The Shadow Queen (21 page)

L
ORELAI AND
K
OL
were nearly to the other side of the bridge when Sasha swooped through the sky and settled on Lorelai’s shoulder, her bright eyes staring at Kol while she clicked her beak at him.

A
re we clear?
Lorelai asked.
No one on the other side trying to get onto the bridge?

Clear.
Sasha gently butted her head against Lorelai’s.

Keep watch over that side, please. I have something to take care of before I can destroy the bridge.

Sasha spiraled back into the air as Lorelai, Gabril, and Kol walked past the statues on the south side of the bridge.

“I have to touch the water,” Lorelai said as she began climbing down the steep bank to the rushing river below.

Gabril gestured toward Kol. “Get down there with her, son. If the water’s heart fights hers, she’ll be too exhausted to keep herself from falling into the river. I’m trusting you to keep her safe. Don’t let me down.”

He didn’t threaten my life this time. I think I’m growing on him.
Kol’s words were light, but a heaviness lay over his thoughts. Worry that the spell wouldn’t work. That it would reach Eldr too late. That he’d sacrificed so much of himself only to fail.

Lorelai had no words that could make it better, so she plunged her bare hands into the frigid water. The cold was a slap of shock that instantly numbed her skin. The swift-moving current dragged at her fingers.

And magic streaked through her veins to gather in her palms.

The heart of the water instantly surged toward hers. It was merciless power, unyielding strength, and vast patience. Kol wrapped his hands around her waist, anchoring her to the shore, and she whispered her intentions to the water. Begged its heart to see that she meant no harm. That she didn’t want to force it into submission and cause more damage to Ravenspire.

When the water’s heart tangled with her magic until it was hard to tell the difference between the two, she threw back her head and let her magic burn through her.

“Tvor`grada.”
Her voice rang with the power that expanded within her, pushing against her skin like she’d swallowed fire. “Go forth into Eldr and rise until you meet the sky. Form an impassable barrier between the Eldrians and the dark magic that is destroying them from the south.”

The water closest to her hands eddied and swirled, and the bridge trembled as the river pulled away from its course and flowed toward Lorelai. Beneath her palms, the water formed a solid wall and began to rise.

She stood, the water rising with her, engulfing her hands and then towering over her head. The river bubbled and churned as it
lifted toward the sky, a solid wall of water with brilliant threads of magic running through it.

“
Tvor`grada
,” Lorelai yelled, and the threads of magic raced for each other, knotting together and spreading along the southern side of the river’s wall like a tightly woven fisherman’s net of blazing white light. Kol let go of her waist with one hand and reached to touch the water. Sparks bit into his skin as his fingers grazed the water, and he jerked his hand back.

“Now go! Stretch across all Eldr and keep the ogres from crossing your shores.” Lorelai swept her hands to the east, and the wall of water rushed forward with a roar that tore chunks of rocky soil from its banks and sent them tumbling into its depths.

Lorelai kept her hands in the water as the river swept through the Falkrains and into Eldr. As it rushed across the craggy surface of Kol’s kingdom until it reached the Chrysós Sea at the other side.

Whispering her thanks to the water’s heart, she slowly withdrew her hands and tucked them into her sweater for warmth. The wall of water on Ravenspire’s side of the border collapsed with a tremendous splash.

It’s done. Nothing will be able to get past it as long as I’m alive. If the ogres use magic against it, my magic will fight them. I know it isn’t a perfect solution, but—

He pulled her hard against his chest and wrapped his arms around her. His breath came in unsteady jerks, and the relief that threatened to undo him spilled over into her thoughts as well.

Eldr is safe now. Brig is safe.
His hands shook and he fisted
them into the back of her sweater.
I can’t tell you how much that means to me.

I already know.
She leaned her head against the warmth of his chest because he seemed to need it, and because another warmth—bubbly and strange—was unspooling in her stomach and tingling with a magic of its own.

His thoughts spun too fast for her to catch more than glimpses, and she tried her best to give him the space he needed to collect himself by focusing on something else.

Like the way his heart pounded against her ear. Or the way he turned his face into her neck and sent the warmth in her stomach straight to her chest.

“Lorelai, down!” Gabril’s voice was a whiplash of command that Lorelai obeyed instinctively.

Grabbing Kol’s shoulders, she threw them both to the ground and rolled away from the river. An enormous foot made of stone smashed into the bank where seconds ago they’d been standing. Lorelai looked up to see one of the statue kings come to life, his blank eyes staring into hers as he raised his stone sword above his head.

