You need my help. Lorelai dropped down beside him, and he could sense the power building in her hands.
He could also sense the specter of Irina in his mind, a shadow of menace that seemed infinitely more powerful than the magic Lorelai was offering to use.
Irina’s laugh mocked him. Oh, I am infinitely more powerful than your pretty little princess. Haven’t you figured that out by now? I can come and go inside your mind as I please. I can give you pain and take it away. And lest you’ve forgotten our bargain, may I remind you that I hold your very fragile human heart in my hand?
The space where his heart had been seemed to leap into flames. This was nothing like the comforting heat of his dragon’s fire. This was a slow, agonizing death from the inside out, and he thought he’d do anything—anything—to make it stop.
He didn’t realize he was screaming until Lorelai dragged him into her arms, her magic wrapping around him in brilliant strands. But this time her touch was like acid against his skin.
He shoved her away and tried to stand, but something far stronger than him seized his body and forced him to his knees like a supplicant before a throne.
What’s this I see? Irina sounded curious, but he heard the rage underneath. A magical bond created between you and the princess? All pretense dropped from her voice, leaving nothing but fury and power. I’ll punish you both for that.
Lorelai moved toward him slowly, as if trying not to spook him. Kol, please. Just let me help you. It’s the collar, isn’t it?
It’s Irina. He forced the thought toward Lorelai. It was like trying to shove a pebble through a velvet curtain. He concentrated, and more pain exploded through his head, shooting sparks across his vision, but he felt the thought slip through.
Lorelai went still, her breath coming in quick pants as she stared at him. Irina is in your head?
Yes. He tried to show her an image of the pain Irina was sending him, the way Irina had somehow corrupted his bond with Lorelai so that the princess’s magic only made the pain worse, and the curtain that seemed to separate his thoughts from hers now.
Lorelai’s eyes narrowed, and she lifted her chin.
She was going to try to battle Irina for him, but he wasn’t sure if he could survive the fallout.
Why don’t we play a game? Irina’s voice was a hiss of malice against his thoughts, and he clutched at his head as if he could rid himself of the sound. It’s called Which One of These Will the King of Eldr Kill? One match decides the entire game. Ready?
Lorelai stepped toward him, her lips pressed tight, her hands extended.
He shook, both from pain and desperation, as Irina sent him an image of Lorelai, destroyed by the spell in his collar and lying lifeless on the cave floor while Kol, driven wild by Irina’s power, ripped her heart from her chest.
His pulse raced, and he backed up as Lorelai advanced.
Hold still, Kol. She doesn’t get to take you. She doesn’t get to hurt you. I’m the one she wants. Let’s see her try to take me instead. Lorelai’s fierce expression matched her words, and Irina laughed in delight.
This is going to be easier than I thought, Irina said. I made a mistake containing the curse to your collar. I’m going to rectify that the second she touches you. As I’m sure you felt when her magic brushed against you, I’ve all but destroyed the bond you shared with her. The two of us together are unstoppable, Kolvanismir. You will do as you are told. And if you even think about defying me again, I will squeeze the life out of your human heart and leave you with nothing.
I won’t kill Lorelai. He held the princess’s gaze, trying to tell her with his eyes how much she meant to him as he waited for Irina to destroy him.
Lorelai shook her head vehemently as if she could see that he was waiting to die, and took another step toward him.
So then I guess we move on to contender number two in our little game. If you refuse to kill the princess, then you will go to the capital and kill this woman and her children instead. Irina showed him an image of a pretty woman with dark skin and black hair cut close to her scalp. Two boys, who each looked remarkably like Gabril, stood at her side.
Kol clenched his fists as the pain in his chest spread down his veins, and struggled to draw an unfettered breath. Skies, it hurt. Worse than anything he’d ever imagined. Worse than the torture she’d inflicted on him already. Worse than losing his human heart. His thoughts were fraying, and his dragon heartbeat was surging, viciously demanding its due.
