The Shadow Queen (28 page)

T
HEY APPROACHED THE
castle from the south. Lorelai rode Mik and had to shield her eyes as the late afternoon sun glinted against Mik’s white scales like brilliant sparks of fire. The Eldrians flew low to the ground, hugging the hills that marked the land south of the capital to make it harder for the castle guards to see them in time to sound a warning.

She’d sent Sasha ahead to scout so that the dragons would know where to fly, where to land. She couldn’t afford for them to fail their part of the mission. They were her way past Irina’s defenses—defenses surely designed to drain Lorelai’s power before her showdown with the queen.

She’d stopped reaching for Kol’s thoughts before discussing her plan with the Eldrians. He wasn’t there. She’d found nothing but darkness, anguish, and Irina’s cold, cruel voice mocking her attempts to find the Kol she knew and bring him back to her. It was better to ignore the connection and keep her thoughts to herself until the last possible moment.

Like the Eldrians, Lorelai couldn’t afford to fail her part of the mission.

As they flew closer and closer to the castle, Lorelai drew deep breaths and forced her fear into a corner of her mind. She wasn’t sure if she could defeat this newly powerful Irina. She wasn’t sure if she could save those she cared about. If she could save Ravenspire.

But she didn’t need to know the outcome to be sure of her heart.

She was the crown princess of Ravenspire, a powerful
mardushka
of Morcant, and she would right the wrongs against her people or she would die trying.

As the graceful spires of Ravenspire’s castle loomed on the horizon, Lorelai’s pulse raced, and her magic thrummed through her blood to gather in her palms where she held what she hoped would be the key to getting the dragons safely past Irina’s defenses and into the castle grounds. The Eldrians crested the final rise, and then the castle with its gray stone turrets, its etched glass windows, and its sprawling gardens lay before them.

Trugg turned his huge black head and gave Lorelai a look that asked “Are you ready?”

She nodded and raised her hands. Irina would have traps set. Shields up. Unnatural things like the snake-vine cage in Nordenberg created from her magic.

Lorelai had a plan she hoped would work. Every Eldrian had willingly given her a scale to hold, even though Lorelai could see that ripping a scale from their bodies had hurt. Through their scales, she could feel the fierceness of their hearts that were willing to serve her magic when she called upon them. She hoped
that holding the scales would mean she didn’t have to take their fire into her own body for her magic to use it.

The Eldrians flew in a solid line, seven abreast, as they streaked toward the castle wall.

Lorelai focused on the scales she held, letting her magic surround them, calling upon the strength and fury of their hearts. Guards, who were pacing the perimeter of the wall, drew their swords and called a warning as the dragons hurtled toward them. Lorelai waited until seconds before they crossed the wall and then yelled, “
Tvor`grada!
May the strength of each dragon’s heart and the power in my blood be a shield for them so long as they need it.”

Her magic burst from her palms and into the air, a shimmering net that encircled each dragon and sank into their scales, a barrier Lorelai desperately hoped Irina couldn’t penetrate with ordinary spells. The princess had already warned the Eldrians not to test the shield by going after Kol. She wasn’t certain her barrier could keep out a spell already enacted against the Draconi in the past, and she wasn’t willing to lose one of Kol’s friends to find out.

They flew over the wall, and a hedge of thorny bushes shot into the air, the thorns curling like claws, the branches reaching for the dragons as if the bushes had eyes. The dragons shifted course, flying vertically up the side of the hedge, trying to get to the top without being snagged by one of the grasping branches.

Jyn flew too close, and a whiplike branch full of thorns slammed into her. The force of the blow knocked her briefly off course, but Lorelai’s shield held, and she remained unscathed.

Lorelai’s relief that the hedge couldn’t harm the dragons was
short-lived as she realized what was happening.

“It’s closing us out!” she shouted to Mik. The dragon flew faster, straight up into the air, while Lorelai clung desperately to her back. But no matter how fast Mik flew, the hedge was faster. It rose into the sky like it was trying to catch the sun, and Lorelai knew they’d never catch it. Never crest the top and dive into the castle grounds on the other side.

She needed another plan.

“Stop trying to catch it. Hover and face it instead.”

