The Shadow Queen (Ravenspire, #1)(96)
Sasha, perch! Magic gathered in her palm like lightning as Lorelai lifted her bare hand into the air. Sasha swooped out of the sky and landed on Lorelai’s palm as the wolves dug their talons into the porch and howled, foam dripping from their mouths.
The lightning in Lorelai’s palm wrapped around Sasha, and the power coursing through the princess leaped for the threads of awareness that connected Sasha to the rest of the birds in the forest.
“Hat`sja. Come together. Come to me.”
Sasha shuddered. The wolves locked eyes with Lorelai and dug their claws into the ground.
Lorelai braced her feet as power spilled out of her. The wolves leaped forward. Lorelai spun away from one, but the other slammed into her and sent her to her knees. The gyrfalcon shrieked with fury and raked the wolf with her talons as it snapped at Lorelai’s hands.
“Hat`sja!” Lorelai yelled as her power pulsed with a multitude of heartbeats from the surrounding trees. Behind her, the dragons roared, and the thick, wet sound of battle filled the air, but Lorelai couldn’t help them. She was too busy trying to survive long enough to get herself inside the castle.
Pain seared her, and she kicked at the wolf who was snapping at her, rolling to the side as it lunged for her and barely avoiding the jaws of the smaller wolf.
Kill them all. Kill, kill, kill. Sasha slammed into the biggest wolf and then shrieked in pain as the other wolf nipped her wing.
Lorelai kicked the larger wolf, sending it skidding over the ground, and scrambled to her feet. She turned toward the castle’s entrance, where another pair of foaming, snarling wolves stood waiting. Perch, Sasha. Hurry. She held her hand in the air and sent her magic into the gyrfalcon the instant the bird settled onto her open palm.
There was an awful grinding sound as the bird’s wounded wing knit back together, and then a rustle swept through the surrounding trees. It started as a whisper, a few leaves shushing together in the breeze, and then grew louder and louder until it sounded like a hurricane ripping leaves from branches and branches from trees.
The wolves behind Lorelai growled and stalked toward her, while those in front of her crouched waiting. She braced herself to run, to fight, but then birds of every size exploded out of the trees and flew straight at Lorelai. The wolves behind Lorelai were battered from all sides, caught in the maelstrom until they were smashed against tree trunks and left discarded on the ground like crumpled toys. The animals at the castle’s entrance lunged for her, but they were driven back by a wall of birds that circled Lorelai, a swirling funnel cloud of sharp beaks and bright eyes, and swept her from the ground until she seemed to float in their midst midair.
The wolves howled as the larger birds left the funnel cloud, raked the animals with their talons, and then rejoined the rest of the flock only to do it all over again.
Kill? It was Sasha’s voice. It was a hawk’s voice. A robin’s. A dove’s. The strength of hundreds of birds speaking to her at once drove a spike of pain through Lorelai’s head. She spun slowly within the funnel cloud, high above the ground, buffeted by wings on all sides.
Kill. She answered the birds. The flock lowered her to the ground and then swept toward anything that stood between Lorelai and the castle, tearing it to pieces. As the dragons battled behind her, Lorelai mounted the steps to the entrance hall and reached for Kol. She found darkness. Pain. And a terrible hunger for Lorelai’s heart.
But she also sensed that he was close. Which meant either Irina had sent Kol out to fight Lorelai in her stead, or they were both waiting for her together somewhere in the castle.
There was only one way to find out.
The door to the entrance hall was heavy—the wood as thick as a horse’s back with stone knockers and ornate iron handles—and Lorelai had to lean into it to get it open.
A page stood on the other side of the door, her mouth open in shock to see Lorelai step inside.
“Leave,” Lorelai said softly as the echo of the door swinging shut behind her reverberated through the hall.
The girl’s eyes widened, and she tugged on the collar of her uniform. “But I can’t just . . . you can’t just—”
Lorelai locked eyes with her. “I am Lorelai Diederich, daughter of Arlen Diederich the Third. This is my castle, and I am your queen. If you want the current usurper of a queen to spare your life in the upcoming battle between us, then you need to leave. Now. Go hide somewhere and don’t come back until morning.”
The page slowly backed away.
Lorelai turned away as the girl disappeared into a side corridor. The entrance hall with its sumptuous marble floors, ornately curved staircase, and decorative benches gifted to Queen Rosalinde I a century ago by the ruler of Balavata looked exactly the same as it did in Lorelai’s memory.
She walked to the middle of the room and sank to the floor in the spot where she’d last seen her father alive. Where he’d told her to protect her brother.
Lorelai hadn’t been able to save her father or her brother. But she could honor their memory now. And she could free the rest of Ravenspire, the people her father had pledged to lead and protect—the people he would’ve raised her to lead and protect—from the tyranny of its unlawful queen.
Her fingers tingled, and the cold, implacable heart of the marble stirred. Beneath it, Lorelai felt the barrier of mountain stone that had been used centuries ago as the foundation for the castle. It was her mountain, and the heart recognized her with a little surge of power.