Burned

Chapter Six

     A knife slid by my thigh, nearly cutting through the fabric of my jeans and I knew that play time was over. He was getting serious which meant that it wouldn’t be long before he was using his own sort of fire power.

     “This is ridiculous!” I called out, managing to get a few feet more between us. “You know neither of us can afford to die, you idiot!”

     Ice formed suddenly along the ground, expanding out a few meters before stopping. I let out a curse at the sight of it and my gaze turned to Valin, his hand steaming lightly from the attack.

     “You know I can’t afford to let this go on,” he replied coolly. “This farce had gone on far too long, dear friend.”

     His voice turned a bit colder at the last so words and I knew my only hope was to incapacitate him—or, at the very least, hope that someone came out and stopped him.

     I knew Valin too well. As a mercenary, he would take down the head of what served as the rebellion in front of other people. He was too clean for that. He would want to play it off as if another from the Icen Lands had come and done it.

     And I knew he was very capable of that. More than I cared to admit.

     I withdrew my hands from my pocked slowly, shifting into a better position to attack and avoid. I saw the change in Valin’s eyes as he grew more serious and I closed my eyes for an instant.

     This would be my only chance to get him down. If I ruined it, then I was completely screwed. It was a secret weapon of mine that he had never come across before. I knew he wouldn’t have because it was something that only ran along my family bloodline and stayed secret between my family members.

     No one else in the entire universe knew.

     My hands clamped down on his shoulders, squeezing tightly, and his eyes went wide as he looked back at me. A sharp pain erupted in my stomach and I gasp, forcing a small amount of my power into him.

     The bright crackle of electricity shone out, erupting in sharp sparks from his body as a good thousand volts went through him. His body jerked and, even with that, he was still moving.

     I felt the sharp turn of the knife and I recoiled, leaping back and managing to put a bit of space between us. My fingers tightened around the weapon’s handle and I pulled it out with a sharp tug.

     Sending the electricity in at the moment had made him aim a bit too low and he had just barely missed the important stuff. I winced, clutching the wound but I knew I would be fine. It was barely a scratch-type wound for a member of the fey.

     That didn’t meant that it didn’t hurt like Hell, though.

     Valin fell onto one knee, his breathing labored at he glared up at me. His eyes were colder than ice as they met my own and I couldn’t help a smile that curved along my lips, taunting.

     I had always liked having the one up on him. Maybe I wasn’t so grown up after all.

     “What was that?” he demanded, struggling to stand but only serving to fall over in his process.

     “A family secret,” I returned, challenging him to try and stand once again. “Unless you want blasted again, I think you need to cool it. You’re supposed to be the cold one, remember?”

     His gaze hardened and I smiled at him.

     “Valin, what was the real reason for attacking me now? You had plenty other opportunities to do it…why did you wait until now? You could’ve killed me off ages ago and no one would’ve known.”