‘I will devour the world,’ the queen says.
Adarna takes flight, shedding feathers and blood in its wake. The queen finally lets me go, staring after Adarna.
‘I demand you return!’
Adarna looks down, and its body wrestles in the air, as though the spark of its will is trying to break through the imprint of the queen’s touch.
‘Bring it down!’ she commands her Seaguardians. ‘Don’t hurt the beast, simply bring it aground. I want it captured. Ready those ropes!’
I strain and see several Seaguardians on the Bastion wall, levelling weapons at Adarna that are similar to the crossbows Finlyr had onSaltswept. They aim with difficulty as Adarna flies higher.
I scramble to my feet and away from the queen. She’s forgotten I’m even there, eyes fixed on the sky. I push through the confused mass of people, all collapsed to their knees. We writhe and crawl forward as though moving through mud. Have we all been drained?
Eventually I make it to the wall, grabbing a weapon from one of the Seaguardians. They protest weakly, falling down as though their bones have softened. What havoc has Adarna wreaked on Paranish already?
I remember how I used my cane to disrupt the protective circle when I stole Raina. Like annihilates like. I wrench the quiver from the fallen Seaguardian and take an arrow. I loose the stone talisman of the bird from my neck. It’s covered in blood and slips as I try to tie it around the arrowhead. My hands are cut up and I wipe them against my dress, desperately trying to notch the arrow against thestring. I mimic the Seaguardians. Paranish, it takes a sturdy back to hoist this thing.
I let myself breathe for one moment, grieving the version of myself that remains buried within the Tree of Life. I kept a small flame of hope alive that the existence of Adarna could help me retrieve some of my powers. But we’ve all had to sacrifice our own little hopes for the greater good.
The bow quivers in my grip, and I pull back the string, everything taut. Adarna moves frantically, but I catch it in my line of sight. Aistra can’t help me now. I can only pray this works. What comes next is up to fate.
‘Everything must die,’ I whisper, loosing the arrow.
The arrow moves faster than I thought was possible. The bow ricochets from the force, string snapping. I feel an excruciating pain, sharp and bright, emanating from my wrist. I stare at my hand, and my fingers are cut to ribbons. My body gives out, collapsing from the wall.
I’m on the flagstones, bones and flesh and skin, jagged scratching tearing. My vision is blurry, something drips from my eye. Cheekbone sore and swollen. I think I’ve been punched in the face by a Seaguardian. The sting feels sweet, takes me back to my days in the temple. It feels more real, more raw, knowing it will heal slowly, possibly never to be the same again.
Screaming from the other side of the courtyard. I’m drowning in bodies. I find a break in the crowd of Seaguardians, a window of blue sky, and try to breathe. Adarna gives a death cry, and I know the arrow found its mark.
The bird claws at the arrow and stone embedded in its flesh, feathers turning pale. I stare as Adarna goes rigid, turning deathly white from the site of the wound. When it reaches its eyes, I know there’sno reversing this. Flesh becomes stone and shatters into pieces, huge boulders colliding with the side of the Bastion. Other stones break off and roll down the hillside, likely flattening half of Umasa in their wake. I shelter my head from the shower of rocks and riot of feathers that rain down on us.
‘Hanan.’
A small voice calls to me from nearby rubble. I catch a shimmer of midnight blue and metal. The queen is trapped under the rubble and blanket of feathers, stone and bone pinning her arm.
The queen cries out in pain. She is mortal now, desperate to live. She tries to sit up and screams as she realises what’s happened. She tries to unpin her arm, and I hear the flesh tear, see the white flash of bone beneath the blood and sinew. My legs jerk forward. Could I move that rock, repair her arm?
I can see the sling poking out from the rubble. The arm pinned under the stone was protecting, shielding. I know her as I would in any world, in any time. How could I not, after she took from me and I took from her? Something tears inside me, rupturing like an inflamed and infected wound. I recover my princess from the rubble and hold her close.
And then the queen says the princess’s name. The nameshegave her. I slowly back away, clutching Raina. I can’t let the queen take her back. She’s mine. After everything, she is mine. I cling on to Raina, cold sweat against my skin. I turn and flee, not looking back. If I look back, I’m damned.
Raina’s heart beats beneath her small ribs. Heart’s desire. I can almost hear it beating to the rhythm of those words as we run.
‘I have regrets,’ I tell Raina. ‘I won’t let you be one of them.’
‘Hanan. You won’t leave me.’
I turn, and the queen’s eyes are barely open, looking at me retreating.
‘You won’t take her again. She’s my daughter.’
‘You are no mother. I saved her life, brought her back from the dead. She’s more mine than yours.’
‘I am your queen,’ she says, reaching for me with her free hand.
‘Enjoy your empire of dust.’
chapter sixty-three
