My stomach drops.
The Dryad Queen sucks in panicked breaths. And Lyra speaks the words that no one wants to hear.
“All the dryads are going to die.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Chaos erupts across the garden. Lavendera, who has been disassociating this entire time, snaps out of her stupor and whirls towards the Dryad Queen at the same time as I lurch forward and Orion sprints through the side door.
“We need to get them out!” Lavendera yells. Then her eyes flash in and out of focus several times as the Mother Dryad inside her head no doubt panics as well, making Lavendera growl, “Stop screaming! I already know.”
Skidding to a halt in front of the Dryad Queen, I begin saying, “Tell them to?—”
She throws her head back and spreads her arms wide again. That sharp hissing sound echoes across the garden as she opens her mouth while her hair streams out around her head and her dress grows into the ground again.
My heart jerks from another burst of fear at the sense of primal power that pulses through the air.
“Get out, get out, get out!” Lavendera is screaming next to me.
I have no idea if she’s yelling at the Mother Dryad or if it’s the Mother Dryad who is trying to yell that to her own people,because her eyes keep flashing in and out of focus while she whips her head from side to side.
“What can we do?” Rin calls from somewhere behind me. “Can we heal them?”
“We need to get them out!” Lavendera yells again.
“How close is she?” Diana blurts out.
Trying to block out all the chaos and stress around me, I focus on the Dryad Queen, who is still communicating with the rest of the dryads through their hive mind. I have no idea if she can hear me while she’s in that state, but I speak anyway.
“Tell them to run for the Seelie Court,” I say, my pulse thrumming in my ears. “I know all the passphrases so that they can get through the wards.”
That sharp hissing continues echoing through the air. I have no idea if she heard me.
“No, no, no, no,” Lavendera is screaming, still whipping her head from side to side.
“Tell them!” I cry in panic, trying to make my voice carry over that loud hissing and the chaos spreading out around me. “If they can just make it to the wards, they’ll be safe inside the?—”
A shrieking scream cuts through the air. It’s so violent and so raw and primal that I jerk back in utter terror. Fear crawls inside my chest like spiders until I feel like I’m going to die from the emotion alone.
Draven is there immediately. Wrapping one arm around me, he yanks me back and twists his body in front of me as if to shield me from a threat that neither of us can actually see.
My heart pounds like a battle drum and my head rings as that shrieking scream splits the air. It sounds like thousands of voices screaming at the same time. It’s exactly like… Like what I heard when I tried to use my magic on Lavendera.
“She’s here!” the Dryad Queen screams in that voice that echoes of thousands of other voices. It’s raw and primal and fullof bloodcurdling rage and fear. It sounds as if the earth itself is screaming. “It’s being destroyed! We are being?—”
A portal shoots up from the ground in the middle of the garden.
Draven shoves me out of the way, putting himself fully between it and me while yanking out the massive sword strapped down his spine. Tension pulses around him like a lightning storm.
Lavendera screams.
The Dryad Queen gasps in a massive sharp breath.
Then dryads are pouring into the garden through the portal.
Everyone scrambles back in panic as a horde of dryads stampedes across the grass, filling the entire garden with rippling vines and fluttering leaves. Two of them crash right into the table filled with refreshments, knocking it over. Wine glasses and delicate plates of food crash down on the grass as it tips over. Fruit rolls across the ground and wine splashes over the grass, staining it red. Draven lowers his sword but keeps me behind him so that I won’t get trampled in the chaos.
Behind the mass of dryads, on the other side of the portal, the sounds of rushing and crackling ice flames echo through the air. It’s followed by a furious roar from a massive dragon.
