Final Enchantment (Unbreakable Force Book 6) by Kara Jaynes Page A

sight.”
    I nodded, still feeling unsure, but withdrew. Grace would help Bernard get people out of the city, but Grace wouldn’t leave herself. Not with Bran in so much danger. I turned to leave Grace’s room, but stopped when I felt her hand lightly touch my shoulder. “Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, it’s not going to be safe.”
    I shrugged her hand away. “I’ve already lost Aaric.” My voice sounded harsh in my ears. “I’m not going to lose Bran, too.” Grace had told me where he’d gone. The fool man was going to attack the Twyli alone. He thought he was, anyway. I was about to change that.
    “Do you love him then?” Grace asked. The words sounded strangled.
    I stared at her perplexed. “Why would you think that?”
    “You grew up together and were best friends,” she replied, her expression growing more anxious. “You share connections with him that I don’t have.” Her expression turned bitter. “I’m not a nomad.”
    I would have laughed in her face if I wasn’t worried it would turn to tears. “Bran was my best friend growing up,” I admitted, “but he’s not Aaric.” I placed my hand over my heart. “Nomad’s honor, it will never go past that. I still care for him, but Bran and I have changed too much for our relationship to go any further.”
    The blonde woman nodded. “Please make sure he comes back.”
    I slipped out of the Flores mansion and sprinted down a side alley close to their home. Magistrate Bernard had already sent evacuation alarms through the city, and there was a franticness to the air as people filed through the streets toward the western gates, hoping to find safety in Harbor.
    I quickened my pace to a trot, taking the less crowded way to the eastern gates—where the eastern gates had stood, anyway. Once I left the city behind, it wouldn’t be a problem tracking Bran.
    Walking through the ruined rubble, I left Ruis behind, the wide open plains stretching before me.
    The Twyli army.
    It was huge, like a great, black wave, stretching beyond my range of sight, each Twyli ready to kill.
    What chance did Ruis have?
    Then I saw him; a solitary figure standing before the massive darkness, brown hair pulled back in his customary tail, the magic wreathing his wrists and hands.
    Bran.
    I screamed his name, but the wind whipped the sound away from him, and he didn’t hear me. He lifted his hands, and even from this distance I could feel the magic swell from him. An impossible amount of power, how could he bear it? The magic surged from him, and the land before him buckled and crumbled, in some spots rising, in some areas dipping. It would be extremely difficult and slow to cross, especially for so many people.
    The enchantment rose from him again, and lightning shot from clear sky, stabbing into the Twyli army, again and again.
    The dark crowd milled about like a kicked anthill.
    Bran spun in a circle, arms held up, and the wind rose up in a gale, spinning into the Twyli horde. Men were tossed about like leaves, falling to the earth with sickening suddenness. But though the army was obviously in distress, and many were dying or injured, none of them ran.
    Why wouldn’t they run?
    Bran paused in his onslaught, and within a moment, I could see why. Or rather, I could feel why.
    Enchantment rose from the army; not the enchantment from individual soldiers. It was coming from two sources. Dark, evil, twisted enchantment.
    At the head of the army, leaving their soldiers behind, walked the Twyli prince and his sister. Hand in hand, they walked toward Bran.
    Fear prickled my scalp; I could feel the strength of the Twyli twins; each was weaker than Bran with the sky jewel, but together . . . they were stronger.
    The magic swelled from them and the land that Bran had devastated, flattened. They quickened their steps, running across the plains at an unbelievable speed, deflecting the wind, fire and lightning Bran hurtled at them.
    I sprinted toward Bran, but I knew that I