Underworld Bride Trials 1 Playboy King - Meg Xuemei X. Page 0,3

I’d be begging for the worst to happen to me if I went against him now.

I snarled, my magic unleashed, even though I was depleted.

A maelstrom of ice rammed into the hounds, and dozens of ice spears impaled their bodies. The Jötunn, however, remained unharmed. Ragnarö must have made him a new shield.

My ice storm swept three hounds into the churning stream, dragging them to the bottom and holding them there while I turned the water to hard ice. Thankfully, water was my second element, or I wouldn’t be able to achieve that with a dry well of magic.

Fayette, Dux, and Archer shot their weapons at the other four hounds nonstop while the hounds tried to pluck my ice spears from their bodies. Despite their countless wounds, the bloodhounds kept coming toward us, though we’d slowed and weakened them.

We crashed into the enemy ranks. Our blades flashed with white light, meeting the claws of steel in the middle. Time to behead these monsters and send them back for a while.

I pushed the most lethal part of my ice magic toward the Jötunn, struggling from the effort, while he held up a hand to fend off my power. Despite my magic, he stepped toward me, driven by his ambition to capture me and claim his reward.

The bloodhounds would never rest until I was delivered.

He moved closer to me with each step.

Pain bit me in half as I drew on the dregs of my magic. I clenched my teeth and finally managed to toss two ice spears into the Jötunn’s chest.

He yowled in agony, yet he still pressed forward. My ex-mate had made this creature stronger with each death. In addition, the Jötunn was an ice creature so unless I had fire at my disposal, I was at a disadvantage.

That was why my team and I had been seeking the flame of inferno all these years, following the prediction of the Weaver of the Fates who had appeared in my dream.

The Jötunn’s claws elongated, preparing to stab me. Gripping the twin daggers in my hands, I tried to slice them off at his wrists, but his steel claws twisted and grabbed the middle of both of my blades. His tongue darted out and morphed into a razor-sharp blade.

My team shouted my name in panic, but they were all locked in their own battles. Archer bellowed in rage, left his opponent, and leapt toward the Jötunn. Before the Jötunn’s sharp tongue could impale me, Archer buried his ice blade into the monster’s back.

“Archer, leave him to me!” I called urgently, knowing he might slow down the Jötunn but he couldn’t defeat him.

Archer’s second blade followed, stabbing into the Jötunn’s neck from the side. The Jötunn shoved my twin swords upward and smashed a claw backward into Archer, piercing his chest. To my horror, the bloodhound that Archer had been fighting appeared and gripped Archer’s body. His blood ran freely, drenching his armor.

White-hot rage and grief tore through me, and a flame burst to life on the peak of my icy storm—I’d given all I had to conjure that last ice magic. The flame engulfed the Jötunn and the rest of the bloodhounds, cremating them, all but the one who had grabbed Archer and was using my second-in-command as a shield.

The surviving bloodhound shot toward the sky, still holding Archer, and before my weakened wind could tear Archer from him, the bloodhound with an enormous snake head vanished. The portal sealed behind them.

“No! No! No!” I screamed, throwing up my hand to reopen it in hopes of getting Archer back, but I didn’t have an ounce of magic left.

I dropped to my knees, crying Archer’s name. My eyes and nose bled, and my fingertips dripped with blood as I attempted to summon my absent magic again and again.

Fayette knelt beside me, holding me, her trembling lips bloodless. She loved Archer and regarded him as more than her commander and friend.

She grabbed my hands to stop me. “My queen, don’t do this. If you try to use magic again when you don’t have any, you’ll die.”

“I don’t care about death,” I said dully. “For every one who was taken from me, a piece of my soul already died.”

“A piece of our souls was torn away from us too,” she said. “But Tessa, do you still care for the people you left behind? Do you care for Dux and me? We’re still with you.”

“How can you ask this?” I sobbed, but I let my hands drop,