Nyles heaved and retched again. "You bastard!" she said in a hoarse voice but vomited again. More pink froth came out of her mouth when she wiped her sleeve over her lips. Her breath was ragged. Shifting her gaze to Anastasia she croaked, "Someone— someone stop her!" 

Anastasia turned to look at her. Nyles was hobbling towards her with her hand on her chest. For the first time, Anastasia understood as to why she couldn't fly and the knowledge filled her with more rage. Her eyes started blazing.

Her gaze went to Ileus. He was on his knees as Ráild had attacked him with full force. Kaizan was right behind him. 

"At your back!" Anastasia shouted and Ileus immediately slid on the floor to where Kaizan was. 

Ráild's sword met with the guard who was in front of him and it pierced his groin. The Fae left his sword and tumbled down holding his groin and looking disbelievingly at Ráild. His crotch area was covered with so much blood that the Fae fainted. The sword had sliced his shin guard and gone deep into his pelvis. 

Ileus took the opportunity. He brought his hands up to Ráild's wings and sent a blast of energy. Ráild felt as if ice-cold wind had exploded on his back. His wings snapped shut despite resistance and he came crashing down. Shocked as hell, he looked at Ileus. 

"What are you?" he asked with wide eyes. 

"Someone you shouldn't have messed with!" he hissed. 

But the next moment, Ráild got up to fight him. 

Suddenly a Fae guard pounced on Anastasia. Just like Iskra had trained her, she knew where to attack them first. As soon as the guard flapped his wings and charged at her with his sword, she fell backwards. The sword glided right over her. Anastasia emerged from the other side and plunged the dagger right in the middle of his back on the spine. The Fae screeched as his body arched forward. She took the dagger out, jumped higher, spun in the air and sheared his wings. A dagger shot from somewhere and hit his Adam's apple. The guard was on the floor. 

Anastasia ran to the railing again and looked at the water below her. The clusters were dying to touch her. She focused on the energy that was pulling her to the bioluminescence. It was humming in her body. She felt the prickle of the energy in her body as it flowed through her skin and then she heard a crackling sound, as if electricity had passed through her hands. She opened her eyes and saw that her hands were covered with crackling white beams. They zapped as they coursed around her fingers and feeling… it was satisfying, exhilarating. Her eyes became violet with sparkles of silver dancing in the irises. Anastasia started glowing as the magic coursed in her body. 

At once the clusters broke the water surface and she pulled them up as if peeling them off the surface, and they gladly listened to her. She formed a loop with her hand and the pink and blue clusters that now resembled like thousands of tiny sparkling gemstones followed her order. They swirled to form a loop. 

"Stop her!" Nyles said in a breathy voice. She increased her pace, trying to find the dagger but it wasn't there. She looked at Anastasia who was now standing in front of a large portal that was buzzing over the lake at the bridge's level. 

Anastasia slowly turned to look at the guards. She directed a stream of clusters to move in Nyles' direction. It came, looped around her ankle and lifted her upside down. 

"Were you looking for this dagger, Nyles?" she asked, showing it to her, as Nyles screamed with horror looking at her from the air. "You shouldn't have stolen it from me."

Once again Anastasia threw the dagger in her direction. It flew right at Nyles and cleaved her nose and came back to her amidst blood curdling cries. "This will keep you alive but not without thinking about me!" 

Saying that Anastasia directed more loops in the direction of other guards who were all pulled up by the clusters. It was as if a large sea animal with numerous arms projecting out of the portal and looping around the guards with those arms. 

Ráild was stunned. "It can't be possible!" he blurted. "Her magic is suppressed." 

Fury burned in her blood. "Go back!" Anastasia said, her voice booming. She flung her hands towards the portal steering the stream of luminescence to throw them inside the portal. And the luminescence—it followed her orders. As soon as all of them were tossed inside, she closed her hands and the portal disintegrated with all the shiny particles drifting back into the lake. 

She pulled back all the magic and it was… exhausting as hell. Ileus came right next to her before she collapsed on the ground, her knees weak. He picked her up and kissed her temple. "You were incredible!" he said and tucked her against his chest. 

Anastasia looked at him with heavy eyelids, which were involuntarily drifting shut. She had sagged in his arms and said, "Ileus, I—" her speech trailed off. Her hand hung limply. 

Nyles betrayed her… The realization gnawed her soul. She had given her so many benefits of doubt. She has been with her since they were children. How did she grow apart? What did she do that made Nyles drift apart? A tear rolled out. 

"Shh," he quieted her. "Relax, Ana. Don't think about her."

She looked at him from under her thick eyelashes with teary eyes. How did he know she was thinking about Nyles? She felt as if her whole energy had drained off. The feeling of excitement, that thrum of energy, that freshness in her chest, it had all ebbed down. There was heaviness in her limbs and her heartbeat had become slower. She was not able to focus on what was happening and all she wanted was to sleep in his arms, to drift into darkness. 

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