Irina had made her move.

Kol wrapped his arms around her and rolled again as the sword slammed into the ground, slicing deep and sending a chunk of the bank sliding into the river.

She was leaping to her feet before the statue could pull the sword out of the damp ground.
Get to Gabril. Keep him safe. He can’t run.

She sensed Kol’s dragon heart thundering viciously as the statue of a queen leaped from the bank above them and crushed
the rocky shore beneath her feet. The queen whirled toward them, a stone scepter swinging at their heads.

They ducked, and the scepter struck the bank behind them.

I’ll fight Irina. You protect Gabril. Go!

As Kol climbed up the bank to get to Gabril, Lorelai grabbed the queen’s scepter with her bare hands, her magic blazing.

The heart of the stone statue was obstinate and indifferent and completely under Irina’s control. Lorelai felt the whiplash of Irina’s power sizzling against her own.

The king raised his sword as the queen’s enormous hand closed into a fist. Lorelai let go of the scepter and ran.

She leaped over fallen rocks, skimmed across the muddy soil beside the river, and then snatched a gnarled tree root that protruded from the bank above her and swung her body toward the clumps of withered grass at the top. The statues chased her, their massive footsteps shaking the ground.

Gabril is safe. All the statues are coming for you, including the ones from the north. Get away from the bridge, Lorelai. Lorelai!

She focused on her goal, on the purpose that burned within her like a flame.
I came to destroy this bridge. She isn’t going to stop me.
She reached the top of the bank and sprinted for the bridge as all eight statues on the south side of the river lunged toward her, weapons and fists flying. Her focus narrowed, her world nothing but instinct and training.

She leaped over a fist that crashed into the ground in front of her and skidded beneath a falling sword. Flipped backward to avoid the jagged blade of a queen with a gentle smile frozen on her face and was nearly impaled on the crown of another queen who’d gone down on her knees to reach for the princess.

They’re converging. You have no way out.
Kol’s voice was furious. His thoughts raced with panic. With a desperate desire to shift into his dragon and smash the statues to pieces.
Use magic and get out of there. Or . . . oh skies, you used up your power on the river, didn’t you? I’m coming. Hold on.

Stay back.
She dove between the feet of a king with a cropped beard and round cheeks and somersaulted onto the weather-beaten bridge.
Just be ready to help me if I need it.

She didn’t have time to overpower the statues’ hearts with her magic. By the time she forced one of them to obey her, the other seven would crush her. She sprinted toward the middle of the bridge and scrambled to come up with another plan.

The wood beneath her heaved and buckled as the enormous statues from both ends of the structure ran toward her. She ran faster while she frantically catalogued her options.

Huge, heavy stone statues.

A wooden bridge with the hearts of heaven knew how many trees in it.

The river that already obeyed her.

Kol.

A plan with enough flair to have made Leo giddy for a month fell into place as she neared the middle of the bridge. Throwing herself to her knees, she slammed her hands against the wood beneath her as the bridge shuddered and creaked, and the statues thundered closer.

“Please save me from the one who abuses the heart of Ravenspire,” she whispered. Power flared across her hands, and she yelled, “
Kaz`ja
. Heed my command and obey my wishes.”

The heart of the trees that had been used to build the bridge
rushed toward her magic. A pair of kings lunged forward, their feet landing hard. Wood shrieked in protest, and a crack split the bridge beneath Lorelai.

“Catch me,” she told the bridge as the kings raised their swords and swung them toward her.

Lorelai!
Kol’s voice was a blaze of desperate fear as she pulled her feet beneath her and then dove off the side of the bridge toward the swiftly moving river below.

A slender branch unfurled from a crossbeam beneath the bridge, wrapped itself around her waist, and held her suspended above the water.

She grabbed it, magic stinging her palms, and poured her power into the bridge. “
Kaz`ja!
Tear yourself free.”

A queen smashed her fist through the bottom of the bridge and wrapped her fingerless hand around the crossbeam whose branch kept Lorelai safe.

“Now!” Lorelai yelled, and the bridge shuddered violently, sending a king to his knees.

Pillars split with a loud crack. Crossbeams curled away from their moorings. The crack that had begun in the center of the bridge split the structure end to end, and the bridge tore itself asunder with a tremendous clatter. Broken planks spun through the air and into the river. The two halves of the bridge twisted and sagged, and then the entire thing ripped free of the riverbanks and plummeted into the water, carrying the stone statues with it.

