Page 60 of The Wolf Queen

A woman’s voice has power, otherwise why would men work so hard to keep us silent? But I was willing to bet mine drowned out all other sounds in that moment. My words reverberated throughout the whole cavern and the crystals all lit up at once. I was only vaguely aware of it, for my focus was entirely on the arm of the Reaver as he held a kicking, squirming Del off the floor by his neck, my boy’s fingers raking across the beast’s claws in an attempt to free himself.

So I did it for him.

My blade sliced through the animal’s arm. Del fell backwards to the ground, the Reaver’s clawed hand still tightly clenched around his neck. His mouth worked as he tried to suck in air and his eyes widened desperately. I cast my sword aside as I dropped down to him, cursing the monster that was still a threat to my boy, even in death.

“Del…” My voice shook and my vision blurred as I crouched at his side, my own hands turning to claws as I frantically tried to prise away the talons of the dead limb from his neck. It took for the Reaver’s arm to revert back to human for me to get it off him. Del drew in a great wheezing breath in response. “Del.” I had him up and in my arms, holding him tight, wanting to shelter him from every enemy, even as I knew they must be approaching. “Del, you can’t—”

“Darcy…!”

He gasped out a warning and I spun around to see more Reavers lumbering closer, as my pack rushed toward us from the rear, having dealt with the previous wave. My sword was still lying on the ground, its blue fire growing brighter and I knew I wouldn’t be quick enough to grab it. The Reavers snarled, then howled in anticipation of victory, but I was determined to snatch it from their jaws.

“NO!”

The word reverberated out, smacking into each one of the creatures and stopping them. A fiery blue light followed it, blazing high as though a line of pitch had been lit, creating a flaming barrier between us and the enemy. The blue flames incinerated any Reaver that got too close, effectively stopping the rest.

“What the fuck is that?” Dane growled, dropping down beside us. “Are you alright, lad? Are you alright?”

Del just coughed when he tried to respond so Gael went down on one knee, putting his hands on the purple welts around our boy’s neck.

“It’s alright, lad.” His voice was a curious combination of ragged emotion and soothing calm. “This will sting.”

“Sting my arse.” Weyland tried for humour but failed. “It’ll hurt like hell, but you hold onto my hand, Del. That’s it, grip it tight.”

Del sucked in a breath as the healing magic licked across his throat. His sound of pain was choked off, then when he let the breath out, more came. A sharp scream, one that had its answer in Jan’s, not because she was under attack, but in sympathy. But Del coughed and coughed, then took a shuddering breath in and out, each one easier than the next.

“What in all the gods…?”

At the tone of awe mixed with disbelief, I knew exactly who it had to be, and I turned my head to see the crown prince—no, the new king of Grania—stepping into the cavern, an expression of wonder on his face as he stared at the fiery barrier. Behind him was a phalanx of lords and knights of the Granian court, but the looks on their faces ranged from horrified to appalled as they looked around at the carnage of the battle, then beyond the blue flames to see that Reavers did indeed exist. As I followed their gaze to the other side of the barrier, there was a stir amongst the Reavers there and it became clear that Bryson wasn’t the only member of royalty in the cave. Reavers moved aside as their prince stepped forward and he raised an eyebrow as he approached the flames.

“And what do we have here?”

We all watched in horror as Callum reached up to touch the barrier I’d somehow erected. My mates and I leapt to our feet, swords at the ready. We needn’t have worried though. Sparks forced him to jerk his hand back. He stepped back a pace, licking his fingers to ease the sting, before he smiled at me.

“The little queen has found her power?” he sneered.

“I found it before, when I stabbed my sword into your side.” With insulting slowness, I moved my eyes down to the site of the wound, smiling when I saw dark blood still oozing sluggishly from it. “What a pity that this sword wasn’t the one I struck you with.”

Whatever poise Callum possessed, he lost, the moment I raised the Sword of Destiny.

“How did you get your hands on that?” he said, lunging forward. “Little mongrel bitch!”

“Mongrel I might be,” I said, with a nod. “But I’ve got blood pure enough to do what you couldn’t. You were forced to surrender the blade to my forebears.”

“And they said they melted it for scrap!” he shouted, red eyes shining brighter and brighter. “I saw it myself!”

“I guess they tricked you,” I replied, spinning the blade in my hand in a way Nordred would’ve rolled his eyes at; a move that was showy but useless on the field. Then something occurred to me. “Doesn’t matter anyway. You could’ve found its resting place all on your own and you still wouldn’t have been able to wield it. You couldn’t do it on the battlefield when my ancestors invaded this country. You’ve never been worthy.”

I was treated then to the delicious sight of a man hundreds of years old wincing as if stung.

“You know that. You’ve always known that. No matter how many Reavers you raise or people you kill, as long as one person lives to draw breath, they’ll always say the same thing.” My lips curled. “You are nothing. You will always be nothing. And sooner or later I’ll make sure you burn down to nothing.”

The flames on my sword were what inspired me to try what I did next. My power took the form of blue flames along the blade, which was what had enabled me to cut down Reavers with little effort. So I wondered if the power I wielded now could do the same.

Burn, I thought, pushing that into the thrumming barrier.Burn every single Reaver in this cave. Burn them all.

Howls then screams let me know I’d achieved my goal and I watched the blue flames lick over the Reavers’ flesh, appearing to eat away their half-wolf form to reveal the men beneath before burning them, too. The remaining men bolted for the portal, returning to Snowmere, I was sure. All but Callum. He stepped closer to the flaming barrier and slapped his hands against it as he stared at met, even though the fire slid across his flesh to leave blackened rot in its place.

“This isn’t over, little queen. Before this ends, you’ll be begging for a place by my side. Anything to save your precious country.” His focus shifted to where Del still sat between my mates’ legs. “I’ll take every thing and every person you love, just like your fucking ancestors did to me: that I vow.”

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