The sense of desperation coming from him was almost too much to bear.
I’ll hold him back. I’m still connected to him. I haven’t lost him completely. We’ll go straight to your house and rescue them, and then I’ll deal with Kol and Irina while you get your family to safety. Show me what your house looks like and where it is so I can tell the water where to go.
His chest rose and fell rapidly, and he let go of her hand to grab his sword instead. I know you love the boy, Lorelai, but if he harms my family—
He won’t. Now show me the house and wall up your thoughts again so I can focus on keeping Kol from giving in to his dragon.
He sent her an image of a pretty brown cottage with a bright blue door and flowers in the window boxes. It was on the eastern side of the capital, well away from the main roads. She showed the water’s heart where to go and then focused on Kol.
I’m coming.
His fragmented thoughts sped up, and she felt his frantic need to keep her away from him.
You aren’t a killer, and I won’t let her destroy you like this. Have faith in me, Kol. My heart wants to save you more than hers wants to hurt you.
Save . . . you. His voice was rough, mostly dragon, and she heard a steady snarl of hurt, punish, kill beneath his words, but Kol was still there. Still fighting to remain himself despite the queen’s best efforts.
I don’t need to be saved. She does. Is she listening to me?
Kol’s terror was a bright flare in the darkness of his mind.
Can she hear me?
Hears . . . me.
Then make sure you respond to what I’m about to say, because it would be a shame for her to miss it. Lorelai’s heart pounded, but not from panic. There was no more room for fear. She was an implacable force of nature, and she was coming to reclaim what was hers.
The water bridge twisted and dove beneath the iron arches of the capital’s gate and plunged into the city, sending people scrambling for cover.
Are you listening? she asked.
Yes. His voice was faint, nearly drowned out in the insatiable bloodlust of his dragon’s heart. Of the queen.
Then you let Irina see this. You show her my thoughts, Kol. You tell that lying, cowardly usurper that this is the last day she will breathe Ravenspire air. This is the last day she will look out on the kingdom she’s ruined.
Ravenspire’s true queen has entered the city, and Irina’s time is over.
Kol was silent for an agonizing minute as Lorelai and Gabril plunged through the city streets, streaked around corners, and sped toward the eastern edge of the capital.
Angry. There was a shiver of fear in his voice, but there was pride too.
He was still there. Still Kol. Irina had once again underestimated the strength of a heart determined to withstand hers.
Her anger is nothing compared to the anger of this land and its people. Where are you?
He showed her the little brown cottage with the bright blue door. The image pulsed with red as his heart screamed for blood, and the collar poured pain into his body until he could barely remember his name.
I’ll be there soon. Don’t hurt them.
Hurt . . .
No, you will not hurt them. You are not a killer. You are stronger than Irina thinks you are. Hold out a little longer. I’m almost there.
Wait. He seemed to be struggling to find another word. As the water surged around another corner and plunged down the cobblestones toward the cottage, he sent her an image of himself with a scarf tied around his mouth.
She won’t let you tell me something?
The water arced gracefully toward the cottage’s tidy lawn.
Kol was nowhere to be seen.
Gabril readied himself to jump as Lorelai spoke softly to the water’s heart.
And then as the water deposited Gabril and Lorelai on the withered grass beside the blue front door and receded back toward the Silber River, Kol whispered, Trap.
“Gabril, watch out!” Lorelai cried as what looked like an entire regiment of the queen’s soldiers, their eyes glassy and unfocused like the villager’s eyes had been in Nordenberg, stood up from their hiding places behind trees, fence posts, and the surrounding cottages, and converged on Lorelai and Gabril.
Instantly, Sasha rose into the air and arrowed toward the closest soldier. Gabril pivoted, sword out to face the threat, and Lorelai caught a flash of movement inside the house.
Kol? Are you inside with his family?
Must . . . hurt. His voice broke. No. I won’t. Help . . . me.
