The Shadow Queen (Ravenspire, #1)(97)

She reached farther, pushing past the stone to the ground of Ravenspire itself, introducing herself to its heart once more. Telling it what she wanted and why she was asking.

Showing it that she meant to heal the damage it had endured all these years.

Lorelai pulled her magic back and let a single throb of grief for her father and brother ache in her chest before she lifted her hands.

She felt him—the terrible agony, the desperate need to hurt her—before she saw him.

“Kol.” She looked up and there he was, his eyes bleak and feral, his neck raw from the collar he wore, and his dragon talons curved and ready as he faced her across the expanse of marble that stretched from one end of the hall to the other.

She’d save Kol first and then look for Gabril and Irina.

It’s okay, she sent to Kol, even though she wasn’t sure he could hear her. She stood and faced him, opening her arms. My heart already belongs to you. Come and take it.

Her magic flared, racing through her veins to gather in her palms like lightning. Something flickered in his eyes, and Lorelai leaned toward him, willing him to see her. To trust that she wouldn’t let him become what he feared the most. That she would save him, no matter what.

“How absolutely touching. I do believe if I left the two of you alone, you might actually manage to rescue him.” Irina’s voice was sugar-coated knives, just like it had been in Nordenberg, but this time, Lorelai wasn’t going to run.

She turned, putting her back to Kol, and found Irina standing in front of the door, Gabril bleeding and chained beside her while an enormous black viper coiled about his neck. Irina’s hands were already wreathed in magic, her smile a slash of cruelty across her face.




THIRTY-NINE


LORELAI FACED IRINA, her magic burning in her palms, her knees shaking. Nine years of training. Hiding. Waking up screaming in the middle of the night with Irina’s cold blue eyes blazing in her memory.

She’d been terrified of what the queen was capable of—she still was. But Lorelai knew what she was capable of. And she knew how far her heart was willing to go—how much she would sacrifice—to take Ravenspire’s false queen off the throne.

It was time to end this. Looking Irina in the eye, Lorelai said, “I told you this was the last day you would ever breathe Ravenspire air again.”

Irina’s lip curled. “You disappoint me.” She took a step forward. “You had so much potential. I could have trained you into a mardushka worthy of being my daughter.”

“I already have a mother,” Lorelai said. “One you tried hard to erase.”

“Oh, I didn’t just try, princess. I erased her very existence.” She took another small step toward one of the wooden benches that lined the wall.

“You can’t erase someone when their memories live on.” Lorelai lifted her chin and held out her hands, palms toward the floor. “I remember my mother. I remember my father and brother, too.”

“You took Arlen from me.” Irina’s voice rose. “You took everything from me.”

Lorelai slowly crouched toward the floor as Irina came closer to the bench. She couldn’t allow Irina to touch the bench without having a spell of her own ready. She remembered the wooden vines from the night her father died.

“I took nothing from you that was truly yours.” Lorelai’s voice was steady. “Everything you have, you’ve stolen. You’ve misused your power to force others to give you the life you think you deserve. You’ve killed those in your way, tortured those who stood up to you, and destroyed the land with your insatiable appetite for power at any cost.”

Irina stopped moving toward the bench. Her smile raised the hair on the back of Lorelai’s neck. “And I suppose you think you’re going to be able to stop me.”

Lorelai’s throat tightened, but she held Irina’s gaze and said, “Yes.”

Irina’s eyes gleamed. “You’re going to lose. Do you know why? Because you’ve already made the mistake that will destroy you.” She extended her hands toward the bench, her magic reaching for the wood as Lorelai sank toward the floor. “You thought I was the biggest threat in the room. You were wrong. You really shouldn’t have turned your back to him.”

The queen lunged for the bench, her hands connecting. Lorelai slammed her hands onto the marble floor, her magic surging.

And then Kol struck Lorelai from behind, knocking her on her side.

She skidded across the marble, and Irina laughed wildly as shafts of wood exploded from the bench and became a mass of vipers writhing and hissing as they slithered over the marble toward Lorelai.

The princess grabbed the handful of dragon scales from her pocket and focused on the Draconi’s hearts. The snakes coiled themselves, ready to strike, fangs already dripping venom. Lorelai shouted “Zhech`pusk.” as the closest viper lunged for her face.

A bolt of white-orange fire shot from her hands and engulfed the snake. Lorelai swept her arm wide, and the fire leaped from snake to snake.

Irina pressed her palms to the polished cherry wall, and a hail of barbed wooden spears flew out of the wall and headed straight for Lorelai.

She threw up a hand to defend herself, but Kol was there, grabbing her hand and dragging her away. At first, she thought he was pulling her to safety, but soon she realized that he was taking her to Irina. His grip was like iron, and every surge of magic she sent into his hand met resistance as hard as stone.