Eri is scared.Helena can feel it.
She"s surprised she can feel anything over the suffocating waves off rage Kent is emitting but there it is.
Eri backs away but Kent pays her no mind.
It seems to Helena that he is barely even aware of anything happening at the moment.
He seems preoccupied.
"Call your guard dog off!"
Helena almost doesn"t hear the thoughts broadcasted into her mind.
She can barely hear her own thoughts.
"Call him off!"
The notion that she can force Kent to do anything is laughable.
Hasn"t she been trying for years?
No, only the scions of House Auron have the privilege of his undying loyalty and right now she doesn"t think even they can get through to him.
He"s fighting a battle against his own emotions and instincts…
And he"s losing.
That much is clear in violent current of freezing air swirling around him.
What"s more worrying is the ice radiating along the ground where he stands.
It"s a mere trickle of magic that"s escaping his control.
Eventually he"s going to need to disperse all the magic he"s drawn in.
That much power unleashed...
There"s a very good chance that he"ll destroy the castle, if not the entire kingdom, then.
Helena has the urge to bang her head against a wall as she feels Eri"s horror multiply.
She forgot the telepath was listening.
Still, it doesn"t change the urgency of the situation.
All who can should evacuate while Kent can still hold it in.
Helena catches Eri"s nod and knows she"ll take care of it.
Eri and her impotent mage guards make for the door while Kent is still distracted.
That catches his attention.
Helena sees the torrent of icicles forming and reacts without thinking.
"Kent!"
At the sound of his name the icicles fall to the floor where they skitter and shatter harmlessly.
He turns toward her slowly, almost drunkenly.
For a moment she thinks they"ll manage to get pa.s.sed him and out the door.
They don"t, of course.
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A wall of ice springs up to halt their progress.
His physical responses may be sluggish but his magic certainly isn"t.
He stares at Helena like he can"t figure out what or who she is.
It hurts to be on the other end of that gaze, but she pushes it down.
She has enough emotions to deal with without adding her own to the mix.
"Stop it, Kent."
She tries to keep her voice composed and commanding as though she isn"t completely at his mercy and chained to a wall.
His only response is a growl as the anger radiating off him spikes.
It reminds her of a predator who"s had their prey taken away.
There"s confusion under it and that"s what she chooses to address.
"You would never forgive yourself if you hurt an innocent."
His jaw is working long before he makes a verbal response and when he does every word seems like a ch.o.r.e.
"... None… born… are... innocent..."
It strikes her as hilarious how different this is from his usual easy eloquence.
Still, she chooses to focus on the fact that he still has enough presence of mind to answer.
"What about those not yet born?"
There"s a tense silence as she sees those words sink in.
He grits his teeth and slowly the wall of ice retracts.
Helena lets out a breath in relief.
Sure there"s no guarantee they"ll make it out safely, but now they have a chance.
As for herself…
She"s at the mercy of a very p.i.s.sed off high-level mage.