Page 32 of The Princesses of Ruin
Reina crosses her arms. “Oh, she is. That’s why she’s a statue.”
I feel I’m missing some critical details.
“Statue?”
Alastair nods. “The bomb wasn’t delivered to the underground the way it was supposed to. The tunnel was a trap. It had been warded to activate only when the earth was disturbed. The wards were invisible to us and our scouts before the moment Lily tried to dig.”
“Where did the bomb go?”
“The wards were becoming unstable around the ipsain coral so we dropped it on her stupid face,” Liliana says with a grumble. “The blast nearly killed me and Alastair, even with an Eng shield projected by us both.”
“She’s encased herself in magic in such a way that she’s become immobile, but it has also made her indestructible, as far as we can tell,” Zane says.
“Unless we can splash her with this cauldron crud,” Liliana says, examining her blunted nails with disgust.
I look back at the sheet. “Some of these ingredients will need careful tempering before use. It will be a long process.”
“It must be done in two fortnights,” Zephrom says.
I scoff. “Impossible.”
The goddess’s presence surrounds me. “Your magic is perfectly suited for this.”
Emillia places her hand on my shoulder. “You can do it. You controlled the ipsain temperature at a great distance while fighting.”
Her confidence in me feels even better than the goddess’s praise.
“Perhaps.”
I push the pages around, but I’ve already concluded what I’m sure they arrived at an hour ago.
“I will need to be the one to retrieve the dire wolf fur,” I say. “It will turn to ash in temperatures above freezing—or so is the myth.”
“A truth,” Zephrom says. “The dire wolf was never meant to inhabit the land where gentler creatures roam.”
My finger slides along the list. “The storm dragon scale…this will be difficult.”
“We can get it,” Alyse says, grasping Kazimir’s hand.
Of course—the incident at her wedding. The dragon sacrifice was lightning attuned.
“But was it not burned by the elder green dragon?” I ask.
Alyse shakes her head. “He escaped.”
I hum and return my attention to the list.
“The serpent bile?”
“That’s us,” Jasper says. “A ga’hanoi clan captured an egg over a century ago and have trained the creature to protect their territory in the deep sea. Getting a sample will be difficult but doable, based on the representative’s reaction to Reina.”
“Then the giant spider is you?” I ask, looking at Zane.
He dips his head in acknowledgement.
Scarlett sucks her teeth in frustration. “Poetic, innit?”
That leaves the duskwalker to Liliana and Alastair. The other ingredients are basic or don’t require my attention. All things that a common Spider could retrieve from our greenhouse or the wilds.
