“You can’t use your fire magic while you’re in there, and you’ll have to come out sometime,” Lady Mossi said. She twirled her fingertips in the air, and the koi that had scattered to the edges of the pond turned and swam toward me with frightening speed. Their rainbow bodies bumped against me with bruising force, and panic began to claw at my throat as they herded me toward the edge of the pond closest to Lady Mossi. “And once you set foot on solid ground, you’re mine.”
“Is that what you think?” Fierce determination rose inside me, overtaking the panic and even the rage. I was tired of others thinking I was weak, helpless, easy to manipulate and control. My powers might be new to me, but they weremine, and I wasn’t about to let others dictate what I should do with them just because they thought they knew better.
This wasmylife, andIwas in control.
Taking a deep breath, I stopped swimming, then reached for theothersource of power inside me, the deep, cold pool that sat ready and waiting. It responded eagerly, flowing through pathways that had once been blocked, and I envisioned it turning the pond into a solid layer of ice. The surface of the water began to crystalize, ice rippling out in crackling waves, catching the koi fish in its wake. The ones closest to me fled into the depths of the pond as they sensed what was happening, but the majority ended up encased in the foot-thick layer of ice.
I felt a twinge of guilt for their deaths as I hauled myself onto the frozen surface, then used my power to close off the hole where I’d just been. I hadn’t wanted to kill the fish, but there’d been no choice.
“How dare you!”Shock and fury mottled Lady Mossi’s features, her lush mouth twisting in a snarl. She raised a hand, and a small boulder rose from a copse of trees fifty yards away. “You murdered my prized koi!”
She flung an arm in my direction, and the boulder rocketed through the air at lightning speed. Adrenaline surging, I dodged the projectile, and it crashed straight through the ice, leaving a massive hole in its wake. Cracks spread through the surface, and I hastily used my power to repair them before the ice gave way.
Lady Mossi took advantage of the distraction to throw another boulder at me, and I barely dodged it. Soon I was battling against an onslaught as she rained rocks of all shapes and sizes down on me, ripping them from all corners of the atrium. The pond wasn’t very big, leaving me very little room to dodge them. Several slammed into my back and my ribs, and I hissed at the pain radiating through me. I was amazed I hadn’t broken any bones yet.
“You’re going to kill me at this rate!” I yelled, raising my arms over my head to protect my skull.
“Oh don’t worry, I’ll heal any injuries you sustain,” Lady Mossi crooned in a sing-song voice as she hurled a dinner-plate sized rock at me. I dodged it and repaired the hole in the ice it had left behind, but my movements were slower, my breath coming in pants. She was trying to wear me down, and it was working. “After all, I wouldn’t want to deliver damaged goods to the king.”
She raised her arm again, but before she could fling another rock at me, a huge shape crashed through the ceiling of the atrium. My mouth dropped open in shock as Einar hurtled toward the ground in dragon form, his giant maw open wide to expose arm-length fangs. Lady Mossi shrieked as he unleashed a torrent of fire, and she dropped to the ground, narrowly avoiding the flames. A dome of earth rose around her body, protecting her, but the rest of the arboretum wasn’t so lucky. Several trees caught fire, and I watched in horror as the flames raced through the greenhouse.
It was like the tryouts all over again.
Einar craned his long neck around to face me, his golden eye snagging on me. He tossed back his head and let out a roar, flapping his wings once. The guards rushing toward us flew backward as a gust of wind slammed into them, and I winced as several of them slammed into trees, their heads lolling as they slumped onto the ground.
Hurry up and get on!
Gathering what remained of my strength, I dashed toward Einar. On my way, I veered toward one of the black-trunked trees and snagged a golden apple from between the ruby-red leaves. I wanted to grab a second, but a guard dashed toward me, and I was forced to dodge as he swung a sword my way. I jumped back at the last second, then blasted him with ice magic. A scream ripped from his throat as ice rippled across his chest, encasing his entire body, but the sound cut off abruptly as the ice engulfed his throat and head, leaving a chilling silence in his wake.
