A sound. No, a screeching, clicking noise. Horror rises inside me when I realize it’s her claws. She’s dragging them along the walls as she searches for me.
“It’s a pity all of Queen Palonia’s clothes have turned to dust. She always did have wonderful taste.” She clucks her tongue. “Though I have the most important part of her wardrobe. The diadem. Come out and see how nice it looks atop my head. Strange, I feel power pulsing through it. I didn’t expect it to have any remaining magic. Palonia’s strength should’ve died with her. But perhaps some of it is still here.” More screeching, her claws coming closer. “More power for me once I figure out how to access it. Her last gift to her favorite student.” I can hear the malevolent grin in her voice.
“Vander, please.She’s coming,” I call down the bond. But he’s still walled off from me, his focus on the fight for the DragonLands. He thought I’d be safe here. Stowed away.
“Your heart is pounding, little one. I can hear every beat.”
I hold my breath.
“There you are.” The plaster in front of me explodes, dust blinding me as Sela grabs my throat and yanks me from my hiding place.
I scream, but she squeezes, cutting off my air as she drags me into the light. Her eyes are streaked with red, her skin pale. She looks deathly ill, the only thing bright and alive about her is the malice that rolls off her in waves.
“Vander!” Her yell booms through the palace as she carries me to a window. I kick at her and claw at the hand wrapped around my throat. “I have your pet! I’ll snap her precious neck!”
A burst of golden flame shoots through the windows behind me, and then Vander is there in his human form. A gash mars his chest, blood dripping from him as he glares at Sela. “Let her go.”
“Why should I? She’s mine.” Sela taunts and lowers me to the ground.
I gasp in a breath as she yanks me to her, using me like a shield against Vander. Her forearm rests against my windpipe, her other hand over my stomach.
“I could gut her. Would you like to see that?”
I scream as she presses her claws into my skin. The pain is searing and immediate. My knees try to buckle as I grab her wrist and try to push her hand away. I can’t. I can’t stop her. I can’t stop any of this.
“Larellin!” Vander roars.
“Kneel!” Sela digs in deeper, her arm keeping me in place as she pierces my flesh.
“No!”
“I said kneel!” Sela screams.
Vander lowers himself to the floor without hesitation. “Let her go.”
“I’m so sorry, my treasure.” He looks up at me.
Sela retracts her claws, though the pain remains. It’s scorching, moving deeper inside me. Venom. Her claws carry her poison just as surely as her bite.
“That’s better.”
Sela unsheathes the sword at her side and drags me forward, holding me over Vander as he looks only at me.
“Vander, don’t. She’ll kill you.” My movements grow weak, the poison working quickly, sapping what little strength I have. “Get up!”
“Don’t hurt her. Promise me you’ll let her live. Promise me, and I’ll give you my life freely.” He lifts his neck, showing his throat.
Sela chuckles and moves to his side, angling herself for the kill.
“Vander, please get up. She’ll kill me anyway. She already has. Her poison. I feel it.”
My fingers graze along my belt. Searching. Searching. My mind slows, my heart beating as if it’s pumping syrup through my veins instead of blood.
“You prove yourself weak yet again, Vander.” Sela spits. “You never deserved the DragonLands. Now you’ll die a coward, and I’ll keep my spoils.” She licks my cheek, her forked tongue leaving a trail of fire on my flesh.
Sela raises the sword.
“Vander!” I scream down the bond as I stab Sela with the golden dagger.
