My head cracked against the stone.The world went white.A ringing cut from one ear to the other.Was I dead?I couldn’t breathe.Couldn’t move.Something heavy descended on me.In the distance I was dimly aware of Raleigh shouting my name, his desperation cutting through the furthest reaches of my consciousness.Then there was a sharp pain in my neck, a cold wetness, and—
Lukas pulled away.He spat my blood to the floor in disgust, confusion marring his features.And in his hesitation, Raleigh hurled him away.
The world pinpricked back into clarity.I dragged myself up, and my fingers skimmed the sword Lukas had thrown.Without thinking I grabbed it, arming myself once more, and climbed to my shaking feet, searching for the Queen.She languished on the altar, leaning against the sarcophagus, watching the unfolding skirmish with little interest.Though unarmed, Lukas fought with a wild desperation, ducking and weaving between every slash of Raleigh’s sword.With every inch Raleigh carved, Lukas somehow managed to claw back two, until a feint had Raleigh stumbling, and Lukas earnt himself a clean grab at Raleigh’s wrist.He twisted, forcing Raleigh to drop his sword, leaving them both unarmed.
‘This is pathetic, even for you, Raleigh.’Lukas pushed him, sending him staggering, long enough to stoop down and retrieve Raleigh’s sword.He weighed the silver blade in reluctant awe.‘Silver?This is quite the upgrade,’ he said, nodding to the sword he’d taken from the armoury, now in my hand.Then he blurred.
I thrust the sword in Raleigh’s direction.‘Take it!’I cried.
Raleigh rushed towards me.I felt his hand coaxing the sword from my fingers, before my eyes caught up.He secured his grip, spinning gracefully, and drove the blade into Lukas’s stomach.Lukasfell to his knees, eyes bulging, as Raleigh unsheathed in a slash of crimson.
The Queen watched impassively from the altar, utterly unreadable.
Lukas started to laugh.‘You can’t kill me with—’ His words stuck, hands flying to the gaping wound that was once his stomach.Where his skin should have already started to stitch itself together, it was beginning to smoulder.‘How—’
‘This is a ceremonial sword,’ Raleigh said, lips curling coldly, ‘gifted to my great-great-grandfather on the eve of his investiture.’He bent low, tilting Lukas’s chin with the tip of the blade.‘It isn’t steel, it’s silver alloy, blessed by the Bishop of Triz.’Lukas’s chin was starting to smoke.‘Didn’t you know?All Linfords carry silver.’
Lukas lurched away, but fell, crying out from the exertion.He craned his head towards the altar where his Queen awaited, her icy beauty cast in shadow.‘Constantina,’ he rasped, reaching for his one salvation.
The Queen took a single step closer, and her lips twisted in disgust.‘I didn’t realise you were so weak’ was the last thing she said to him before Raleigh plunged the sword into his back, and his skin turned to ash.
She watched silently as the ash settled at Raleigh’s feet.He turned to her and raised his sword.
‘I did like him,’ she said.‘I do wish the two of you could have gotten along.’She lifted her eyes to Raleigh.‘Well, you’ve slain my general.You’ve divided my court.Are you finished with your little tantrum yet?’
‘You’re the one who’s finished,’ Raleigh said steadily.‘I’m done taking orders from you.You have no more power over me, and you’re unprotected.You’ve lost.’
She raised a brow.‘You think I have no power?’
‘Clara has my vial,’ he said, his emotion a mask.‘I don’t answer to you.’
The Queen’s laugh echoed around the crypt, bouncing shrilly off the cold stone.‘You believed that farce?You’re so lucky that you’re pretty, you idiot boy.The vials are symbolic.’She reached out, beckoning Raleigh to her.
He swayed, his whole body fighting the pull, then fell to her spell.His eyes were wide, alert, without a trace of enchantment, but his legs dragged him right to her, until he was kneeling at her feet.
The Queen gripped his face with one hand, forcing him to look at her.‘I created you.Without me you would have rotted to dust centuries ago.’She bent low, so close her lashes fluttered against his cheek.‘If you’re so desperate to die, you know you could have asked.Of course, now I can never let you.’
She kissed him.A muffled sound of protest erupted from Raleigh’s lips as he went taut against her mental hold.
My blood felt like acid, rage curdling through me.‘Don’t touch him,’ I screamed.
The Queen broke the kiss, but didn’t release her grip on Raleigh, her nails biting harshly into his cheek.‘You’ve only survived this long through sheer luck,’ she said venomously.‘Do not dare to threaten me.’
My eyes darted to where my dagger had slid.It glimmered behind the statue of Raleigh’s father.But I was too obvious; she caught the motion, her lips splitting wide.‘Go on and try, human.’
It was a trap, one so obvious it left me paralysed.If I could reach it before she moved, if I could get there first … No, it was impossible.She would kill me the second I lifted my foot.
‘Nothing?’she cooed, running her fingers through Raleigh’s hair.‘See, Raleigh, your little pet has much more sense than you.Sucha shame she can’t come home with us.’She lowered her lips to his ear.‘Because you’re going to kill her.’
Raleigh’s whole body convulsed.‘No.’His arm began to shake, fingers straining to drop the sword as the compulsion forced them to hold it.He rose to his feet like a puppet, swaying heavily under her influence.‘Clara, run!’
Jerking as he resisted his orders, he lunged towards me.He slashed widely with the sword, his movements clumsy, sloppy.I rolled to the side, then scrambled to my feet as the blade crashed down.Before he could swing again, I hurled myself towards the spot where my dagger lay waiting.It was the only hope I had at saving us both.
I skidded to my knees when I reached the tomb, throwing myself to the ground to reach behind the statue.My fingers ached from the stretch.Just as I caught a glimpse—
Something pierced through me.I jerked away, gasping, unable to breathe, scrabbling at my chest for an injury I couldn’t find.My heart stilled.I couldn’t breathe.Had Raleigh …
Everything slowed around me.The crypt felt like a whirl of noise and colour and blinding lights.I must have collapsed; cold stone pressed into every part of my flesh.How long had I been on the ground?Why wasn’t I already dead?
