As Liam's body was slammed into the wall by Gordon—no, by the thing he had become—Mystica's mind went numb. The sound of the impact came with a sickening crack that turned her veins to ice.
She immediately began blaming herself. The weight of failure hit her like a dagger to the chest. Of all people, she should've been alert. Seraphina had told her—the Nullify spell would wear off in an hour, maybe even less. She should've been watching the clock.
But she got distracted. Too focused on questioning Gordon. Too obsessed with understanding Sylvathar's plan. She let her guard down.
Worse still, she hadn't placed any magical seals on him. She'd trusted the chains alone to hold a half demon touched by the Gaia Lord.
Two possibilities struck her. Either Gordon had felt the resurgence of his powers and instantly transformed into his Gaia form—or he stayed quiet, waiting, and pretending, just to gather more intel before the strike.
But none of that mattered now.
