“Sister!” Thora yanks a pendant from around her neck and flings it across the ship.
Aura snags the nautilus shell from the air. A wicked grin slides over her lips.
As she tugs the silver cord around her neck, she turns on Isabel.
Grandpapi, I wish to wield air! I want to destroy Isabel with her own Sacred Stone ability.
Aura, Grandma Maeve’s voice, answers instead.Elemental powersare quite different from those we bless individuals with. They are crude and more powerful…
Grandma Maeve, please.
Her blood boils, and heat fills the air around them. She faces Isabel, whose hands rise, creating a pulsating air shield between them.
“No matter what abilities they grant, you cannot defeat me.” Isabel snarls.
Aura doesn’t waste time testing her new power. Instead, she lashes out with the axe, slicing Isabel’s upper arm. The two women dive into a fiery exchange of blows with their axes. She can feel the sting of the blade from one of Issie’s attacks, whose air shield explodes between them as Aura overtakes her with a sneer.
“Oh no, Issie, what shall you do?” She growls while her former lover shudders in anger, slipping into a defensive position.
Edmund and Thora divvy up the remaining soldiers. Her cousin is a force of nature, spinning and slicing with precision and poise even as blood and gore spray the sides of the vessel.
Thora fights with the savagery of their father. She snarls and dismembers the warriors who can barely stand on the ice and blood that coats the hull. Through her battle, Aura observes that her saviors have wrapped coarse leather around their boots to prevent slipping on the ice.
Calder grabs Rolf by the scruff of his neck and tosses him to the stern of the ship, dodging Thora’s bodies as they fly into the sea. The younger Jarl recovers quickly to block his axe.
Aura shoves Isabel into the helm and swings for her neck. But the bitch drops and rolls out of range.
“Don’t choke like you did last time, Aurie!” The two heave their weapons at each other, blocking the other’s incoming attack. Isabel punches her side, forcing her to stumble back.
Thora and Edmund finish off Rolf’s troops, dumping their mangled bodies into the calm sea before rushing to Aura’s side.
She screams as she channels the windseidr, and everything is engulfed in a hurricane wind, knocking everyone off balance. Wood creaks as the wind shaves away at the woodgrains.
Isabel takes advantage of the chaos and blasts her into the side, shattering her focus and the devastating gusts.
“Fancy seeing you here,” Thora spits on Isabel while Edmund disarms her, tying her arms behind her back. “I have every right to call upon the blood oath you gave and slay you where you stand.”
“Only the King can claim a blood oath,Lady Commander.” Isabel’s sneer incites worry in Aura that her sister might murder her before they reach the shore.
Aura clutches Thora’s arm, needing to be the one to exact justice.
Rolf swings his mace, catching Calder’s arm.
“Enough of this.” The Iss Drengr grunts as he stomps down on Rolf’s boot. Bones snap with a sickening crunch as the Pike Hold Jarl howls. Calder seizes his mace and throws it over the side.
Thora and Edmund subdue Rolf while Calder immobilizes his lower half.
“I can’t move my legs!” He screams while attempting to escape.
Calder slaps his face so hard that it leaves a crimson outline of his hand. “I need information!”
“Why would I tell you anything, Iss Drengr?” Rolf sneers.
“Because I will kill you if you do not.”
Aura steps closer to the situation, irritated at the horror in Isabel’s gaze.
Calder grabs his arm, tearing the fabric of his shirt. Ice creeps along Rolf’s skin in tiny, jagged spikes, eliciting a hair-raising shriek. “Since you are fucking the Queen, I expect you to tell me what she is plotting.”