I won’t . . . Where were his words? He reached for them, and they floated away, awash in a sea of unendurable pain.
You will. Irina sounded satisfied. I own you. I have your human heart in my hand. I have your little bond with Lorelai corrupted. I control what you can remember. I control the pain. I control YOU, and there is no one who can save you from me, Kolvanismir, least of all Lorelai.
I won’t . . . He closed his eyes and struggled to remember what it was he wouldn’t do. Disobey his queen? That sounded wrong, but it was the only thought he could find that made any sense.
Don’t disobey his queen. Make the pain stop.
“Nakh`rashk.” Lorelai’s voice, full of fury and power, filled the cave. “Nakh`rashk! Find Irina’s magic and scatter it to the winds.” Her hands, ablaze with magic, wrapped around his, and he arced his back, his jaw locked helplessly against the waves of agony that swept over him.
Irina’s laughter filled his head. Lorelai gets to die first, but I think we’ll go ahead and kill the others as well, just to make it a tidy little victory.
He was consumed, every piece of him, with red-hot light. Irina’s magic collided with Lorelai’s and became a cage of brilliant flames that felt like they would burrow beneath his skin until they incinerated his bones.
Stop, he begged, but no one listened.
Irina was laughing.
Lorelai was saying her incantor over and over, her eyes blazing as she fought to push Irina’s magic out of his body.
And his body . . . his body was fire. It was pain. It was more than he could stand.
Stay with me, Kol. Lorelai’s voice was a soft caress within his tortured mind, and there was something he had to tell her. Some warning he needed to give, but it was lost in the unraveling of his thoughts. I won’t let you go. I won’t let her take you.
Irina stopped laughing. Time to teach her whom she’s dealing with.
The collar around his neck seemed to tighten, and a wave of magic that felt thick as sludge slid out of the collar and over his arms.
He tried to pull away from Lorelai, but her magic was wrapped around his wrists, and she was determined not to let him go.
Please, he said but no one was listening. Irina was chanting words he couldn’t understand, and they seemed to devour the last of his reason and deliver a terrible thirst for pain in its place.
He was fire, blood, and death.
No, you aren’t. You’re Kolvanismir Arsenyevnek, ruler of Eldr. You’re stronger than she thinks. You can fight this. I’ll help you, Kol. Fight this. Fight!
He fought. He strove to drown out the awful pounding of his dragon heart. To ignore the scathing fire that dwelled where he’d once been human.
To pull away from Irina.
He fought, but he was losing.
Lorelai was losing.
The tainted magic that seeped from his collar coated his wrists, slid over the bonds of Lorelai’s magic, and then leaped for her hands.
She screamed, throwing her head back as the pain that lived inside Kol poured into her instead, leaving him as empty as a canyon with a river of magic rushing through it.
See? Irina whispered against his ear. I’m stronger. I control you. And now because she tried to save you, because you both defied me, you get to watch her die.
Let go, he urged Lorelai, but the thought refused to breach the curtain of Irina’s magic. He was trapped inside himself, lost to the impulses of his dragon and the cruel wishes of his mistress. And Lorelai, the girl who had fought so
hard to save him, was going to die.
He yanked at their joined hands, ferociously determined to break their connection as Lorelai’s already pale skin went white with strain. Her voice broke, her breath was a sob in her throat, and tears streamed from her eyes as she met his gaze.
I’m sorry, he said, but she couldn’t hear him. No one could.
No one but his queen.
Lorelai’s back arced, and then she fell forward onto his lap, her body shaking uncontrollably.
He no longer had the words to tell her he was sorry. That she deserved better. That she should let go of his hands and leave him behind.
She was saying something, her lips moving though her words were mere breaths.
Time to finish this, Irina said. We have more people to kill, Kolvanismir. Gabril Busche needs to learn what his betrayal will cost him. Kill the princess and let’s be on our way.
His heart thundered its agreement with this plan.
Hurt. Punish. Kill.
He was a predator. They were his prey.
He was fire, blood, and death.
