Yes!
She releases him.
Sebastian lies on his side in the mud, unmoving. I don’t even see his chest rise. I see nothing.
Please be alive. Please.
Snow turns to me. Her gown is scorched along one side. Her dark hair is wild, and her blue eyes burn with a fury that makes goosebumps rise on my flesh.
“You dare attack me.” Her voice carries across the battlefield.
For a second, I falter. Who wouldn’t? She’s terrifying. A queen with the magic of a whole realm behind her, and me a half-breed nothing.
Snow throws a blast of concentrated power that is icy cold and blinding. It moves faster than thought.
I throw my hands up. My composure returns in a rush of adrenaline, and I meet her magic with my own. Fire collides with ice, and the impact throws both of us backward. There is a loud sizzle, and clouds of steam rise where our forces met. I slide in the mud but keep my feet. I throw another volley at her, then another, fire and shadow. Everything I can muster.
Snow backs away. One step, then two. The scorched side of her gown is smoking. Her face twists into something terrible. She lets out a howl of pure unhinged rage.
She raises both hands above her head.
I don’t give her the chance. I throw fire at her left hand and shadow at her right. The hits land and she flinches, lowering her arms to deflect.
I keep going. I push and push and push.
To my shock, she starts retreating. The queen of the realm is backing away from me.
“Kill the half-breed!” she screams, her voice carrying over the chaos of battle like a war horn. “I want her head! Bring me herhead, and I will reward you beyond your wildest imaginations. Icefae! Shadowfae! Kill her now!”
My mother screams somewhere behind me. The sound is so anguished that it carves straight through my ribs.
I can’t turn around. I can’t take my eyes off Snow for a second.
Around me, I feel the shift. Heads turn, eyes find me. A whole squadron of them.
The queen might be battered, but she is nowhere near defeated. My well is emptying fast. I can’t keep them all at bay.
If I turn to fight them, Snow will destroy me. If I keep facing Snow, they will cut me down from behind.
There is no way out of this.
I am well and truly doomed.
29
Isla
I throw more at her as the sky goes dark.
I glance up and note that the darkness is made up of wings and scales. Then there’s a blast of fire, and I duck. The flame erupts from one of the beast’s great jaws.
It looks like all the dragons have assembled above us. They fly at the queen, fire pours from their open jaws in great torrents, converging on Snow from every direction. The streams of flame twist and braid together, all directed at her. The heat reaches me even from this distance.
Snow throws her arms up. A dome of ice forms above her, absorbing the fire, but the sheer volume of flame is staggering. The ice melts as fast as she can form it. Water runs in rivers down its surface, evaporating before it reaches the ground.
Steam rises in thick columns where the fire meets snow, ice, and damp earth.
Snow staggers back, her hands thrown wide in front of her, palms out. The dome thins, and for one wild moment, I think the dragons might actually overwhelm her.
