Page 94 of Calling of the Crown

“Myra,” I pleaded desperately in an effort to get her to listen. A cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck, and dread sank its claws into my gut. “He’s wrong. That was Bal—”

“I planned on dealing with you on the battlefield,” Elias growled at me. He moved to stand directly beside Myra, who trembled again. Only, I knew it was no longer grief making her shake. It was something far more sinister.

“However,” Elias continued. “You clearly don’t deserve the generosity I’ve given you. If you manage to make it out of here unscathed, I’ll pretend this didn’t happen. If not, though, I’ll send your head as a message for what happens when you cross the line. Myra,” Elias barked before tipping his chin in my direction. “Kill her.”

Myra screamed again, but this time, it was all fury. She reared her arm back and launched a flame the size of three basketballs right at me. I narrowly avoided the deadly blow by falling to the side behind another tree, which acted as a shield. At least temporarily. The bark and trunk cracked after the blow, and I looked up with a startled gasp as the looming tree began to snap and fall backwards. Pushing past the weakness flooding my limbs, I rushed to my feet and quickly ran to the side to avoid getting crushed.

And I didn’t stop running.

Starbursts exploded behind my eyes with the threat of passing out as I stumbled through the trees with a fuming Myra still giving chase, launching fire at me from seemingly every direction. I pulled water from the air and ground as I ran for the Morardian Sea, and I blindly threw it behind me to create barriers of ice to slow Myra. Each time, I heard the shattering of ice, and her screams drew nearer as the heat radiating off her fire began to lap at my ankles.

I pumped my arms and legs as hard as my worn body could, and just when I reached the sandy beach, I felt Myra surge close behind me. I called on the ocean in front of me, and it rushed to my outstretched arms. I quickly spun around and threw it in front of me like a wall just as Myra slammed her clawed, flaming fists into it. The force of the blow and mixing of the two elements sent me hurtling backward. I rolled across the sand, gasping for air, and pain fired through every limb in my body.

Myra huffed as she stalked toward me. Her eyes glowed, and smoke billowed around her from the path she’d taken through the forest. Fire appeared in each of her footfalls along the sand.

I tried pushing myself up, but I fell back to the sand as dark webs stitched themselves across my vision.

Don’t. Please. Can’t faint now.

Myra let out an animalistic snarl and summoned a flame so hot, it burned blue in her grasp. I watched as she held it above her, and I just knew. This was it. I couldn’t move. I was starting to fade.

But I couldn’t give up.

“Water,” I whispered, listening to the sea behind me.

Suddenly, the sound of crashing waves rose high into the sky, and a shadow fell over Myra. She didn’t even seem to notice as she launched her flame right at me, but the water was faster. The sea fell between us like an impenetrable wall. She wailed as it cocooned me in its cold grasp and pulled me out to sea. The giant, watery hand tugged me under the surface and out of her reach.

My eyes slipped closed as I drifted deeper into the ocean, and I listened to Myra’s muffled angry screams from the surface. The bitter, hateful sound was the last thing I heard before the inky webs darting across my eyes finally consumed me.

Chapter Forty-Two

VOICES FLOODED MY MIND. I groaned as feeling returned to my body. I was sore as shit, but the pain dulled with each passing second. Rough sand pressed into the backs of my arms, and heat warmed my face. I slowly opened my eyes to see the shining sun overhead, which was quickly blocked by a panic-stricken Rune leaning forward to look down at me.

“Bria. Baby, can you hear me?” He asked in a string of words.

“Bria!” Dallas yelled, appearing on my other side. She gripped my other hand and held it to her chest. “Bria, talk to us.”

Hearing more people, I glanced at my feet, and I found Rance, Akira, Jesiah—everyone in my close circle—standing there. They looked like they’d just rolled out of bed, still in their sleepwear with tousled hair.

Despite everyone’s severe reactions, I couldn’t help but crack a slow smile. “Did I go back in time? I feel like I’m waking up on the ground outside the club again.”

One of my first encounters with Rune, Akira, and Bassel was right after I’d nearly gotten robbed. I’d hit my head during the ordeal and woke up in the same position, with Rune holding me, Dallas right next to me, and everyone else hovering at my feet.

That day felt like lifetimes ago.

Bassel shook his head with a slight chuckle. “She’s able to crack jokes. Guess that’s a good sign.”

“Are you hurt anywhere?” Rune asked as his eyes raked over what he could see of my body.

I shook my head against the sand and slowly sat up. The cinder blocks that had previously weighed me down after conjuring Balgair had thankfully disappeared. As I laid there for a moment, I realized I didn’t feel any injuries either, which was a miracle to say the least.

“I’m fine,” I finally answered.

I glanced over my shoulder and realized the water had brought me back to Morardia. I was laid out on the beach behind the palace, and it was only my inner circle and some guards out here. Thank God. I didn’t want any of my people to see me passed out in the sand.

“What are you doing out here?” Dallas asked. “We were all freaked when we couldn’t find you this morning, and then when the patrol saw you wash up on shore, we weren’t—we—” She sniffled and ran a shaky hand through her messy ponytail.

“We weren’t sure what we’d find,” Rance finished as he knelt down and placed a supportive hand on Dallas’s shoulder.

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