Page 82 of Queen of Legends and Lies
I stagger back, the breath knocked from my lungs, but I manage to keep my feet beneath me. Retaliating on instinct, I hurl a fireball at his sneering face.
Which sizzles out as soon as it leaves my hand.
He smirks as my harmless counterattack dissipates. “Come now, Lark. Surely, you can do better than that. An Aclarian child can produce better fire, and they barely have any magic at all. Would you like some eyril to boost you? I have plenty.”
Oh yeah, right.
I’m going to drink the very stuff that allows corruption to occur. Gritting my teeth, I summon my flames, pouring the dark liquid within them to create a blistering vortex. It’s like something straight out of the Impassible Desert of Tirene where only the dragons and firefeather birds can survive. My mouth and nose instantly dry.
Xenon’s eyes widen in surprise, and for a moment, I savor the flicker of fear that crosses his face.
But my advantage is short-lived. Before I can send this hellish tornado crashing forward, it sputters out, and I’m left gasping for breath.
“Foolish girl, you cannot hope to match me. I have the power of a god at my command.” As if to punctuate his words, the shadows in the room begin to writhe and twist, coalescing into nightmarish shapes. “And there is no open sky here for you to flee into.”
The drachen.
With a surge of horror, I watch Xenon summon Narc’s foul minions to aid him.
The evil creatures swoop in from all sides—materializing from dark crevices above, slithering across the ground below, emerging from crags ahead and behind. Their fluid bodies seep through cracks before they take on larger forms.
The dark creatures creep closer. Their eerie faces fix on me with predatory intent as their bodies grow to a size and shape somewhere between an alicorn and dragon, only with membranous, leathery wings instead of feathers.
I back away, my heart pounding, my mind racing desperately for a plan. But there’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. I’m trapped, alone and outmatched, facing an enemy far beyond my power to defeat.
Xenon advances, his laughter cold and mocking. “Poor little Lark. So brave, so defiant. But in the end, you’re just another pawn in the gods’ game. And now, you’ll pay the price for your insolence.”
Drawing on the last of my strength, I lift my chin and meet Xenon’s gaze squarely. “Do your worst.”
He sneers. “Oh, I intend?—”
“I’ve told you before that your smart mouth was going to get you into trouble.” A strong, fierce, throaty voice cuts through the chaos. “Lucky for you, I’m here to help get you out of this mess.”
It can’t be…
But it is.
Silhouetted in the doorway, his sword drawn and his face set in lines of grim determination, stands the one person I never wanted to spot anywhere near Xenon again.
But here he is. And I’ve never been happier to see him.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Sterling stalks in with a ferocious glare aimed at Xenon, but he’s furious with me, too, for a very different reason. I can tell by his body language.
Xenon glances from Sterling to me. “Well, well, back so soon?”
Sterling moves closer to me, his broad shoulders tensed, his jaw clenched, and an icy chill radiating off him.
Before I can say anything, a flicker of motion catches my eye.
Shadows swirl around the edges of the glowing cavern.
More drachen.
The soft blue luminescence casts eerie shadows, rendering it difficult to track the drachen as they circle us.
Anger churns in my gut.
