep breath and let it out slow. As he exhaled, a thin shield of green energy covered his body completely.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked, suddenly very aware of Dex’s deadly intent. “We both care about Monty.”
“Don’t you dare,” he hissed. “If you cared, my nephew would be whole right now. He’s in this situation because of you.”
“You’re wrong,” I said, trying to find some reason in the madness. “He made a choice. I’m here to help him.”
“This is for the best, really,” he said, with a hint of sadness. “You’ve been a failure, a screw-up, your whole life. It’s why you’re on your own—no family, no friends, no one and nothing.”
“That’s not true and you know it, you old bastard.”
The words stung because they hit close to home.
“I checked, boy,” he said. “They bounced you out of the NYTF—the Shadow Company, for dereliction of duty, wasn’t it? They counted on you, but their trust was misplaced. You failed when it mattered the most…just like with Tristan.”
He had done his homework. Shadow Company and my involvement in it had been scrubbed clean from every database, or so I had been told. Apparently, it hadn’t been scrubbed hard enough.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I could feel my jaw clench involuntarily. We weren’t going to find a resolution today—not while we were both still breathing.
“Oh, I know,” he said, getting closer. “I can smell the fear coming off you, boy. You’re a lying coward if I’ve ever seen one. I’ve seen plenty in my years and you, boy, are the worst of the lot.”
“I may be scared, but I’m no coward.”
“Empty words,” he said with a sneer. “I’ll make sure they’re your last.”
With a nod, the orbs raced at me.
TWENTY-FIVE
The rage broiling inside of me broke, replaced by something else—a calm, calculated coldness. I had no illusion of who and what I was facing. Dex was a skilled, experienced mage. My odds at facing him were abysmal. Worse, he blamed me for Monty’s schism.
The small voice that always ran away, shrieking in fear, stood its ground, faced me, and nodded. This place could very well be where I bought it, but I wasn’t going to show Dex fear, no matter how I felt. If he blamed me, fine. I knew who I was,