Mik whirled into a sharp turn that had Lorelai’s stomach pushing against her chest, and then they were facing the hedge head-on as it continued to rise above them. The other Eldrians followed Mik’s lead.

Lorelai pushed her magic into the scales she held and yelled, “Give me fire!”

Heat ignited in Mik’s chest. All along the line of dragons, smoke poured from their mouths as the fires in their chests roared to life.

“Now!”

As fire exploded from the dragon’s mouths, Lorelai raised her hands. “
Zhech`pusk!
May the fire destroy any magic it touches.”

Brilliant white magic shot through the fire, turning it into a blazing yellow-white ball easily twice the size of Trugg. Lorelai swept her hands forward and the fireball struck the hedge.

For a moment, nothing burned. The magic that had sent the hedge toward the sky held it steady.

But that was magic created out of bitterness and greed from a heart that knew only how to conquer instead of how to love.

Plus, Lorelai’s heart wasn’t alone in this fight. She had seven Draconi warriors willing to die for the cause as well. Leaning
down, she whispered to the scales, to their dragon hearts, that she needed strength. Purpose. Courage to push past the hedge’s magic and into the other side.

The dragons roared, and Lorelai felt their will, their resolve, slam into the magic that held the hedge.

The fireball ate through the branches, sending flaming bits of leaves and thorns raining on the ground far below. The magic in the hedge fought back, creating more branches, more thorns, but the Eldrians would not be swayed.

Lorelai would not be swayed.

The dragons pushed into the hedge, following in the wake of the fire that slowly consumed the barrier. Thorns raked at them, and Lorelai hid her face against Mik’s side to keep from being sliced open. She hadn’t created a shield for herself. She was absolutely certain shielding herself from other magic meant completely cutting off her Irina-tainted connection to Kol, and that was a risk she wasn’t willing to take.

In moments, the fireball exploded out the other side of the hedge and streaked for the ground. The dragons followed immediately behind it.

“
Voshtet
,” Lorelai said, focusing on the fire. “Rise and fly before your dragon masters and obey their command.”

On the castle grounds below, wolves prowled and trees shook gnarled branches at the sky before slamming them into the ground.

Leaning close to Mik’s ear, Lorelai said, “When you face a threat that your regular dragon strength can’t defeat, tell my fire spell what to do. It’s part of your heart. It will obey you. You’ll be okay.”

Mik dipped her head in acknowledgment as the dragons
streaked down the south side of the castle, blasting fire into the trees that lunged for them, until they came to the entrance. The second the dragons touched the ground, the wolves attacked.

Trugg roared as the animals, foaming at the mouth, ran toward them. The ground shook and then erupted as spiders, centipedes, and snakes burst out of the dirt and swarmed toward the dragons.

“Help them fight!” Lorelai yelled as the other dragons smashed, burned, and tore into their foes.

Mik strafed the ground with fire, engulfing a pair of trees and a swarm of spiders that were racing toward them. Lorelai slid off her back, her knees shaking, but her hands steady.

Two more wolves stood sentry at the castle’s entrance, their lips curled in vicious snarls.

Sasha, perch!
Magic gathered in her palm like lightning as Lorelai lifted her bare hand into the air. Sasha swooped out of the sky and landed on Lorelai’s palm as the wolves dug their talons into the porch and howled, foam dripping from their mouths.

The lightning in Lorelai’s palm wrapped around Sasha, and the power coursing through the princess leaped for the threads of awareness that connected Sasha to the rest of the birds in the forest.

“
Hat`sja
. Come together. Come to me.”

Sasha shuddered. The wolves locked eyes with Lorelai and dug their claws into the ground.

Lorelai braced her feet as power spilled out of her. The wolves leaped forward. Lorelai spun away from one, but the other slammed into her and sent her to her knees. The gyrfalcon
shrieked with fury and raked the wolf with her talons as it snapped at Lorelai’s hands.

“
Hat`sja
!” Lorelai yelled as her power pulsed with a multitude of heartbeats from the surrounding trees. Behind her, the dragons roared, and the thick, wet sound of battle filled the air, but Lorelai couldn’t help them. She was too busy trying to survive long enough to get herself inside the castle.