I’m going to help you as soon as I take care of the soldiers attacking us. She crouched and pressed her hand to the ground, careful to tell its heart that she wanted no injury to come to any of the soldiers. No one else in Ravenspire was going to die for Irina.
The ground rippled and shook, and thick strands of wiry grass shot out of the dirt to wrap around wrists and ankles, sending soldiers crashing down where they remained shackled to the lawn. With her back to the house, Lorelai focused on sending a snare toward each approaching soldier while also trying desperately to keep Kol focused on her.
“Gabril!” A woman’s voice rose in panic, followed by screams of terror. Gabril wheeled away from Lorelai and ran toward his house.
Kol! What are you—
Kol sprinted around the corner of the house and launched himself in front of Lorelai as a group of soldiers, taking advantage of Lorelai’s momentary distraction, cut themselves loose and attacked.
Why did Ada scream? Lorelai asked, dreading the answer until she saw that Kol didn’t know. As soon as he’d seen that Lorelai was under attack, he’d abandoned his mission in favor of defending her.
So what had scared Ada? The sight of soldiers running toward her husband? Before she could figure out the answer, another wave of attackers rushed onto the property and straight for Lorelai.
Sasha screamed in fury and attacked, colliding with a woman and then whirling midair to dive toward another.
Kol was a blur of motion. He spun into one man and then sent a woman to her knees. Lorelai ducked as a sword fell toward her neck, and then Kol was there, grabbing the sword with his bare hands.
She cried out a warning, but Kol didn’t need it. The heat from the dragon’s fire in his chest had spread throughout his body, and the blade melted as he held it.
Lorelai somersaulted beneath another sword and slammed her hands onto the ground again, desperately calling up more vines, trying hard not to use her magic to hurt those who were only fighting because a mardushka had bespelled them.
No matter how many vines she called forth, however, more soldiers kept coming. And not only soldiers, she realized. Nobility. Upper gentry. Peasants. Even children.
A chill swept over her. She couldn’t defeat them all without injuring them. There were too many, and she didn’t dare use up her strength when she still needed to face Irina. She had to stop fighting and start running.
It was time to flee this cottage.
Let’s go, she said to Kol, but he ignored her in favor of launching himself at a well-dressed man in a silk cravat who was coming at Lorelai with an upraised cane.
These are innocent people, and we can’t defeat them without hurting them. Are you listening to me? Kol!
She felt the change in him before she saw it. The darkening of his mind. The burn of agony that ignited his dragon heart. The cold, precise thoughts of a predator.
He turned toward her, his amber eyes feral.
Run. His voice was guttural and hoarse. Prey.
Don’t let Irina have you. Fight this, Kol. Her heart pounded and magic screamed through her blood as she reached for him. She wasn’t going to lose him. She wasn’t going to lose another person she cared about to Irina. A flicker of awareness crossed his face as she stepped toward him, followed immediately by horrified fear.
And then his thoughts opened wide to her, and it wasn’t his voice anymore. It was Irina’s.
The Eldrian king is mine. Gabri
l and his family are mine. My guards have them halfway to the castle by now. You have no one left. You’re a little fledgling mardushka, and you are no match for me.
Lorelai lunged for Kol, her hands reaching, but he was gone. Twisting away from her. Running toward the castle. Following the crowd of soldiers who’d already taken Gabril and his family to Irina.
THIRTY-SEVEN
“KOL!” LORELAI YELLED, but it was too late. He was too fast, and she was surrounded by a throng of bespelled people determined to kill her to satisfy their queen.
She threw herself to the side, narrowly avoiding a woman who came at her with an ax clutched in one hand and a baby on her hip. Three men old enough to be grandfathers lunged at her from behind, and she flipped forward only to dive into a shoulder roll when a girl who couldn’t be older than twelve ran at her with a shard of metal in her hand.
Gabril and his family would be nearly at the castle by now. Kol’s mind was a cold, dark place that refused to acknowledge her.
And the crowd around her kept doubling in size as more people thronged to the cottage, makeshift weapons in their hands.
