The fire was beginning to spread along the rug to lick along the edges and I struggled against whatever had bespelled my body. My mouth opening too slowly to scream as time slowed and they came to grip me by the arms, marching me towards the trunk.

  Chronomancy.

  But how? It wasn’t possibly to perform on a living thing.

  The rise of my magic didn’t come. My body slowed to the point of near stillness. Only my mind remained untouched by their magic, but even then my thoughts were sluggish to understand what was happening.

  The beast at my core screamed with rage at the disconnect between our mind and our magic.

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  SLAM

  The shutters burst open, hitting against the walls as a strong gust of wind blasted into my room. The strength of it briefly feeding the flames higher, blowing parchment, paperweights, and entire vases onto the floor and shattering the glass.

  The room became prenaturally quiet, and their grips on my arms bruised as their steps faltered. The shadow of the trunk stretched towards us, against the light of the flames as if it was alive, pooling along the ground and stretching in size. The men pulled me a step back as the shadow began to bubbling up like a black ichor, taking form as the walls of the palace itself shook at its presence.

  Two piercing eyes formed within the depths of the shadow, each holding the rage of an inferno as they found mine.

  Mistress...

  The bloodbinding cooed with growing strength as their chronomancy loosened its hold at their fear. The well of my power surging up in response along the tethers of my bonds. Searching as it found the golden thread that connected me to the beast I never thought I’d see again.

  And then, he lunged.