Lorelai sucked in a breath as the crossbeam holding her fell, and then she sank into the water, surrounded by debris. The current snatched at her, but there was too much wood, too much
wreckage, for it to carry her very far.

You’re going to be crushed!
Kol sent her an image of giant stone statues crashing into the water on top of her.

The river’s heart swept over her open palm and lingered.
Save me
, Lorelai begged the water, though she couldn’t open her mouth to say the words aloud. She hoped that since the heart was already hers, already tangled with her magic, that she wouldn’t have to speak for it to know her intentions.

A shadow slammed into the water above her, and an impossible weight sank into her and pinned her to the riverbed. Kol’s thoughts became a torrent of panic and furious desperation.

Her lungs ached for air.

Her muscles strained against the statue that anchored her.

And her magic blazed out of her hand, lashing through the water like a whip.

The river surged against her hand.

Please,
she begged as lights danced at the edge of her vision.
Save me.

The river’s heart merged with her magic and became a ribbon of brilliant light. It sliced into the statue, and the stone exploded into a flurry of tiny pieces that tumbled around Lorelai before rushing south with the water’s current. The ribbon of light wrapped around Lorelai’s waist and lifted. She broke the surface and gasped for air while the river’s heart gently pushed her to the bank where Kol had waded into water up to his waist, Gabril three steps behind him.

Kol reached for her, and she took his hands as he pulled her from the water. And then Gabril was holding her, his chin resting on her head.

“You just took ten years off my life,” Gabril said.

You really did.
Kol climbed up the bank and then reached back to help them.
That was the most terrifying, incredible thing I’ve ever seen.

She held Gabril for an extra second, and then stepped back. “We need to get away from here before Irina sends something else to attack us.”

“Still heading toward the intersection?” Gabril asked.

She nodded, and together they climbed the riverbank.

The intersection?

Where the main road leading east to west meets the road leading north to south. Those are the roads the rest of Irina’s army will have to use to get to the capital. I’m going to destroy it, and I’m sure Irina will try to stop me.

Kol’s smile lit something bright and burning in Lorelai’s chest.
I bet my life she’ll fail.

I’m betting my life on that too.

H
URT.
P
UNISH.
K
ILL.
The whispers trickled through Kol’s mind, blood-hungry and ruthless, and he moved restlessly against the blanket he’d borrowed from Gabril. His dragon heart kicked against his chest, and his bones ached as the collar punished him for his refusal to obey its command.

His refusal to kill Lorelai.

She lay on the other side of the tent. Gabril’s tall form stretched out on a bedroll between them. A tiny sliver of moonlight crept in through the tent flap and lingered against her face. Kol sat up, wrapped his hands around his knees, and studied her the way he couldn’t when she was awake and aware of his thoughts.

In the days it had taken them to move from the ruined bridge to the intersection of the major roads that bisected Ravenspire, Kol had become as intimately familiar with Lorelai’s thoughts as he was with his own.

He was fascinated by the way her mind worked—constantly
observing and analyzing every detail around her, making plans for handling danger in less time than it took most people to realize they needed a plan in the first place. He’d had classes on battle strategy, he’d had drills on instantly responding to dangerous situations, but he relied on what he knew—on solutions that were already proven. Lorelai looked for new information, new options, and instantly utilized them.

And the way she threw herself into danger because she had a plan—and sky forbid she back away from the goal she was trying to achieve—made something fierce and tender swell inside Kol’s chest. Every time he turned around, she was assessing risk, not to avoid it but to take the lion’s share of it herself.

She made him want to be a better warrior. A better king.

He stared at the way her skin glowed in the moonlight and admitted that, skies help him, he was drawn to her in ways he couldn’t think about while she was awake and inside his head. There was nothing casual or ordinary about Lorelai, and there was nothing casual or ordinary about the way she made him feel. She was iron and fire, a warrior’s spirit with a lion’s heart. His parents would’ve loved her.

The thought of his parents hurt, and the four walls of the tent felt like they were shrinking around him. He needed wide, cool spaces and the endless starry sky. Careful not to jostle Gabril—last time he’d done that, he’d nearly lost an eye; skies only knew how that man slept with a sword in his hand without cutting off something he’d rather keep—Kol eased his way off his borrowed blanket and out of the tent.

They were camped in a small copse of ebony trees just north of the intersection that brought the main roads of Ravenspire
together. Kol climbed the closest tree, swinging himself up the widely spaced branches with ease, until he reached the upper cradle. Settling in with his back against the trunk, he stared up at the sky and thought of Eldr, safe now because of Lorelai. Brig waiting for him to return. Trugg and Jyn, who were skies knew where after being thrown out of Irina’s castle.

