Page 97 of Queen of Legends and Lies
Gesturing to Sterling, I reach for the power that thrums through my veins. “Now!”
The searing cold and blistering heat merge into something new and terrible.
I fix my gaze on the enemy line and unleash the maelstrom within. Fire and ice, intertwined in a deadly dance, batter the drachen from every angle. The air shimmers with the force of our combined elements.
Heat sears my lungs with every breath.
A sudden shout from Sterling pierces through the chaos, yanking my attention to him. “Lark! Remember what I told you about my early training days?” He sends a burst of ice magic ata drachen, freezing it in place. “When I tried to freeze that pot over the fire and it just…shattered?”
Understanding crashes over me. “The temperature shock makes things brittle. Of course!”
Sterling flashes me a bright, fierce grin. “Exactly. Let’s give these bastards a taste of their own medicine. They like to break us. Well, it’s time for us to break them.”
I’m already gathering our power, focusing it inward until I might burst from the force. With a mighty yell, I unleash a massive blast of cold, directing it at the drachen with every ounce of my will.
The effect is instantaneous.
They freeze solid, their amorphous bodies crystallizing into jagged sculptures of ice. For a split second, everything seems to hang suspended, the battle raging around us fading into insignificance.
Then I let loose with the heat I’ve been holding back, a searing inferno that rushes outward from my core. Magic slams into the frozen drachen with cataclysmic results.
They shatter.
Literally explode.
Crack into a thousand glittering shards that rain down upon the palace grounds like dark hail.
The ones that survive the initial onslaught are quickly dispatched by the guards and dragons, their weakened forms no match for steel and flame.
Just to make certain there’s no drachen about to reform and attack, I send another wall of fire across the sky, seeking out every piece left and reducing whatever I find to ash.
For a moment, I hover, heart pounding against my ribs as I survey the aftermath. Below, I catch sight of Alannah huddled on the ground and Rhiann and Agnar crouched on the balconies as debris rains down.
The air swirls in a vortex of heat and cold. After destroying the delicate balance of Alannah’s barrier, our magic pours around us.
Somehow, against all odds, that shield held long enough to protect the palace.
Long enough for us to win.
This time.
Even as relief washes over me, though, a chill runs down my spine. The drachen are becoming more powerful. There’s no denying that. They’re drawing strength from some unseen source, growing more formidable with each passing day.
The God of Nightmares. Narc.
And if we don’t find a way to stop him soon…I fear that next time, even our most desperate efforts won’t be enough.
Chapter Thirty-Three
My wings ache as I descend, the muscles trembling from the strain of holding steady.
Beside me, Sterling is pale.
He stumbles as we land, and I reach out to stabilize him, shocked by the shivers that rack his frame.
“You okay?” My mouth is dry, my throat raw from breathing in the acrid smoke of battle.
He nods, but weariness is etched into every line of his face. “Just tired. Merging magic takes a lot out of you.”
