The Shadow Queen (Ravenspire, #1)(81)

Touch the ground, Lorelai. Send the fire where you want it to go. Kol’s voice broke through the pain, and she fell to her knees and pressed her open palm against the forest’s floor.

“Zhech`pusk. Destroy with fire. Allow all who have a heartbeat to get out of the tower unscathed.” She accompanied her instructions with an image of a watchtower—tall and narrow, built of wood with signal mirrors along the top and a carrier pigeon roost to the side.

Fiery magic—orange and yellow with a core of white—burst from her palm and burrowed into the ground. She pressed hard, as much to stay in contact with the magic as to keep herself from curling up in a ball from the pain, and felt the threads of fire explode outward, hurtling beneath the forest floor until they reached a watchtower and then racing up the structure to engulf it in flames, always leaving the stairs and exit clear so that those who manned the tower could escape.

The fire found seven towers in all—two in the capital, one on the castle grounds, and one at each compass point surrounding the capital. When the seventh tower was crumbling to ash, Kol pulled his hand from hers and held her while the terrible heat of his dragon’s fire drained away and left her shaking in its wake.

“Are you okay?” Gabril crouched in front of her.

“Yes,” she said, though her limbs still trembled. She leaned on Kol as he helped her to her feet and then listened carefully.

The forest was alive with creatures rustling through the underbrush, insects chirruping, and the occasional mournful hoot of an owl, but there were no signs of Irina. No shuddering in the ground. No bugs or statues or anything else that looked like a weapon.

Lorelai had sent powerful magic through the ground only a day’s journey from the capital, had destroyed all the capital’s watchtowers, and Irina hadn’t been able to retaliate.

She laughed and hugged Leo’s sweater to herself, blinking in surprise as tears stung her eyes. “We did it. She didn’t attack us, even though we burned down a tower on the castle grounds.”

Gabril’s teeth flashed white against his skin as he smiled. “You were right. I’m proud of you.”

I told you we make a good team. And I think sending fire beneath the ground to incinerate every tower had plenty of flair. Leo would be proud too. Kol’s hands at her waist kept her steady while her knees gained the strength to hold her again.

What about your brother? Would he have loved this too?

Rag? Kol laughed, though there was hurt behind it. Not a chance. He was always serious. Always focused on doing things exactly as he’d been taught. His whole life was spent trying to live up to the responsibility of being king one day, and it took the fun out of him.

Kind of like me?

Kol’s fingers tightened around her waist, and he drew her a little closer. She could feel the heat of his chest, but instead of pain, it brought comfort. There’s no one like you.

Kol’s hands were still steadying her, though now it felt like she needed steadying for a different reason altogether. Her skin tingled with something different from magic, something that sparked along her nerves and shivered deliciously in her stomach. She smiled up at him, and he smiled back, and then Gabril cleared his throat.

“I may be old, but I’m not blind. I can see when I’m intruding.” His hand wrapped around her shoulder and squeezed gently. “You two don’t stay out too late talking, and don’t do anything you don’t want to tell me about in the morning.”

Lorelai took a step back from Kol, and his hands dropped from her waist. “You’re leaving us out here alone?”

“Would you rather I stayed?”

Skies, no.

“No! I mean . . . we’ll be fine. We’re just going to talk.”

Gabril snorted. “That’s what we called it in my day too.” He looked at Kol. “If I can trust her to wage war against the queen, I can trust what she sees in you. And besides, if you try anything she doesn’t like, she can turn you into a pile of ash.”

Lorelai and Kol watched Gabril walk back to the shack in silence, and though they weren’t touching, her skin still tingled with the memory of his.




THIRTY-THREE


AS GABRIL DISAPPEARED into the forest, heading back toward the shack, Kol faced Lorelai and closed the distance between them with a single step. She looked at him, her dark eyes glowing in the moonlight, her red lips parted, and Kol could think of nothing but her.

Are we about to break your ground rules? Kol leaned toward Lorelai slightly, giving her time to move away if she chose.

Ground rules? She looked at his mouth, and her breath quickened.

You remember. The list you gave me when you decided not to block me out of your head? He took one of her cold hands in his and focused all his thoughts on the way she sucked in a sharp little breath when he rubbed his thumb over her wrist. The way her pulse beat frantically against her skin.

What about it? She licked her lips, and he willed her to move toward him. To want this like he wanted it.

You make me want to break one of your ground rules every time you look at me like this. And, skies help him, waiting for her to decide if she truly wanted him or not was torture.

Her smile was a slow journey of warmth that lit up her face and lingered in her eyes. You want to kiss me.

Skies, yes.

For a brief moment, visions of the many other girls he’d casually kissed at the academy filled her mind, and he shook his head. No, Lorelai. You’re different. This—he held up their joined hands—is different. Search my thoughts, and you’ll see the truth.