Oh, gods.
I face the crowd again, panic hot in my veins, making me a little sick. Every face is a mask of shock.
Alexus and Raina jump up and hurry to the stairs along the sides of the courtyards, followed by the rest of our band, while I absorb what’s actually happening. When I see Fia Drumera’s face, even from a distance, I can feel the fiery fury inside her.
The god that made her an immortal fire queen is standing in her house.
Thanks to me.
Alexus reaches me first, pulling me to his side, his eyes aflame as he pins Neri with a glare. “What in the fuck are you doing here?”
“That really isn’t the question you need to be asking right now, Un Drallag,” Neri says. “Why don’t you try How do we stop the Prince of the East who just arrived on Mount Ulra with magick-laced blood?”
Alexus’s face blanches, and Raina freezes behind him, her eyes wide.
“How…” Alexus pauses and looks at me. “Talk, Nephele. Fast.”
My insides wither to dust under his stare. “I’ll have to explain everything later. Just know that Neri isn’t lying. He saw them on the mount. The prince is here, with Fleurie, Vexx, and Colden, and Colden has his power back thanks to the northern god. But the prince must be siphoning, because Neri could sense magick on him, thick. Things could get very ugly very quickly.”
Before Alexus can say or do anything, a woman’s wail of fury howls through the night, and a ball of raging fire comes sailing through the air, aimed right at Neri.
He holds up a single hand, and the fire turns to ice, crumbling to the packed sand of the courtyards, sizzling in the braziers. It’s magick from his curse, after all.
“I’m leaving, witch,” he says to me. “Get them to Mount Ulra and do it fast. I’ll be there.”
Snow and ice spin around us in a whirlwind of cold, and then he’s gone.
I don’t know what to say to my friends who have now gathered on the stairs and courtyards, their faces confused, or to Fia who’s stalking toward me.
So I look at my sister and say, “You need to get us to the Grove of the Gods. Now.”
70
RAINA
Alexus clasps my face, his eyes shadowed with worry. “I don’t want you in this. Take me to Mount Ulra and leave me there. Let me deal with the prince.”
It’s always him before me in moments like this. But maybe I need to save him.
I take a moment to think. Fleurie is here. She brought Colden and Vexx and the prince. I don’t know if she means to portal Alexus back to Quezira as part of her deal, but I can’t walk him into harm’s way. Still, she can get to him whether he’s with me or not, but at least if he and I are together, I can give Fleurie a chase.
Her portals versus my abyss.
We shall see which one will win.
“She needs to take me.” I turn around to see Fia.
“No,” Alexus insists, his voice firm as a hammer. “If Colden is up there, we can’t know what happens if the pair of you get into close quarters. Your curse could bring down the whole mountain.”
Godsdamn Neri.
Near-translucent fire licks from Fia’s hands, as though she’s barely containing her rage. “I am the queen here, Alexus.”
“And a wiser one than her fury,” he reminds her.
I don’t give anyone else time to argue. There are three of us with the kind of power meant for magickal battles. If I think we need more, I can return. I hope.
I grab Nephele and Alexus’s wrists and think about the Grove of the Gods, the view from the sky, the paintings in our room, the drawings in the books Nephele looked through, and without another second of indecision, we’re gone.
