Page 72 of The Queen and the Half-blood
And then it lunged.
Lara stared into its dead eyes, and her world narrowed.
It’s over.
But then Alar stepped between them, twin blades catching the firelight. “Stand down.”
The wraith’s maw stretched impossibly wide—rows of jagged teeth glistening.
“If you want her,” Alar snarled back, “you’ll have to take me first.”
Lara’s chest clenched.Gods, no!
Her dagger felt useless in her grip. Behind her, the hearths blazed against her back, and suddenly she couldn’t breathe.
The fire.
Her pulse hammered. She’d hidden this her whole life. But Alar was about to die, and everyone else would follow. Those who were taken by The Unforgiven were doomed to join their ranks, lost forever in the Threshold or the places where the veil between the living and the dead was at its most fragile.
And then, as she hesitated, Alar rushed forward, straight into the embrace of the grasping Slew. He moved with a swiftness that caught her off guard.
His act propelled her into action.
Lara sheathed her dagger and flexed her hands.
Heat flooded her veins. The roar in her ears drowned out everything else—the screaming, the clash of steel, her ownthundering heartbeat. The hearth flames behind her blazed so hot her skin felt as if it were blistering.
What if I can't control it? What if I burn us all?
Alar was losing. Shadows wrapped around him like hungry vines.
She flung her hands wide.
Fire erupted from the hearths, arcing over her head in twin streams. It slammed into the writhing mass of Slew. Their shrieks changed—from hunger to pain.
The power nearly buckled her knees. Fire coursed through her blood, her bones, threatening to tear her apart from the inside. She gritted her teeth and held on.
Cast them out.
Another wave of flame. Warriors threw themselves flat as the heat washed over them. Skaal yelped, bounding out of the way. The Slew writhed, fought back, but the fire was relentless.
Sweat poured down her spine. Her mind went blank except for one hysterical, burning, thought—push them back, push them out—and the flames obeyed, hammering the wraiths toward the doorway like the fist of an angry god.
Climbing off the floor, Cailean, Roth, and the warriors moved cautiously after them, keeping clear as the wall of flame forced the Slew back. Alar and Ruari joined them. Her long coat smoking from where the flames had singed her, Skaal prowled forward.
Moments later, the fire had shoved the Slew into the entrance hall beyond. And then, it went out.
The strength drained from Lara’s legs, and she collapsed onto the floor. The heat dissolved, shivers wracking her body instead.
“Ren!” Cailean shouted as he moved through the door. “We need you!”
The chief-seer stumbled forward. Ashen-faced and shaking, she followed the others out into the entrance hall.
Moments later, the chief-bard’s singing began, rising above the fading shrieks of the Slew. A repelling sain.
Boom. The great iron doors to the broch swung shut.
“Secure them!” Cailean’s voice echoed through into the main hall.