The collar whispered, and pain throbbed in his chest. Something dark and vicious crouched in the corner of his mind, but he focused on the stars, on holding fast to the person he wanted to be, until the pain lessened and the whispers were nothing but background noise.

You’re getting better at that.

He looked down to see Lorelai standing at the base of the tree, her thick sweater wrapped around her to ward off the chill.
Why are you up?

She looked toward the intersection, which was currently hidden from view by the gently twisting limbs of the ebony trees. A myriad of responses ran through her mind—
anxious, ready to get started, scared that you’d left us, wishing Leo were here
—but all she said was,
I couldn’t sleep. And I figured it was best to destroy the intersection and the roads that lead to it during the night when the chance of hurting an innocent traveler is small.

Why didn’t you wake Gabril, then? We’ll need to flee as soon as you do the magic or risk another nightmare like those statues coming to life when Irina retaliates.

I . . . wanted to check on you first.
There was more behind her words—warmth and shyness and something deeper that Kol didn’t know how to identify without pushing for things she was trying not to share with him.

I’m glad you did.
He climbed down the tree and gestured toward a patch of grass that lay gleaming in the starlight between two trees. She followed him, and they sat side by side. Her thoughts raced, a rapid counterpoint to the slow, steady ache of missing Eldr that filled his.

You’ll be able to go home soon.
She clasped her hands in her lap and looked up at the sky.
I bet your sister really misses you.
Leo’s face flashed across her mind.

He bumped her shoulder with his to take the sting of loneliness out of her thoughts.
You’ll like Brig.

I’m sure I would love her.
She showed him everything she’d seen of Brig in his thoughts—her freckled nose and laughing eyes, her boundless curiosity and steadfast loyalty, and the firm belief she’d always had in Kol.
But you’ll be going home, Kol, where you belong. I’ll be here, where I belong. We’re closing in on the capital. I’ll destroy the intersection and the roads that lead to it tonight and then, as we enter the Hinderlinde Forest, I’ll ruin the communication towers and armories that surround the capital until all Irina’s resources are gone. Once we’re through the Hinderlinde, the capital will be in front of us, and then it’s just Irina and me.

And me.
His dragon heart pounded viciously at the thought of seeing Irina again.

Don’t worry, I won’t forget about finding your human heart and restoring it to you before you go.

I wasn’t worried about that. I meant you aren’t facing Irina alone. I’ll be at your side. I may not be able to shift, but I can still call on my dragon’s fire and speed. I’m still faster and stronger than a human, and Irina will have a hard time defeating both of us at once.

What do you mean you can call on your dragon’s fire?
She turned to face him, a tiny frown etched between her eyes
. Why didn’t you use that against me when you tried to kill me?

I live for the day when we can stop bringing that up in our conversations.
He gave her a little smile.
I can’t breathe fire anymore, but I can use it to heat my blood to a degree that would cause burns on humans.

When did you figure this out?

When the statue fell on top of you in the water. Everything in me wanted to shift so I could smash it to pieces and rescue you. I was so . . .
Terrified. Furious. He couldn’t quite find the right word for how it had felt to watch Lorelai go under the water and not come back
up.
My dragon’s fire raged, and when I stepped into the river, the water sizzled against me.

You didn’t burn me when you took my hands.

I backed away from the dragon’s fire. I won’t hurt you, Lorelai. I’d die first.

You’re willing to sacrifice yourself for everyone you care about.

He held her gaze and tried not to think about how much the understanding and admiration in her thoughts eased the sharp edge of disappointment he remembered in his father’s eyes.

Her eyes reflected the starlight as she looked at him, her shoulder leaning against his.
And to think that you said you weren’t even a very good prince.

I . . . what? When?
He looked at the images in her thoughts and saw himself standing before her after he’d nearly killed her in his dragon form, begging for her mercy for Eldr.

You think you’re a poor substitute for your older brother. That no matter what you do, you’ll still be a disappointment to your father.
Compassion softened her voice, but there was iron beneath it.
I think you’re blind. You’re a natural leader. All those pranks you somehow convinced the academy’s top students to pull with you? All those friends of yours willing to follow you into the jaws of death without you even asking them to? It’s because they know what I know—that you have the kind of bottomless strength and loyalty that will always put others first at the expense of yourself. You are exactly the kind of king Eldr needs right now.

The fierce tenderness that swelled in his chest when he was with her expanded, pressing against Kol’s skin until it almost hurt to be so close to her.
I never told you about my father’s disappointment in me. Or about my friends following me to Ravenspire without me asking.