Lorelai needed a way out. Fast.
Someone knocked into her, and she rolled forward, coming up on her hands and knees, only to be sent sprawling by a well-aimed boot to her back.
She whirled to avoid a sword, and it plunged into the ground beside her face.
Before she could move, a woman fell on her, and then two more piled on, pinning Lorelai to the ground as they grappled for her neck.
Lorelai shoved her palms against the ground and screamed, “Pros`rashk!”
The grass caved inward, an enormous, mouthlike circle with Lorelai at its center, and then exploded outward like a giant exhaling a gale force wind.
The throng that had been closing in on Lorelai flew backward, crashing into the cottage, the fence, and the trees, and lying dazed.
Lorelai lunged to her feet, cringing at the injuries she saw. Blood. Some broken bones. And already, the crowd that had been on the fringes was climbing over their fallen comrades and coming for her—a solid wall of people in every direction.
She couldn’t afford another huge drain on her magic. Even when working with a willing heart, magic took its toll. She needed her energy for Irina.
Magic couldn’t save her, but she’d spent the last nine years of her life saving herself without ever relying on the power that ran through her blood.
She could handle this. She just had to think like a warrior. Use her surroundings. Be unexpected.
First, she needed to know how deep the crowds were and which direction she should flee. As the horde clambered over the injured and came for her, she locked her gaze on a thick red-leaf maple that leaned toward the cottage’s roof.
At least ten people stood in the way, and there were no branches low enough to grab with her hands, but it would have to do.
Sasha, path. She sent an image of the tree, and her bird whirled away from the cluster of men she’d been keeping at bay and barreled toward the tree, skimming the ground and crashing into those who stood between Lorelai and the maple.
The princess raced toward the tree, hurtling over prone bodies and grabbing a man’s outstretched arms so she could push against him for leverage as she launched herself at the maple’s trunk. She struck the tree with her right foot and pushed up and out. Three more leaps and she’d reached the lowest branches.
Sasha circled overhead, eyeing the crowd that was now crushing themselves against the tree as they fought to climb over one another and follow Lorelai into the branches.
Lorelai climbed until she was nearly eye level with the cottage’s roof, the closest she could get before the branches became too slim to safely hold her weight, and then sidled out along a branch that was barely wide enough to allow her to keep her balance. Taking a deep breath, she judged the angle and then leaped for the roof.
She landed at the feet of a bespelled soldier.
He swung his sword, and she rolled to her left and straight into another soldier. More boots stood beside his, and when she craned her neck to take in the entire roof, her stomach dropped.
People were pouring onto the rooftop, using a twisted hemlock tree that grew close to the back porch. It was like Irina had seen what Lorelai was doing and had sent her bespelled army up the hemlock tree in a countermove that left Lorelai with very few options. She looked behind her to find an escape route.
Several peasants had clambered over the throng around the maple tree and were clinging to its trunk.
The yard below was so crowded, Lorelai couldn’t see a single blade of grass.
Even her survival skills couldn’t get her out of this. She was going to have to use magic and pray that she didn’t kill any innocent people, and that she didn’t have to overpower any hearts. She needed enough strength to face Irina before Gabril and his family died, and Kol was lost to her forever.
The man standing above her snatched her arms as she tried to spin away from him, and a woman who looked far too delicate to be so strong grabbed Lorelai’s feet. Together, they moved toward the edge of the roof while Lorelai fought and bucked against their hands. She couldn’t reach them with her palms. She couldn’t reach the roof either. Her magic burned, begging for release that was impossible to give.
Help! she sent to Sasha but before the gyrfalcon could dodge the host of sword-wielding soldiers that crowded the rooftop and get to Lorelai, a tremendous roar of fury shattered the air.
Lorelai twisted to look past her captors and saw an enormous dragon, black as ebony, sweep the roof, knocking soldiers flying with the force of its wings.
“Trugg!” Her breath was a sob of relief.