Pain seared her, and she kicked at the wolf who was snapping at her, rolling to the side as it lunged for her and barely avoiding the jaws of the smaller wolf.

Kill them all. Kill, kill, kill.
Sasha slammed into the biggest wolf and then shrieked in pain as the other wolf nipped her wing.

Lorelai kicked the larger wolf, sending it skidding over the ground, and scrambled to her feet. She turned toward the castle’s entrance, where another pair of foaming, snarling wolves stood waiting.
Perch, Sasha. Hurry.
She held her hand in the air and sent her magic into the gyrfalcon the instant the bird settled onto her open palm.

There was an awful grinding sound as the bird’s wounded wing knit back together, and then a rustle swept through the surrounding trees. It started as a whisper, a few leaves shushing together in the breeze, and then grew louder and louder until it sounded like a hurricane ripping leaves from branches and branches from trees.

The wolves behind Lorelai growled and stalked toward her, while those in front of her crouched waiting. She braced herself to run, to fight, but then birds of every size exploded out of the trees and flew straight at Lorelai. The wolves behind Lorelai were battered from all sides, caught in the maelstrom until
they were smashed against tree trunks and left discarded on the ground like crumpled toys. The animals at the castle’s entrance lunged for her, but they were driven back by a wall of birds that circled Lorelai, a swirling funnel cloud of sharp beaks and bright eyes, and swept her from the ground until she seemed to float in their midst midair.

The wolves howled as the larger birds left the funnel cloud, raked the animals with their talons, and then rejoined the rest of the flock only to do it all over again.

Kill?
It was Sasha’s voice. It was a hawk’s voice. A robin’s. A dove’s. The strength of hundreds of birds speaking to her at once drove a spike of pain through Lorelai’s head. She spun slowly within the funnel cloud, high above the ground, buffeted by wings on all sides.

Kill.
She answered the birds. The flock lowered her to the ground and then swept toward anything that stood between Lorelai and the castle, tearing it to pieces. As the dragons battled behind her, Lorelai mounted the steps to the entrance hall and reached for Kol. She found darkness. Pain. And a terrible hunger for Lorelai’s heart.

But she also sensed that he was close. Which meant either Irina had sent Kol out to fight Lorelai in her stead, or they were both waiting for her together somewhere in the castle.

There was only one way to find out.

The door to the entrance hall was heavy—the wood as thick as a horse’s back with stone knockers and ornate iron handles—and Lorelai had to lean into it to get it open.

A page stood on the other side of the door, her mouth open in shock to see Lorelai step inside.

“Leave,” Lorelai said softly as the echo of the door swinging
shut behind her reverberated through the hall.

The girl’s eyes widened, and she tugged on the collar of her uniform. “But I can’t just . . .
you
can’t just—”

Lorelai locked eyes with her. “I am Lorelai Diederich, daughter of Arlen Diederich the Third. This is my castle, and I am your queen. If you want the current usurper of a queen to spare your life in the upcoming battle between us, then you need to leave. Now. Go hide somewhere and don’t come back until morning.”

The page slowly backed away.

Lorelai turned away as the girl disappeared into a side corridor. The entrance hall with its sumptuous marble floors, ornately curved staircase, and decorative benches gifted to Queen Rosalinde I a century ago by the ruler of Balavata looked exactly the same as it did in Lorelai’s memory.

She walked to the middle of the room and sank to the floor in the spot where she’d last seen her father alive. Where he’d told her to protect her brother.

Lorelai hadn’t been able to save her father or her brother. But she could honor their memory now. And she could free the rest of Ravenspire, the people her father had pledged to lead and protect—the people he would’ve raised
her
to lead and protect—from the tyranny of its unlawful queen.

Her fingers tingled, and the cold, implacable heart of the marble stirred. Beneath it, Lorelai felt the barrier of mountain stone that had been used centuries ago as the foundation for the castle. It was her mountain, and the heart recognized her with a little surge of power.

She reached farther, pushing past the stone to the ground of Ravenspire itself, introducing herself to its heart once more. Telling it what she wanted and why she was asking.

Showing it that she meant to heal the damage it had endured all these years.