The sound of wings beating—ones that she had grown so used to in Zor'gan… the bat-like wings that emitted the foul smell with every flap was strong and near.
Anastasia swirled and her eyes met with the yellow slits of her cousin. Her bat-like wings flapped on her back and every stroke emanated a stench.
"Bloody bitch!" Maple said.
"An enthusiastic response," Anastasia snarled.
Without warning an arrow whizzed towards them. Ileus spun and shielded Anastasia's body with his. The arrow struck him in the back. His body jerked and he cursed in Russian.
An enraged roar left her mouth and magic unfurled. Her first response was to send magic in the direction of the arrow. Loud screams were heard amidst shouts of "Bloody lion!"
"You have done well in the past few days, cousin!" said Maple in a voice so dangerous that the hair on her neck stood up.
Anastasia masked her dread. Seeing Maple in front of her brought every memory associated with her. "And I see that you are without pretension!" she rasped. "So who is your father—Seraph or Kar'den?"
Maple stared at her with hatred. "How dare you say anything to my mother?"
"There's more, Maple," said Anastasia as she swiveled her sword in her hand. She was feeling murderous. "Etaya was Kar'den's whore. She still is!"
"Anastasia!" Maple shouted and attacked her with a yellow beam of light that was barbed.
Anastasia ducked and avoided it. She looked towards her husband and noticed that his wound had begun healing. That sight had a soothing effect on her and hands stopped trembling. She focused on her enemy. She was one of the best swordsmen according to Iskra. And now with her newfound power, she knew she had quick reflexes and could anticipate the movement of the opponent.
"Stay safe," he commanded. "Aim for the heart," he said, thrusting the jāmbiya in her hand, and then disappeared from there.
Anastasia looked at Maple as she sheathed the jāmbiya. She lifted her sword and charged at Maple when a burning pain cut across her skin as an arrow from somewhere grazed her arm. She gritted her teeth and then rushed towards a thicket in order to lure Maple out of that frenzy where screams of pain and howls and roars pierced the atmosphere. In the thicket, she saw a flash of movement and then some shadows moved. The faes. She ignored them knowing that Maple was on the trail and that they couldn't do a thing because they were just shadows.
When she was alone in the thicket of trees, she spun and was now face to face with Maple. "What a bitch you are?" she laughed. "Scared of me already?" She was flying above the ground.
Anastasia noticed that her wings had been unshackled, which meant that if Aed Ruad wanted, he could have got her wings unlocked too, but the conspiracy ran too deep. "I see that last time's injury wasn't enough. You can still fly but barely."
"What kind of a fae are you who can't even fly?" Maple lifted her hands up to make a move but Anastasia shot forward, slipped on the ground and was right beneath her. She grabbed her leg and using every ounce of strength, she thrust the dagger in her thigh, driving it as deep as possible.
"I am this kind of a fae," she growled. Maple screamed in pain as she fell on the ground. Anastasia held her dagger fast in her hands, so when she fell, blood spurted out like a fountain. The magic crackling in her hands vanished when she hit a thick log on the ground.
"I am going to kill you!" she shouted as she got up and turned around, her eyes flickering yellow. She smelled like putrid meat and Anastasia thought she would puke. She flapped her wings and then rose in the air. She circled Anastasia, throwing a barrage of lethal beams, which she deftly dodged with her sword that glinted a fiery gold with every light.
From the corner of her eyes, Anastasia could see ancient inscriptions on the sword and she was dazzled by them.
"This time I am going to take you back with me, you little bitch! I am going to tie you in the dungeon and whip you so badly that you would ask me, beg me to kill you!" Maple said and lunged at her.
Anastasia focused on her and suddenly every movement turned into slow motion. She could make out what Maple was about to do. She jumped high in the air, spun around and swung a kick in her chest. The impact was so bad that Maple fell on the ground again as air whooshed out of her lungs. She realized that Anastasia had sliced her just below the chest as a searing pain burned her torso.
Her eyes flew wide open. Not able to accept what was happening to her, she charged at Anastasia with whatever strength was left in her. But she didn't know how the girl anticipated her movement because the moment she flung her hands with the deadly red and blue beams, Anastasia also flung the same beams towards her. The force of her magic was so strong that she had to walk back to keep the balance. In order to apply more power to her beams, she flapped her wings to go off the ground. A flash of movement caught her eyes on the right and she whipped her head to see who it was, but before she could make out, icy-cold shadows touched her on the back. Her blood chilled. "Ileus!" she breathed. There was a flurry of movement behind her. In an instant she dropped on the ground with her wings shackled all over again. "Noooo! You bastard!" she shouted and spun to tackle him but the man was all smoke and shadows.
He disappeared from there and appeared right behind Anastasia and suddenly something happened. He touched her back with his hands.
Maple's body stiffened with dread as her mouth fell to the floor.
With a loud scream of pain, Anastasia flared open her wings. Her beautiful white wings that had been shackled ever since she was ten years old, flared wide open into huge, mesmerizing, soft and gorgeous white wings. She looked like an… angel in front of a dark wizard.
Tears streamed out of Anastasia's eyes when her wings unfurled. Ileus caught her from behind before she could fall on the ground. He wrapped both his arms around her waist as she carried the weight of her mature wings for the first time.
"What did you do, sweetheart?" she said breathlessly with tears as the sound of arrows buzzing in the air, intense flares of magical light and fire swept around them. There was chaos and death.
"I stole the magic again, sweetheart," he said and kissed her temple. "Why do you think I spared her last time?"
Anastasia's lips curled through her pain.
Maple shrieked as she charged at them with frustration. She hadn't imagined that the dark wizard would be able to steal the Elders' unshackling magic from her wings and replace it with the old magic of locking her wings again. Only he could do it. The Dark Prince was brilliant.