Her captors skidded toward the edge of the roof, and then Lorelai was airborne. She flew toward the ground, back first. Twisting, she tried to correct her trajectory, but then something hard and sharp snatched her arms and lifted her toward the sky. She looked up into the face of a very angry-looking silver dragon with black wings and a line of glistening black scales running down its spine and tail.
Jyn.
Sasha shrieked in fury and dove for the dragon.
No! She doesn’t mean me any harm. Follow, Sasha. Follow only. The bird pulled out of the dive and circled instead, but her thoughts were full of shredding dragon underbellies and poking out their eyes.
Jyn rose into the air, Lorelai clutched in her talons, and six other dragons were waiting for her—Trugg and five others in various combinations of purple, gold, green, and white.
A white and gold dragon gave Lorelai a look she couldn’t decipher and then turned to lead them away from the pretty gabled cottages on the east side of Ravenspire. Once they’d cleared the cottages and left the bespelled crowd far behind, the dragons descended into a broken-down barn that was surrounded by trees and overgrown grass.
Jyn dumped Lorelai unceremoniously on the rough barn floor and shuddered. In seconds, the dragon’s wings and ridges receded, and her scales softened into skin. Lorelai found herself toe-to-toe with the girl, whose dark eyes were brimming with anger.
“Where is Kol?” the girl asked. “What have you done to him?”
“Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt, Jyn, before we jump to conclusions.” The boy who’d been the white and gold dragon finished shifting and grabbed some pants from the pack he’d carried.
“I haven’t done anything to Kol,” Lorelai said.
Jyn slammed her foot against the floor “We don’t believe you, mardushka. Where is our king?”
“Don’t make me sorry I rescued you.” Trugg finished shifting. “I can put you right back where you came from.”
Sasha flew into the barn and perched on Lorelai’s shoulder, her beady eyes daring one of the Draconi to cross her.
The girl who’d been a purple and gold dragon grabbed the bag, pulled on some pants, and tossed various items of clothing at her friends. Then she faced Lorelai and said quietly, “I’m Freya. You’ve already met Jyn and Trugg. The ot
her boys are Raum and Gerik, and the girl is Mik. Kol is our friend. We’re here to rescue him, but the collar he wears is bespelled against those with dual hearts.”
Trugg stepped forward, his hands fisted. “We know Kol found you again. We caught his scent when he came back into the capital and went to that cottage. But now his scent is gone, and you were the last person with him, mardushka.”
Sasha clicked her beak in warning, but Trugg didn’t spare her a glance as he hulked over Lorelai.
If the boy stepped any closer, Lorelai would have to give ground, and she didn’t have time to play games to see which one of them was more intimidating. Straightening her spine, she put her palm against Trugg’s arm. A bolt of power shot from her and sent him crashing into the sagging barn wall. Dust swirled in the air, and Jyn began shifting back into her dragon.
“I’m not going to hurt you. Any of you.” Lorelai lowered her palms to make her point, and Jyn stopped shifting. “I’m not a threat to you or to Kol.”
“Tell that to Trugg,” Jyn said. “You just sent him into a wall.”
Lorelai snapped, “Because he was trying to intimidate me. And also because once again he has yet to put on a pair of pants. I am already having a spectacularly difficult day. I don’t need to add avoiding a pantsless Eldrian to the list of things I still have to do. Now, listen to me. Kol is in trouble.”
Quickly she filled them in on what happened to Kol over the past few weeks. How he had fought to keep from losing himself to his dragon heart. How Irina had tortured him, Lorelai had healed him, and her magic had given them a bond that allowed them to hear each other’s thoughts.
“That’s kind of disturbing.” One of the boys stepped forward. “But also useful. If you can talk to him—”
“Irina corrupted the bond. She’s gained more power somehow—”
“Fantastic.” Trugg turned and punched his fist into the closest wall. “We’re going to lose Kol.”
“We never should’ve come to Ravenspire. Trusting a mardushka is worse than facing the ogres.” Jyn started pacing.
The Shadow Queen (Ravenspire) Page 28