Alaric roared in fury. “The crown isn’t yours. You have no right to it. Our people will never accept you as their ruler.”
“They will,” she screamed, turning her head to spit fire at Alaric. “They’ll have no choice. Iwillbe their queen.”
Fiona suddenly shrieked in agony as a terrible jolt rolled through her body.
Her hold on me loosened.
Then I fell. I tumbled over and over, the blue sky and the blue ocean melded until I didn’t know which was which.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Alaric
I dove.
Hayley’s tiny body dropped toward the sea like a stone. I folded my wings against my back for greater velocity, hurtling downward faster than a peregrine falcon. If only I dropped faster than Hayley did.
If I didn’t –
I shut my jaws against the surge of pain and grief if Hayley died. I could not let her die. If she hit the sea at that terrifying speed, she’d be dead before she felt the pain of every bone in her body shattering. Hitting the sea would be akin to hitting solid concrete.
Extending my talons, I flew ever closer to Hayley. Foot by foot, inch by inch, I gained on her.
She tumbled in free fall, spinning around until I feared she’d die of heart failure, or the lack of oxygen. Below us, beyond Hayley, the shifting sea grew closer until I saw each individual wave. Hayley still dropped beyond my reach.
I can’t do it! I can’t get her in time!
I didn’t know if she saw me. I didn’t suppose it mattered if she did. The sea was less than a thousand feet away, and I gained on Hayley too slowly, too slowly.
Five hundred feet.
Four hundred.
I roared in my terror, flaming the air while Hayley fell straight toward her death. I would survive a dive at this speed into the sea.
I would not want to live if Hayley died.
Three hundred feet.
I closed my front talons around Hayley’s small body and spread my wings.
We shot low over the waves, still hurtling at an insane speed, my belly and tail bumping the sea’s surface.
I breathed deeply and soared high, gaining altitude, my love, my queen, safe in my hands.
Lifting Hayley on a level with my eyes, I took in her white flesh, her open mouth as she fought to breathe. “Hayley?”
“I gotta puke.”
“Do what ya gotta do.”
My joy surging, I flew high, beating my wings hard, I climbed toward the epic battle raging overhead. I half listened to Hayley’s gagging as I watched Willow fighting Fiona. The two danced in midair, slashed at one another, flaming, screaming their rage, their hate.
“That’s Willow!”
“Yeah,” I said grimly, helpless to assist Willow in her fight. “She’s getting the worst of it.”
“Get in there,” Hayley raged. “Kill Fiona, dammit. Kill her!”
