As soon as Anastasia saw the dagger hurling at her, she stopped it midair by thrusting her hands in front of her and seizing it with all the snow that she summoned. The snow rose like a mound and caught the dagger within a few seconds. Siora burst out laughing.
"Now you know that no one can harm me, because the fae princess has vowed to save me," she snarled. The magic in her was throbbing in her temple. She wanted to release it more. She whipped her head to look around to find Iona. The dizzying hum of magic was still pushing her, twisting her on the inside. Her gaze rested on Rolfe who was now walking towards her, with his horns straightening. "This is going to be fun!" she hissed. "I will roast you, bastard. I will roast your wife and the baby in her womb. Now no one can stop me from grabbing my throne back. Once I kill you, I will stake my claim!"
"Motherrrr!" Rolfe roared. His eyes flickered a black and without warning he hurled flames at her. Siora wasn't ready for it. She was blasted to the wall behind her.
"Save me, Anastasia!" she screamed. "You have to save me. You can't let me be killed!"
Bound by the vow, the next beams of light, Rolfe hurled at Siora, were blocked by Anastasia. Rolfe roared again. He looked at Ileus who was now trying to block Anastasia's magic as Rolfe summoned more magic by raising his hands. The violent winds that were whipping their hair, picked up speed creating a small tornado in the middle of the hall. It pulled everything around it including the glass pieces. The table in the center lifted in the air and Rolfe propelled it all towards his mother. They all were shoved in her direction. Anastasia didn't get a chance to block Rolfe.
Siora moved her arms in front of her to save her face, as everything in the room piled over her one by one. She sank under its weight. Kaizan who was still next to Anastasia snarled in her direction, his lips peeled to the back, as he slowly prowled towards that heap. When he reached there, he sniffed the place to check whether she was alive or not. There was complete silence in the room and one could hear only the winds that swept across the hall. Suddenly, Kaizan turned and lunged towards Anastasia. He pinned her down, covering her with his body, and the next moment the heap exploded. Every piece hurled back in their direction.
"Fuck!" Ileus growled and then lunged at Siora to tackle her with his fists. He punched her across her face and kicked her right in the middle of her belly. Siora skidded some ten feet on the floor. She shouted, "You have to save me, Anastasia!" The got up and with her horns pointing in Ileus's direction, she rammed right into him. But Ileus burst in his shadows and smoke and Siora ran right through him. Her horns stabbed into the wall on the other side. A part chipped and she roared in pain. She pulled herself out of it with massive strength and looked back at Ileus. Her skin was bruised heavily. Blood was oozing out of the cuts and nicks. Her right ear was bleeding. Her chest heaved out of all the fury and breathlessness. She wanted to fight back Ileus, but she thought that she would waste her magic on him, so instead, she turned to Iona, whom she had spotted just before Rolfe had hurled his magic towards her. The girl was standing behind the debris of cabinets.
Their gaze met and Iona looked… scared. Her hand went to her belly. Lightly, she shook her head.
Siora chuckled. Summoning the pool of magic that had coiled and coiled inside her all this time, she hurled it all towards Iona.
Iona screamed as everyone in the hall looked at the light beams that traveled to her. Iona's eyes became wide with fear. This was the end of her? Rolfe's heart sank and his knees became wobbly. "Iona…" he called her but the words never made it to his throat. Tears stung in his eyes. He had spent such beautiful moments with his mate that they all were too good to be true. All his dreams, all his life's ambitions were going to shatter in a moment. He had asked her to go out of the hall, but she didn't go because he knew in his heart that she couldn't see her mate standing alone and fighting for her. He knew that she wanted to be with him till the end of the earth, and in the new life. Tears dropped from his eyes. His mother won.
"You bitch!" Siora shouted. "You will die, as I planned." She increased the intensity of her magic. But suddenly, she felt as if her magic was being stopped. She pushed more magic out of her to add to the one that she was throwing at Iona, but that also met with resistance. She looked up through her magic and found… Adrianna.
Adrianna had used a magic shield around her daughter and stopped Siora's magic. The orange fiery light beams that Siora was hurling at Iona, they fell over the shield as if falling over a cage, and cascaded down to the floor. Siora was stunned. Where the hell did Adrianna come from?
Taking advantage of the situation, Ileus and Rolfe sent thick flame her way, and she was blasted back into the wall. Siora fell with a thud and as she landed, a bone in her body cracked. The air was thick with smoke and fire and snow and wind. She coughed as she tried to get up. But before she could get up, she found Adrianna standing in front of her, no, floating in the air in front of her, with eyes that flickered as golden as her son. She growled, "Don't you get up Iona, because I am about to give you the taste of your medicine!"
Though shocked upon her entry, Siora stared at Adrianna. From the corner of her eye, she saw Anastasia drifting towards them, her wings booming with every beat.
"You are supposed to save me, Anastasia!" Siora said. "You vowed to the Lore. Are you breaking your promise? If you do that, you will die!" She pointed at Adrianna. "This woman is here to kill me. Now either kill her, or save me from her. Heck, you have to stop your husband and my son from killing me!"
Anastasia had come to stand right beside Adrianna. "Of course, I am going to save you Siora," she replied with a smile. "I am going to fill you with life, with a lot of life!"
Siora tilted her head and then started laughing. "Then do so!"
"Do you promise to take all 'life' from me?" asked Anastasia.
"Well, yes!" Siora replied. How foolish Anastasia was.
With a soft smile, Anastasia said, "Thanks for vowing. Then here you go." She pointed her finger towards Siora and magic started flowing out of her body towards the demoness. It surrounded her.
Suddenly, Siora's eyes flew wide open. She understood what Anastasia was doing. "Nooooo! Stop!" Siora screamed.. Anastasia was adding to the pool of her magic. Life… Unbearable…