And talking was certainly better than bleeding.
I rested my hand on the pommel of my sword. “You sat in enough of the Shadow King’s royal audiences to know just how good I am with this, and trust me, while I’ve killed and regretted it, with you…I could carve you into little chunks and sleep like a fucking baby tonight.”
He opened his mouth, but I went on.
“You know, Iamcurious about something. Why bother buying a no-name princess from a corrupt ruler to fund a war he could never win? Seems like a losing proposition all the way around, if you ask me.”
“But Anaria Centaria wasn’t a no-name princess, was she?” Gravelock said, in that slithering voice. “Not that it matters now, but the Shadow King offered her to me. A giftto cement our partnership. Even back then, he saw the girl as a threat to his power and wanted her out of the way. And if he could make some easy coin in the process…” he shrugged. “All the better.”
“So Anaria’s shit uncle sold her out to fund his war.” I yanked my sword free from the ice. “What a fucking prick. I see the two of you had a lot in common.”
Gravelock opened his mouth to say something pithy when a wave of power shattered the air, the ice rumbling around us, even the snow pausing, as if the world had stopped to listen.
Rooke must be close. Please let him be close.
Behind us, the entire illusion faded away, leaving nothing but Frostveil, looming in the snow. I sighed, both Ryland and I raising our swords.
“Really?” The Butcher’s smile was all the cat who got the cream. “Shouldn’t you quit while you’re ahead?”
“We will defeat your army,” I said evenly, as his soldiers’ closed ranks, armor clattering, the reek of pending magic clogging the air. “Rooke is going to kill you, after which you’ll go down in history as a total and complete failure, because we’re going to burn Evernight to the ground and erase every last trace of you.”
I tipped my head to Ry. “Did I miss anything?”
“Oh.” Ryland smacked his head. “We’re turning Gravespire into our summer home, once Queen Anaria annexes the Shadowlands into Valarian. An oasis with lots of trees and rivers and flowers, that sort of thing.”
I dragged my sword through the ice between us, carving a deep gash into the surface
“We’re going to win today, and you are going tolose.” I said, shooting Ryland a smile, a real smile, because fuck,this felt good.
Being on the same side again, fighting against the greedy fuckers who take and take and take and never left enough for the rest of us.
“Why, because you have the Triune?” Gravelock threw his head back, barked out a laugh. “I’ll remind you, your sister is inside. Those artifacts are already mine. She hunted them over this entire realm; you don’t think she can find them inside Rooke’s prison? She’s searching for them as we speak, in fact, she probably already has them.”
My eyebrows went up and I chuffed out a low laugh. “Well, thanks for telling us yourallplans, but my answer was going to be?—
“We’re winning this battle today, because unlike you, I know how to fuckingcollaborate.”
52
LYRAE
Diving out of the clouds, the black dragon rocketed toward us, followed by a slender streak of gold, fire already spearing from the wyvern’s mouth. Right on time, Varian appeared between us and grasped our arms, Gravelock hissing out a curse as he realized he was totally and utterly fucked.
Varian’s grip tightened when Zephryn opened his mouth wide enough we saw the fire burning in his gullet. “Glad to see you two are still in one piece. Now hang on.”
“Come and get us,” I shouted before Zephryn and Tristan’s raging fire swept across the sheet of ice, melting the floor right out from under our feet. Before my soles even got wet, Varian snatched Ryland and me away into the wind.
We landed on the island in time to watch Gravelock’s entire army disappear beneath the ice, screams cut off as effectively as if the freezing water was a guillotine. Ice chunks sloshed on dark waves in the center of the enormous, jagged hole, then Gravelock appeared twenty feet away, flanked by a handful of soldiers.
“Damn. We should have assumed some of them could move like me,” Varian muttered. “I have to…”
“Get back to Ariel,” I ordered. “We’ll handle him.”
“Fine, you two always get to have all the fun,” Variangrumbled, disappearing while Zeph and Tristan settled on the ramparts above us, bursts of flame and smoke issuing from their noses and mouths with every breath.
I’d used the globe around my neck to contact Zeph while Ryland monitored the approaching army, and Frostveil, as it turned out, was exactly a two-hour flight from Mysthaven. The best part was, dragons could fly right over Gravelock’s ward and not even raise an alarm.
Still, nothing like cutting it close.