I’d just killed a man with my ice magic. For the very first time.
Einar roared again, and I ripped myself from the moment. He thrashed his spiked tail, using it to send guards flying into the trees. There was no time to be shocked, no time for fear or hesitation. I shoved the apple into my boot, then raced toward the massive dragon, taking a flying leap over his tail and scrambling up his back.
The earth rumbled beneath our feet as Lady Mossi, still in her protective dome, tried to use her magic to stop us. But Einar was faster—he leaped into the sky before the earth could suck us down, back through the giant hole he’d made in the atrium. I clung on for dear life as he winged his way into the clouds, pushing higher and higher until I started growing lightheaded.
“Einar,” I gasped out, slapping against his hide. “I can’t breathe.”
He let out a huff, then abruptly dropped through a layer of clouds. I screeched as my stomach shot into my throat, then slammed back down into my abdomen. My vision swam from the sudden rush, and I clung onto the spike in front of me with slippery palms, desperately trying not to fall off.
“You did that on purpose!”
He rumbled in response, not even trying to deny it. It was an angry sound, and I could tell he was furious, although I wasn’t sure about what, exactly. I hadn’t done anything wrong, and in fact I’d been doing a decent job holding my own against Lady Mossi before he’d come to the rescue.
But I didn’t have time to ponder the reasons behind Einar’s anger, because a loud screech rent the night air, one that made every single hair on my body stand straight on end. I craned my neck around just in time to see five griffins break through the clouds, winging toward us in V-formation. Their gilded, feathery bodies shone brightly in the moonlight, beaks flashing menacingly, but even worse were the riders on their backs—leather-clad soldiers bearing House Ithir’s insignia on their chests. Each one carried a bow, and a sense of foreboding filled me as they nocked their arrows, aiming not for me, but for Einar’s flapping wings.
Einar snarled, then flapped his wings harder, propelling us through the night sky at astonishing speed. I held on, tight as I could, as the wind screeched in my ears, the clouds tearing past us. But as fast as Einar was, he wasn’t fast enough. The griffins were lighter, and they were closing in, nearly within shooting range now.
Well, two can play that game,I decided. Sucking in a breath, I turned myself on Einar’s back until I was facing our pursuers, then raised my hand. Drawing water from the nearby clouds, I used my magic to conjure an array of ice stakes, then swung my arm wide and flung them at the enemy.
The griffins dodged the ice projectiles, scattering in different directions and then rejoining in formation. The bowmen refocused their aim on me this time, and I tensed as they loosed their arrows. Einar swung his tail, knocking the arrows aside, and I launched more ice projectiles, forcing the griffins to scatter once more.
Over and over we kept this up, racing through the skies. I pierced one of the griffin’s wings, and Einar smashed another with his spiked tail, sending them both plummeting with pained screeches. But I’d already used a lot of my magic in the fight with Lady Mossi, and my strength was flagging. It took everything I had to stay upright, and my arms shook with every new wave of projectiles I flung.
The remaining griffins drew closer, sensing my weakness. Two of them winged off to attack Einar from either side, leaving me to deal with the one in the middle. I raised a shaking hand, trying to form another set of ice stakes, but the water droplets were sluggish, slow to obey. I managed to fling two more at the rider, but he dodged easily.
I was about to try again when one of the griffins slammed into Einar’s side, sending him careening sideways. I screamed as I flew off his back, but before I could go plummeting to the earth, a clawed hand snatched me out of the sky. I winced as the digits clamped around my torso, tight enough that I could only take in shallow breaths through my nose. The other two griffins were attacking Einar’s flanks, trying to tear at his hide and wings. From the scent of blood staining the air, I could tell they’d gotten in a few strikes, but Einar kept them at bay, shooting jets of fire and thrashing his tail for all it was worth.
As Einar’s strength began to fail, we dropped below the cloud cover. The landscape came into view, and I sucked in a breath at the sight of the Gaoth Aire mountains looming straight ahead. We were approaching the realm of the air fae.
