ElaineSomewhere beyond Crescent, something ancient screamed.I remained standing.Not because I was stronger, but because I was human.The Purging Flame devoured magic. My body had no supernatural core for it to tear away, but the mark on the back of my neck burned as though someone were trying to cut me open with a heated knife.“Elaine,” Mom said behind me.I turned.My mother was pale, still weakened by the injuries from her abduction. One hand rested on the table while the other pressed against her chest.The Bellamy fragment floated between us.Its blue glow was the only light that had not disappeared.“Stay away from her,” Arsel ordered the figure.The Flame turned its nonexistent face toward him.For one second, the empty circle in its chest seemed to stare.Arsel did not have Leo. He did not have his Alpha aura, his claws, or his supernatural strength. Even so, he stepped in front of me as though his human body alone could stop a weapon created to kill gods.I pulled him to m
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