The Beast And The Blessed

Fifty-Three: Joselin

Joselin's P.O.V.

His body rose. The oversized, wooden chair fell backward with a loud crack as his feet lifted off the floor. Guards, including Tobias, quickly removed Natalie and Killian from the table. It was his job. But as I watched Cyrus rise until his knees were aligned with the top of the table, possessed by an unknown force, I had one second where I wished Tobias had rushed to my rescue instead.

I scoffed at that thought as quickly as it came to mind. We both knew that I could handle myself, even if I were feeling under the weather.

I'm sure Natalie could too, but I had way more experience with magic than her. She was strong and good with light magic, but I knew light and dark magic thanks to my time with Talia. This... was dark magic.

Cyrus's scream cut off as his head was thrown back. His veins bulged from his body, and his already pale skin turned a sickly shade of grey.

I stepped toward him. Tobias's chair between us had been pushed several feet back during his rush to get the queen out.

My hand lifted, and I slowly approached Cyrus, wanting to feel the magic at play, to taste and familiarize myself with it.

The air was thin until I reached the wall of magic, and while chaos surrounded us from the packed dining hall rapidly emptying, I couldn't hear anything beyond the angry gurgling coming from his mouth.

The magic around him was thick and suffocating. Yet, I wasted no time jumping on the table and trying to force his head down to free his airway. A thick bloodstream spilled from his mouth before the pain-filled yell erupted again. The horror in his voice was haunting...familiar.

Aurora approached from his other side, holding her hands onto his body as she began chanting under her breath.

As usual, the rest of the council had been eating in either their chambers or the private dining room, leaving us to combat this evil on our own while we waited for someone to fetch them.

Cyrus shook, his body convulsing as fat tears slid down his cheeks. His arms were out to his sides, and he flinched as if he were fighting against restraints. His arms and legs were spread, his wrists bent so his palms were forward.

I was very familiar with the position he was in.

His pale yellow eyes were squeezed tightly shut as he gasped for breath." No! No!"

A force shot from his body, sending me flying through the air. I flipped once before hitting the ground on my side.

push me right back up.

him doing it. It was his attacker. The person who tried

person I had been hunting was so close, yet I felt like they

man made my chest ache

bowl from the table, I dumped the food onto

would have to face me, and I learned from the best...for a few

bowl filled with his black-laced blood, I

his blood, then

blood like an infection, working its way through his system. It was different than when it happened to me fifteen years ago. I had felt the witches like a thread

barbed. Each time I tried to grab it, it

something. The sobbing cries for it to stop were layered, echoing through

dug deeper into his blood, I could hear it more clearly with each jerk of

as multiple guards tried to form

so thick I could almost taste it, and I turned my head

against, it was almost impossible to ensure the safety of

path, and I turned my hand to them, shoving her and Killian back toward the door. Killian wrapped his arm around her waist, stopping her

comes first. Even if you can help, the risk to you is too great." My eyes dropped down to her stomach, hinting at the reality that

after Agatha and Aurora that day on the battlefield before a dagger was lodged into my back. It was why they always had guards and why every

She knew she had a choice to make too. Either try to save an innocent man who wasn't a member of her direct pack but was still under her rule or

in her face, and my magic sealed them shut. Several guards were stunned and stood frozen as the sound of Natalie throwing magic at the barrier echoed through the room over Cyrus's begging for mercy and cries for help. There weren't many left. As soon as they realized the attack was on Cyrus and not an attack from Cyrus, they ran to take

turned to those that remained. "Stand guard at the door. If she takes down my spell, keep her

and uneasy about protecting the queen

My stomach rolled, and I looked up at Cyrus. Aurora was still at

picking up a knife off the table, the blade glinting under the fluorescent lights. "I'm going to try to slow this down. But I am

wrist, and the tainted blood poured from the wound. His floating body was tense, and

bleed him out to slow their damage. The healers would be back in a moment with

slid it noisily across the floor until it stopped a few inches short of the stream pooling from Cyrus. I dropped to my knees, moving it the