Page 119 of Queen of Legends and Lies
I drop the link and whirl around.
Alannah is barely breathing, her thin frame shaking with the effort. Her eyes meet mine, and in them, I see an awful, sorrowful understanding. An acceptance.
“This is what it means to be a queen and a mother. Take care of my son. And my plants, won’t you?” She crumples like a marionette with its strings cut.
I lunge to catch her before she hits the ground.
“Mother!” Sterling’s shriek is feral as he sprints toward us. “Hold on!”
He reaches us in moments but not soon enough. Pupils blown with grief and rage, Sterling eases Alannah from my arms as the last breath rattles from her frail chest.
Her body stills.
“No!” The heartbreak in his voice shatters my own heart into a million jagged pieces. “Lark, do something! Your tears…”
But we both know my tears cannot bring back the dead.
A sob hitches in my throat as a deeper realization hits me.
Alannah knew.
She knew using that much power would kill her, and with her last bit of strength, she reached out to me, offering her magic to bolster my own. A final, selfless act to protect the kingdom she loved. The people she loved.
Tears stream down Sterling’s sooty face as he kisses her cheek, whispers a prayer, and lowers her to the ground. When his eyes find mine, they’re hardened.
Despite the sudden death of another loved one, the battle still rages. We don’t have time to dwell on our distress.
Magic clashes in a dizzying maelstrom. Fire and earth and water and wind.
Gritting my teeth against the ache in my chest, I sweep up another arrow, breathing flames along its tip. But my arm trembles with exhaustion, and my fire sputters weakly. Across the courtyard, Vicar Moise, Lord Serle, and Celeste rain down destruction, their magics amplified to terrifying levels.
How much longer can we hold out against them?
“I think not!” Bastian charges forward with a bow raised in one hand and a tiny vial of my tears clutched in the other.
He’s so determined to bring down our enemies, he misses the stone careening through the air. The danger is nearly invisible in the dance of firelight and shadows.
“Bast—” The rock slams into the side of his head and knocks him off his feet, causing his arrow to fly off target.
Time slows.
My brother smashes into the ground so hard, his body bounces from the impact.
With a thought, I set Bastian’s loosened arrow shaft alight. Once the flame catches, I grab hold of it and use that tiny flicker to direct the arrow carrying the faint traces of my tears.
It twists at my command, dodging rocks and slipping through hurricane-strong winds. It finds the soft spot next to Dame’s frill and pierces her flesh.
She collapses, pinning Celeste under her.
Two dragons subdued. Two still corrupted.
A fierce gust of wind whips through the battlefield, coalescing into an ashy shield above Tanwen and Chirean. Rafe drops to the ground beside me, hands raised and face lined with concentration as he pours everything he has into the air barrier.
He trembles from the strain. “I can’t hold this for long.”
Sterling rushes to help Rafe. Our eyes lock as he crosses the courtyard, and I see my own determination reflected back at me. We have to merge. Though I know he must be nearly depleted as I am, we have to try.
The now familiar crackle of our bond surges through me, igniting my blood, my magic. Impossibly, miraculously, we find untapped reserves as Sterling’s essence intertwines with mine, two powers knitting together and multiplying in magnitude.
