Sarafina plunged her hands straight into his chest and funneled fire magick from her seat straight into his. Stefan blocked with his own power at the last moment, but the force of the hit sent him careening backward all the same. He hit a table, flipped over backward, and lay still.

Just when she’d dodged that bullet, a seven-foot-tall daaeman with jet-black hair grabbed her upper arm almost hard enough to snap the bone. She cried out in pain as he whirled her around and slammed her into a table. Pain erupted through her stomach and she fought the urge to collapse on the floor and curl up in a fetal position, retching. No way could she raise power. She’d been rendered helpless.

Then Theo was there, drawing the monster away from her. She heard him calling to her, but she couldn’t respond. Sarafina held her hand to her stomach and drew deep breaths, recovering. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Theo attacking the black-haired daaeman with everything he had.

The second she could, Sarafina drew power and threw it at the back of the Atrika. Fire exploded and he went down with a mighty roar, smoking. Theo met her eyes for only a moment before another Atrika engaged him. Theo could take care of one Atrika. She was worried about Claire and her three.

Adam was also busy with an attacking daaeman, but he kept throwing worried looks over at Claire. She followed Adam’s glance and watched Claire pivot, obviously weary and tapped of energy. The three Atrika circled her, stared her down, scenting her weakness as if the wind carried the clue.

As a whole, the Atrika obviously had it in for Claire. If they had their way, the former handmaiden of the Ytrayi Cae wasn’t leaving this place alive. That was clear enough. They were teaming up on her more than they were Mira, who was the other most powerful witch in the room.

No, the daaeman knew who Claire was. Knew she was the one who’d carried the elium for a time and who had caused the death of two of their best warriors.

And they were holding a hell of a grudge.

Sarafina dove forward, putting herself in front of a redheaded daaeman that clearly intended to extensively torture Claire before he blasted her to Eudae and back. At the same time, she raised a wall of white-hot fire between herself and Claire. She practically collided with Adam, who had extricated himself from the battle. He wrapped his arms around Claire and leapt to the side, rolling her away from the Atrika.

The sheet of fire separated her from the attacking daaeman , but Sarafina knew it wasn’t going to last. She scrambled backward, crab-walking away as she gathered more energy. What she’d done was the equivalent of teasing a grizzly with a platter of salmon.

Guess who was the salmon?