She bit her lip.
I’ve seen your thoughts, even the ones you didn’t mean to share.

I’ve seen yours too.
He met her eyes.
For example, I know that you think you’re too serious, but that you wouldn’t change it because it will help you be a good queen. I know you miss growing up with your mother to take care of you. And I know you hate the good memories you have of the time you spent with Irina after your mother died.

It’s weird to know so much about each other when we aren’t even friends.

Who says we aren’t friends?

We hardly know each other.

He raised a brow.

I mean . . . we know each other better than we should for the time we’ve spent together, but we only know the big stuff.

The stuff that usually doesn’t come up in friendships for a long
time.
He bumped her shoulder again and gave her a smile.
How about if we make up for that
?

How?

By asking the questions that people usually ask when they want to get to know each other and don’t have the pesky benefit of a magical mental bond getting in their way.

She laughed.
Fine. What’s your middle name?

He groaned inwardly.
It’s Eilertolvanisk.
His words were accompanied by the image of Master Eiler standing beside his father, smiling proudly while Kol took his first steps.

You were named after the headmaster who expelled you from the academy?

He sighed.

Ouch.

I know it. What’s your middle name?

Rosalinde Tatiyana. Rosalinde for my father’s mother and Tatiyana for mine.

Favorite food?

Strawberry tart cake. Yours?

Cheese. Every kind of cheese.
He looked up at the carpet of stars above them and searched for another question. Another detail to round out what he knew of Lorelai.
How did you get a gyrfalcon as a pet?

Sasha would peck out your eyes if she knew you’d just called her a pet.
Lorelai grinned at him.

Then please keep that breach of bird etiquette to yourself.

She leaned back, her shoulder still brushing his, and stared at the sky
. It was a few weeks after we’d run from the castle.
There was a darkness beneath her words, and Kol didn’t have to look
far to see images of her terror and grief when her plan to expose Irina fell to pieces and left her orphaned and homeless.
We were staying with an old woman in the Falkrains who was doing her best to treat Gabril’s leg. I wasn’t supposed to leave the cabin, but Leo convinced me to sneak out one afternoon so we could explore the woods close by. Sasha was just a baby, and she’d fallen from her nest. Her wing was crushed.

I picked her up.
She turned her hands over, palms facing up, and examined them as if she could still see the gyrfalcon lying there.
I held her in my bare hands, and the magic was just there, waiting. I spoke an incantor, and my magic entered Sasha’s body and healed her.

And that’s why you share a mental bond with her?

She nodded.
I took her back to the cabin because she would’ve died out there on her own. She was too little to hunt. That’s when Gabril decided I needed to start wearing gloves. He didn’t want my magic to touch anything else in Ravenspire in case it had been bespelled by Irina.

A wise man.

She smiled.
Yes, he is. But enough about that. What’s your favorite memory?

He thought it would be impossible to find an answer, but a memory rose to the surface unbidden. He was six, standing on the field behind the academy, the rest of his class lined up to his right, receiving a ribbon for the best flight time out of all the first-year cadets. Father was smiling proudly, his hand on Kol’s shoulder, while his mother winked at him, her arm around Rag, who looked as superior and unimpressed as a nine-year-old could manage. Brig played at his mother’s feet, unconcerned with the
honor her brother was receiving.

That’s a nice memory
. She smiled at him.

It’s the one time I remember my father being proud of me.

She met his eyes.
I’m sure he was proud of you far more often than you ever realized.

He shrugged as though her words didn’t matter, but he knew she could see the truth.
So what’s your favorite memory?

An image of Lorelai as a child sitting outside on a blanket eating berries while a woman with Lorelai’s pale skin and brown eyes knelt behind her, braiding the princess’s long hair. A boy who looked remarkably like his sister slept on the blanket beside Lorelai.

Your mother and Leo?
he asked, though he could already see the answer.

She nodded, and they sat in companionable silence listening to the ebony boughs creak gently while somewhere in the distance an owl hooted. Finally, she stirred restlessly, and he could already see the plans taking shape in her mind. Wake Gabril. Pack the tent. Destroy the intersection and spread the damage wide enough to prevent anyone from traveling to the capital until the road was repaired.

Before she could say the words, he stood and leaned down to offer her his hand. She took it and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

I’m glad we’re friends.
Her tone was serious, her smile shy.

I am too.
He watched her turn back toward the tent and let the warmth of their friendship push against the whispers that wanted him to destroy her.