“No!” Adara shrieked as she took in the thick chains draped across my forearms, her voice morphing into…into…a deep rumble. “You cannot control me–you cannotcontain me. Iam Queen Absolute, andyouare theQueenofNothing.”The last word came out as a roar as Adara spread her wings wide, launching off the dais and landing on the white tiled floor below. The bodies from Adara’s sacrificial spell still lay in the spots they fell, though blood stopped weeping from their wounds, pools of red now staining the once pristine floors.
Adara shifted.
Her white wings grew, and visible, opalescent fissures began forming along their boning. I reared back as her spine arched, and a heavily spiked tail lashed against the steps. Slim hands turned into leathery pads, turned into claws, as Adara shifted into her Sentry. I took another step back, my eyes darting to the rest of my new family spread around the throne room. I’dneverseen Adara shift. She alwayscomplained that our Sentry form was archaic and beastly, and she was too prim and delicate to turn into a monster.
The Sentry Adara revealed was everything that snaked from my nightmares as the huge white gargoyle lifted her head and bellowed a song of death, shaking the chandeliers and opal pillars. More debris began falling as the filigree beams branching across the ceiling cracked. It felt as if the whole room shifted around her.
Laurent, Sparrow, and a limping, but alive, Merrick, stood between Adara and the throne room doors. Lenna was nowhere to be found. Most likely waned out by Sparrow or told to run the second Adara began shifting. Laurent’s hands were wreathed in blue-white flames, his eyes reflecting his molten power as he beheld the gargoyle before him.
Sparrow slowly unsheathed her sword from her back, green light pulsing from her palms. Her battle magic flared, pushing up the thin blade, until the entire length was engulfed in tendrils of green. Merrick looked steady enough, fisting two short, curved swords. His wings were snapped shut, one still bent at an odd angle towards his thigh, but the warrior seemed to not notice as he took a step towards Adara.
They looked so small, so fragile, standing in front of Adara’s Sentry. I fumbled through the surface level fae magic inside of myself, finding that inky black strand connecting to my own Sentry. I drew in a sharp breath as I shifted, the familiar icy burn zipping through my muscles, my blood, as I rolled my shoulders, wings elongating, thickening the bones themselves. My horns lengthened, the spiral protecting the sides of my throat.
Adara’s Sentry was easily twice the size of mine. I pushed down the uncertainty that I may not have an easy fight as I launched off the dais, landing on four solid paws, black talons digging into the marble tiles as my wings snapped open. Opening my maw, I roaredmy own defiance, my spiked tail thrashing between Adara and my family.
Holding the line.
I lowered my head, a growl reverberating along my throat as I paced in front of her, baring razor-sharp black fangs.
Whatever spells Adara was performing had changed her Sentry from a gargoyle to a monster. Silver cracks marred her leathery hide from her talons to her throat, a consequence of the spell that had gained her the considerable size advantage.
Merrick gritted his teeth. Through my slitted pupils, I saw him pushing to Sentry–with no success. His body was still healing, and if he forced into a shift, he could do irrevocable damage to himself. I needed to draw Adara away from the idea that Merrick would be easy to finish off.
A guttural snarl formed low in my belly as I bared my teeth at my twin. Adara screeched again before her maw darted out, aiming right for me–only to be caught by the throat at the last second by a radiant golden Sentry.
Keerian had broken through Adara’s bonds and shifted, his Sentry one of pure majesty. His golden wings beat hard as sharp, solid gold teeth and talons ripped into the soft flesh on Adara’s throat.
Adara shook him off, throwing him to the ground with ferocity. I roared my mate’s name as I launched towards him–only to be kicked in the flank by Adara’s skin shredding claws. Bright red blood spouted down my black, scaled hide as I rolled, landing upright. The coppery sting shook me to my core, but I shoved the pain deep. Next to me, Laurent began shooting dark blue will-o-wisps at Adara, and she yelped in pain at the impact before whipping her tail around, hitting Laurent in the chest and sending him careeninginto a pillar. Laurent missed being impaled on one of her opal tail spikes by inches. He staggered upright with considerable effort, rallying flame around him once more, before continuing his barrage of power directly at Adara’s monstrous face.
Sparrow and Merrick, to my left, launched into action simultaneously, driving Adara back with their combined forces. Sparrow wrapped vines of green magic around one of Adara’s legs, anchoring her to the floor and causing her to stumble onto a knee. Merrick’s sword slashed down, cutting into Adara’s considerably thick hide on her leg as Adara snapped at Sparrow, who darted out of the way just in time to avoid getting mauled by sharp teeth.
Thundering down the aisle into a leap, I landed on Adara’s wide back, shooting golden power into her wing, trying to tear the membranes and keep her grounded.
I got in three solid hits before Adara broke Sparrow’s magical hold and bucked, sending me flying into the staircase.
Keerian scrambled up the stairs to me, his talons pulling chunks of opal out of the dais. He gently nudged me with his gold snout. I’d knocked my head when crash landing, and had to shake the daze from my vision. He nudged me again, more urgently, and I groaned in response.
“Meer, are you alright?” His expression was one of worry and trepidation–but his entire focus was on me.
I screeched out a warning, shoving him away just as Adara’s tail came smashing down between us, cracking the staircase itself. Keerian roared, soaring into the air, sinking his fangs and claws into any piece of Adara he could connect with between her thrashing wings, tail and teeth.
Around me, Sparrow, Merrick, Keerian and Laurent fought and fought, gaining a step, before losing it again. Even with all of us, Adara still held a considerable advantage. Silver sparks erupted around her,revealing a bird cage that snapped closed around Sparrow and Merrick, trapping them in Adara’s mimicked illusion magic.
Laurent dodged the attack but stumbled–caught in time by Keerian. My throat felt dry. My heart pounded. These beings were my family–and Adara was aiming to kill us all. I felt disembodied, the thudding in my ears drowning out all other sounds as I took in the wreckage of the room, the valiant, combined efforts of Keerian and Laurent–the Golden Gargoyle and the Spy Master. Reunited at last.
Sparrow and Merrick banged against the bars of their cage, trying to break free. Laurent, his fire burning him up, had gone from a blue and white inferno to trickling plumes of orange–a bad sign that he was coming close to burning out his supply. And Keerian, my mate, my love, snarled at Adara in anger, trying to close the gap between them to do more damage. Even if the cost was to himself.
To us.
In that moment, I knew what I needed to do.
I sprung up from the crumbling stairs and slammed the tips of my horn into Adara, right as my jaws closed around the juncture between her wing and side. With a flash of bright gold light, I waned my twin and I out of the throne room.
Chapter fifty-five
Lenna
Outsidethethroneroom,the Great Hall had descended into pure panic. Disorder and turmoil flooded the space, spilling out onto the balconies, down to the courtyards below. Lenna darted past the thickest part of the fighting, cries of pain echoing in her ears, as she dodged flashes of magic and the clashing of swords.