Lorelai slowly pulled herself up until she was eye to eye with him. He snarled.
She leaned close and pressed her lips to his.
Magic shot out of her and surrounded him, cutting off the bonds of the curse and sending the pain that had been flowing into her back into Kol. Before he could move, she yanked her hands from his and pressed them on either side of his face. Pulling back from his mouth, she whispered, “Nakh`rashk. Scatter the queen’s magic.”
Irina shrieked in fury as Lorelai’s magic surged into Kol’s mind, found the thick curtain that obscured his thoughts from hers, and tore it to pieces.
Irina’s cold voice said, She can’t get rid of me. The best she can do is hear your thoughts as I turn you into the predator you were meant to be.
He had a brief moment of clarity, and he knew.
Lorelai might be able to tear through the curtain in his mind, but she couldn’t break the collar. She didn’t hold his human heart hostage. And she didn’t control him.
Irina did.
Even now, his talons were out, his chest heating with his dragon’s fire. He wanted to hurt, punish, and kill. He wanted it with a desperate hunger that roared through him until he felt like he’d never be satisfied.
With Irina in his head, it wasn’t a question of if he’d become a killer, it was a question of when.
The only choice left to make in the last moments of his self-control was whether he’d kill Lorelai or go after Gabril’s family instead.
Kol, no. Lorelai’s voice was full of horror as he pushed her away from him and turned toward the entrance to the cave.
Irina laughed as he dove into the water and began moving toward the capital.
THIRTY-SIX
LORELAI’S LEGS FELT too weak to hold her as she stumbled to the edge of the cave and peered into the thick sheet of water, still shaking from the remnants of the pain Irina had sent into her through her connection to Kol. She couldn’t see Kol, but she could sense his thoughts—fragmented, full of agony, and poisoned by the presence of Irina in his head.
It didn’t make sense. If Irina had so much power over Kol, why hadn’t she used it weeks ago when she’d first taken his heart? Why let Lorelai heal him and create a bond with her magic?
Kol sent her an image of the vicious whispers of his collar. Of the way Irina’s control over him felt far more powerful than it had before.
Lorelai sent back an image of her pursuing him as he raced to the capital with the speed of his dragon, and then ignored his instant objection as she tightened the laces on her boots. Just a few hours ago, she’d felt triumphant. Certain that she’d weakened Irina’s heart to the point of ruin and that confronting her at the castle was a battle Lorelai could win.
Now, Lorelai had lost the battle for Kol, had lost an ally who could help her fight with fire, and was separated from Gabril while Kol raced to kill Gabril’s family. She had no time to plan, no time to gather information and figure out how to swing the odds back into her favor. She had to act swiftly, or Irina would win the war before Lorelai even arrived at the battlefield.
Standing at the edge of the cave, droplets of frigid water misting her skin, she called up Gabril’s face. The shape of his mind. The way he’d erected a barrier between his thoughts and hers.
Hours ago, Lorelai wouldn’t have dreamed of destroying the wall he’d put up to keep his thoughts private from hers. But now she didn’t have the luxury of asking permission or of hoping her magic was strong enough to do what she needed. If Irina could break into any mind she’d already bonded with, then so could Lorelai. She just had to want it. And right now, she wanted it with a desperation that burned through her body with every breath.
Clenching her fists, she thought of Gabril and felt her power tingle down her arms. She imagined tendrils of power leaving her body and seeking him out in the Hinderlinde.
“Nakhgor. Find the one I seek.” Power burst from her palms, parted the waterfall, and blazed a path toward the forest.
Seconds later, she felt Gabril’s mind, still steadfastly keeping her out. “Pros`odit,” she said, and the wall in his mind cracked.
Gabril, don’t block me out. We’re in trouble, and I need your help.
There was a flash of shock, an instant of resistance, and then his calm, stoic voice said, Where are you? How can I help?
I’m in a cave under the waterfall to the west but—
I’m coming.
No! I’ll come to you. It will be much faster.
Only you? Where’s Kol?
