Page 118 of Queen of Legends and Lies
Choking out a half laugh, half sob, I take the bow from Agnar, nock the arrow, and draw. I’m aiming for the thin scales between Kaida’s claws.
My hands tremble, but I steady my breath. I shove my grief aside, locking it in a dark corner in the back of my mind.
The arrow sings through the air and hits its mark.
Kaida rears back, roaring in rage and pain, then slumps as a ghostly black trail emerges from his form and dissipates into the air.
The essence of a drachen.
Heart in my throat, I hurry toward Kaida’s massive form sprawled across the scorched and torn earth.
Please, let him be okay.
He’s unconscious but alive.
Eldor’s body is still tied to Kaida’s back, blood blooming on his tunic just above his heart, his eyes wide and glassy.
A sob rips from my chest as I scale the enormous dragon and pull my grandfather into my arms, cradling his lifeless form. Tears run down my face, falling on his wound.
They do nothing.
No corruption leaves him. He doesn’t stir. He isn’t healed.
He’s simply dead.
“Lark, look out!” Sterling’s warning jerks my head up.
While I was distracted, Celeste switched her attention from Sterling to me. A cruel smile twists her pretty face. The earth shudders as she summons her magic, using the air to dislodge huge boulders from the ground and hurl them straight at me.
I brace myself for the impact.
But then, there it is…
A whisper of power, brushing against my mind like a gentle breeze, familiar yet foreign.
Air magic.
“Take it.”Alannah’s voice breaks through the panic in my mind.“Save our kingdom, Lark.”
Disbelief flits through me like a bird taking flight. Is this mental communication a result of merging? Can I do it when I merge with anyone?
I reach out with my magic, grasping at the power Sterling’s mother is offering me. Then, Alannah’s air merges with my fire in an exhilarating rush of heat and wind. My insides crackle as I summon a blast of superheated air so intense it melts the very rocks Celeste is wielding.
The boulders explode in midair, raining molten fragments down upon Celeste and her mount. She screams in rage and pain as she protects herself with a wall of wind.
Alannah whispers in my mind again.“Well done. Now finish this. Traitors cannot be allowed to live.”
The power builds inside me, fire and air swirling in a maelstrom of elemental fury. “You want to play with magic? Feeling strong with all that eyril bolstering you? Let’s play.”
Celeste tries to retaliate by using air to summon spears of roots to impale me.
But I merely waft them away. The roots wither to dust in the desert-hot winds I created with this new combined power.
Everything she hurls at me disintegrates under my direction, adding to the choking cloud that shrouds the battlefield.
Anguish thrums inside my heart. So does fury at those who’ve betrayed us and sorrow for those we’ve lost, along with a healthy dose of disgust.
I split the stream of my fire, preparing to rain destruction down on the traitors once and for all. But the air magic suddenly falters and stutters in my grasp. The power flickers like a guttering candle.
