I clench my hands at my side. The hatred I have for Zek runs cold in my veins. It consumes me in a way that hardens until I’m nothing more than fierce, brutal ice, silent and deadly. My contempt for the Allaji king urges me forward with light, steady steps. It manifests at my knuckles in the form of long, sharp icicles. I creep closer and closer, prepared to put an end to all of this.
Kyron’s attention darts to me with wide-eyed shock. The hawk pivots its head, putting us face to face. It lifts its sharp beakas if to impale me through the head with it. I jam my ice-spiked fist into its side.
Zek shrieks and kicks back with his taloned feet before I get in another blow. I crash to the ground, my bloody icicles shattering with the impact. Terro and Greer bombard the bird, and Kyron hurries to my side.
“Are you all right?” he asks, pulling me to my feet.
“Yes.” I brush off my bruised ego and set my focus on my unfinished task.
Terro and Greer spar with Zek. Blood drips from the four puncture wounds at his side, but it doesn’t seem to hinder him. He pecks and claws, using his wings to keep them at bay. It’s only when Terro gets an opening and slices off several feathers that Zek backs down. He bounces on his slender legs, assessing the damage to his wing. Slowly, he turns back to Terro, burning rage in his electric blue eyes.
I can’t contain the wicked smile that lifts my lips. We have him. And I refuse to allow him to surrender. Zek will atone for the lives he stole from our kingdom with his blood.
We will be victor?—
Zek whips his head back and a flash of lime green arches before him. He catches the triangular stone in his mouth, the gold chain securing it to his neck swaying at either side of his beak. My hand shoots to my neck and I grip the Imperium. But I’m not the only one with a Sacred Gift.
The Allaji’s gift from the Statera, the Theria, glows with a blinding light that envelopes Zek. Striped feathers flutter to the ground, like plucked butterfly wings. The silhouette of the enormous bird distorts into something unrecognizable. Not a bird or wild cat. Not a wolf or bear. What emerges from the blast of unadulterated power is the most terrifying creature I’ve ever encountered.
Thirty-Four
KYRON
“Fuck,” I hiss, guiding Raelle behind me and sending Terro and Greer a silent demand. They don’t even question it, moving closer to my parah. My head tips back as I assess the abomination before me.
It’s as if the Statera mended together the head of a wolf with sharp tusks jutting up from its lower jaw and the body of a tiger. Its jointed fingers are tipped with needlepoint claws. Tucked close to its body are massive brown-black wings that will have no problem keeping it airborne. The creature is like something out of the stories Abrum told me as a child. The kind of stories that kept me awake at night.
“You took what’s mine.”
I stumble back at Zekel’s growling voice. It is alarming to hear him talk in this form... unnatural. The tusks muffle his words, but his meaning is loud and clear. He believes my parah is his, like a pretty trinket he can snatch up and keep in his pocket.
Raelle belongs to no one, not me, not this kingdom, and definitely not Zekel. She is hers and hers alone. I will fight until my final breath to keep it that way.
“Raelle is not yours, just like the Cyffreds weren’t my mother’s to give,” I say, raising my voice so the monster hears me.
“The treaty was bound, and you broke it!” Zekel roars, spit spraying from his maw.
I relax my shoulders and slide into that careless façade that served me well for the better part of my life. The four of us are in no position to battle Zekel in this new form or combat the shifters who remain standing. We are so fragile compared to them, so small, and they know it. They circle us, ready to pounce on their king’s command.
It has been some time since I found myself without a plan. The unknown makes me feel helpless, leading me to lean into stall tactics to buy some time.
Tapping my finger against my lip, I stroll the length of the schoolhouse steps. “Did I break the treaty you forged with my mother? Not that Raelle was hers to give to you. Besides, she and Ulric had already escaped their prison when I found them. I just happened to be there to give them a ride home. And before you say it, any act of war you think I committed on your land was in self-defense. We were not the aggressors, just a rescue team.”
Zekel snorts and his eyes home in on me. “You’re twisting the truth!”
“Am I? Or did I just work within the loopholes you and my mother left in the treaty? It was my mother you came to terms with, after all. She was notorious for leaving gaps that were advantageous to her. Can you blame me for bending them to my self-serving purpose?”
He snarls in response, and I keep poking with one precisely aimed word after another. “But you... you’ve disregarded thetreaty,” I say, spreading my arms out toward the destruction he has brought to my city. “I wonder what the Statera’s punishment is for that. Do you think it will be your crown?”
The monster’s nostrils flare and a feral rumble passes through his bared teeth.
“Did I hit a nerve?” I click my tongue and shake a finger at him. “It doesn’t feel so great when someone backstabs you with a tiny technicality, does it? It’s a violation of trust and an abuse of power...” My display of arrogance slips as a conversation from earlier replays in my head. I hear Rowan’s questions so clearly:What are the chances of using the stone to conquer the Allaji? Can you make their ability to shift dormant?Raelle’s answer now sends shivers down my spine.They are following the orders of their king. Even though what they are doing is morally wrong, they’re under his sovereignty. To strip them of their gift could be considered an abuse of our power.
My gaze darts to Raelle and I lift a brow, ensuring I have her attention before I speak to Zekel again. “Let’s be honest, you are using your power as king to bend me to your will. Even now, you have taken the life of my people with no just reasoning. You just want to control us.”
Her fingers slip up her sternum to the Imperium. She rubs the smooth stone and nods.
“Look at me,” Zekel bellows. “Do you think you stand a chance against me in this form? All I need to do is stomp you under my foot.” He slaps his massive paw down on the step, the stones underneath cracking. Just as swiftly, he swipes four-pointed claws at me.