For a moment, she faltered, her throat thickening with grief and her heart aching.
What happened? The sympathy in Gabril’s voice snapped Lorelai back to her senses. He could see her thoughts. He’d felt her grief for Kol. She had to be careful what she showed him.
Irina broke into his thoughts—which gave me the idea that I could break into yours, and I’d apologize, but we have a huge problem. She’s controlling him through the collar and through his hearts. I’m not exactly sure how because all I can see are his thoughts, not hers. But whatever she’s doing, it’s far worse than it was before. It’s like she either finally decided to stop toying with him and to display what she’s really capable of, or she found some way to increase her power.
Is he going to hurt you? The sympathy was gone and in its place was a warrior ready to defend his princess. She had to find a way to tell him that she wasn’t the one who needed defending.
No. He fought her hard enough to get away from me without hurting me, but he only left because he thinks I can’t help him. He thinks he’s going to break and do her bidding. Already, I can feel his thoughts disintegrating, turning into a dragon controlled by pain—
He’s going to be all right. Gabril’s voice was a steady lifeline for her to cling to, but she couldn’t.
He’s going to be all right because I’m going after him, and so are you. Now show me an image of where you are.
She took a deep breath and flexed her muscles as Gabril showed her a huge fallen oak tree lying close to the shack. Her muscles were stronger. Less shaky. The effects of Irina’s curse were wearing off as her own magic coursed through her veins, lending her strength. It was time to tell Gabril the truth and put a plan into place that would save everyone.
Everyone but Irina.
I’m coming to you. She’d tell him the truth when she got to him. Otherwise, he’d race toward the capital without her, and that was exactly what Irina was hoping for. Gabril chasing down Kol. Lorelai chasing Gabril. None of them focused on the true threat.
None of them focused on Irina.
She raised her arms above her head and whispered, “Voshtet. Rise with me and fly.”
Power burned in her palms as she dove into the water. Instantly, the force of the waterfall shoved her down, trying to crush her beneath its weight. She concentrated on the power rippling through her veins and opened her hands. Her magic s
truck the water, and a whirlpool swirled beneath her, moving faster and faster as it rose from the depths.
Be ready, she sent to Gabril as the whirlpool gathered itself and then shot upward, exploding through the surface of the water.
Ready for what?
For me. Almost there. She focused on the wild, untamed heart of the river and showed it Gabril waiting by the fallen oak. The river’s heart surged toward hers willingly. The whirlpool turned on its side and arced toward the fallen oak with Lorelai standing on top of it as if it was an enormous silvery bridge made of water. As it rushed forward, Lorelai said, Hold your breath.
My . . . what? Why?
Do it!
She felt Gabril’s obedience at the same moment that she felt his utter shock as the bridge of water burst through the trees to rush past the fallen oak. Lorelai reached down, wrapped a hand around Gabril’s and whispered an incantor to make him rise with the water. Then, as the river’s heart responded to the new direction in Lorelai’s, she pulled him up through the thick, churning wall of water until he was standing beside her, clutching her arms to keep his balance.
Sasha lifted herself out of a nearby tree and flew toward the princess. Lorelai winced as the heavy gyrfalcon landed on her shoulder, talons digging in. She’d left the brace behind with her travel pack.
The bridge of water streaked through the Hinderlinde, ripping leaves from the dying trees—that all looked as if they’d never come to life the night before and tried to crush Lorelai to death—until it reached the main road that led to the capital. It arced over the road, rushing above carriages and people heading back to the capital on foot. People screamed and dove off the road, but Lorelai didn’t spare them a glance. The water was above them. They were safe.
And she didn’t have a single second to spare.
Slow down. Let’s make a plan and take a little time to focus. If we do this, Irina will know you’re coming! Gabril’s voice was a shout inside her head.
She already does. And now it was time to tell him the true danger. Her stomach ached and her hands trembled as she said, She’s sent Kol to kill Ada and your sons.
The Shadow Queen (Ravenspire) Page 27