Page 27 of The Princesses of Ruin
In the center of our people. Palace guards and Spiders fighting for their lives, for our kingdom. I pray to all the gods and goddesses Ashai is there.
The sky behind me is alight with blue magic, casting rays of power that put our shadows against the clouds. It’s quiet, a low hum ringing throughout the world, and then the rumble starts. Deep, atfirst, in the tips of my toes. Then a shockwave approaches, my whole body trembling.
A dozen thoughts hit me as the heat does. We’re too close. This device was designed to be detonated underground. Reina’s magic is pure radiance. Will anyone survive this? Did we just scorch the earth the way Ashai was prophesized to?
Fuck.
Chapter eleven
Scarlett
Fire blooms in the sky like a sprouting mushroom, a massive wave of blue, red, and orange reaching for the afterlife. It must be leagues high. The destruction left in its wake will be known for generations.
The blast is blinding to my human eye, but I can watch it through the compression of Zane’s magic in my hollow socket. The others around me shield themselves from the brightness, so I alone see the rippling wave of magic heading toward us. It detonates flimsier buildings and cracks those made of stone.
I snap my spindles around the two closest Spiders and toss them behind the nearest sturdy wall, then wrap my arms around Zane and dive off of the road. We hit the alley with a thud, followed by a heavy whoosh that makes the ground shudder. My chest aches and the runes on my arms burn with Reina’s power. I’ve absorbed it.
I sit up and look at the road. Our opponents are lying flat, pushed over from the sheer power of the blast. Ashai’s dark magic oozes out of them in wisps and disappears in the blue-glittering air.
We must’ve done it. Her essence couldn’t have survived a direct hit of this power.
Fire simmers in my blood and I tremble from the strength of the magic in me. I’ll need to expel it soon.
“Hurt, my love?” Zane asks.
I shake my head, despite the runes on my arms throbbing angrily.
He gets to his feet, then offers me his hand. “We need to assess the battlefield.”
I nod, accepting his help. The Spiders in the opposite alley shake their heads and blink their eyes.
“On your feet, soldiers. This may not be over,” he says.
“Yes, sir,” they reply, shaking off the blast that I just can’t seem to get over.
Zane holds my arm as the world cants to the side. It’s as if I’m standing on the deck of a ship in the middle of a turbulent storm.
“Fuck is going on?” I ask, my words slurred.
Zane’s scowling face appears before me. I grab onto his shoulders as the spinning intensifies. I’m going to be sick.
You’re going to be sick…
Bile coats the back of my throat.
“Just breathe,” Zane says, his voice sounding a mile away.
I take a deep inhale of dusty air that smells like death.
You’re going to be sick.
Vomit barrels up my esophagus, and I turn away, retching onto the street.
You feel weak.
“What’s happening?” I say, or I think I say.
“She’s inside you. Lily, too.”Alyse’s voice is clear in my mind, as if she’s next to me. Her presence brings stability to my world and I gain my footing.
