I waited for that wind to blow past again, and the moment the swirling and eddying gusts snapped through the barren ruins, I slammed the tip of Goldriel through the frozen layers of ice, activating the wards I’d placed along the rim of this very temple as a contingency plan in case everything went to shit, and I needed to finish this alone. The containment wards flared to life as I forced my depleting magic into them.
Merrick always complained when I disappeared for hours, since I never told him what I was up to. But now, seeing Adara irrevocable trapped in the ring of wards I’d placed here a few days ago, I felta small slice of relief that at least this plan was working.
Gingerly, keeping my wings tight to my sides, I stepped into her line of sight. “Adara–” but like a wild beast caged, she lunged at me, my wards forcing her back. She was good and trapped now. “Adara, you need to shift back. We can figure this all out, but I cannot talk to you like this.” I raised my hands as a show of good faith, Goldriel disappearing. Really, I couldn’t get the damn manacles around her if she was the size of Sparrow’s house.
“You planned this.” Adara pushed her front paws against the wards, her white wings pumping hard in an attempt to fracture them. They held her in. “All because you wanted my throne.”
I blinked in surprise. “Ineverwanted the throne, untilyoukilled our parents.”
“I did what was necessary,” she grunted, turning to lash her spiked tail into the wards. “You received the first soul tie.Youwere going to take the Opal Palace, the one thing I wanted my entire life. Ninety-eightyears,Esmeray. I went to all the diplomatic meetings, I built all of the connections, I engaged with every single boring suitor Father deemed appropriate. And yet it wasn’t enough. Why?” With those bitterly spat words, she stopped fighting the wards, pinning me in place with one, dull, blue-grey eye. “Why did you get everything and I got nothing?”
“You would have gotten the Obsidian Kingdom,” I said quietly, taking a step closer, trying to keep my demeanor calm. “You could’ve found your mate while you ruled from the Obsidian Palace, and we could have been the sisters I always wanted us to be.”
“You never saw me as a sister,” Adara stated flatly. “You were too busy training, or sneaking out of the Palace with Sparrow. If I ruled from Obsidian, you would’ve pitted your court against me, taken it all anyway. You considered me your rival from themoment youracatmanifested.”
“Do not play the fucking victim, Adara,” I sneered, my wings flaring out at my sides as my hold on my attitude slipped.
Hale told us once Adara was separated from the spell book, she wouldn’t be able to enact any spells. By waning her this far, depleting my magic in the process, she should not be able to feel its effects. But she continued acting frenzied, twisted and furious, just as she had in the Opal Palace’s throne room. Was she even under the influence of the book? Or was this my sister all along–a beast under that beautiful skin, finally revealing her true self.
My mind churned, thoughts muddled from the pain that continued radiating through my body.
She had silver battle magic now, and hadn’t wielded a drop of water during the fighting. But we came from a strong lineage of fae on our Father’s side. Maybe she couldn’t manipulate a lot of water because she had that second form of battle magic hidden away all along? Or was the silver hued power purely a gift from the spell book? I wracked my fuddled brain to try and remember what magic she showed in our youth, but I didn’t remember her power ever presenting as silver.
Adara wouldn’t be the first to keep a deadly gift under wraps and out of sight. Growing up in court, I’d learned just how cunning fae could be. And after hitting my head hard on the dais steps, everything was processing a bit too slow. I blinked back the fog in my brain, trying desperately to straighten out my line of thinking.
Adara sighed, stretching, and settling on her haunches, one giant paw resting against the wards. “Do you know the only regret I have in this life?” She cocked her head to me. Lost in thought, I didn’t see it coming.
“What?”
“My only regret in this life is that I couldn’t find you on the night I murdered our parents,” Adara said smoothly. “I wish I could’ve killed you too. Even if that meant killing Keerian in the process.”
And with that, Adara hurled forward, breaking through my wards with a mightybangthat shook the mountain top itself.
Chapter fifty-eight
Esmeray
Adaralungedtowardsme,my body moving out of instinct. I waned, but my magic was burning out quick. I only managed to make it fifty feet to her left. Breaking into a sprint, I aimed for the tree line I could make out in the distance. This clearing would be my end unless I darted into the taiga, where she couldn’t fit in Sentry form. Under the cover of the dense trees, I could get a reprieve from her attacks to formulate a new plan.
I heard her bellow in frustration, breaking out into a thundering gallop after me, her long strides shrinking the distance between us much too quickly. I wouldn’t make it to the tree line. With a split-second to decide, I snapped open my wings, the icy wind bolstering my flight towards a rocky outcropping off the mountain instead. Aiming wildly, I threw a hand behind me, flinging as much magic that I dared muster towards her. She easily deflected as I slid the last fifteen feet to the crevice, landing and rolling, my wing clipping a sharp edge of rock as I dove into the meager cover. Blinding pain shot from wing tip to fingertip, but I clawed and wriggled my way deeper into the narrow space between two slabs of stone, a heartbeat before talons longer than my arm smashed intothe hard shelf above me.
Debris rained down, sharp shards peppering my already injured wings with fresh cuts as I covered my head. Pushing down any thoughts of my mortality, I rallied all my remaining fae magic. If I had enough for one last attack, I would make it fucking count.
For my mate, for my friends, for my Kingdom. I would take the shot.
For retribution, for revenge, for the hurt and anger I felt over the last year, I would enjoy it.
Grabbing Goldriel, I centralized my power to the still intact rock in front of me. If I blasted the wall outward and hit Adara, it would bring this entire outcropping down on her. The staff in my hands trembled as I drained all my remaining magic into it. I couldn’t wane, couldn’t even make a fucking illusion of a teacup right now. I’d never been this deep into my power, and knowing that I was tapped out after this, bolstered me enough to drain everything I had into Goldriel, the golden moonstone nestled at the tip glowing brilliantly–as if it knew.
With one shot left, I aimed to kill.
The moment I felt my magic quiver, the sign I was almost out of power, I slashed Goldriel across my chest, directly at the wall of stone separating me from Adara. Gold light exploded outwards, slamming into the rock just as Adara leapt, trying to use her considerable weight to collapse the small nook I found to bury me under the mountain’s unforgiving mass.
My magic burrowed into the cracks forming above me from Adara’s barrage. I held Goldriel steady, pouring more and more golden power into the slab of mountain. Sweat and blood trickled down my brow, freezing almost immediately, a scream tearing from my throat as I continued dredging up every drop of myacat, forcing it to bend to my will, focusing on those rocks. New cracks spiderwebbed out, groaning underthe assault of Adara slamming her body into it on one side, and the wobbling stream of magic, still holding and swelling, at its underbelly.
The alcove began trembling, and I gritted my teeth until I tasted blood. I felt the shift in the earth at last and slammed that final, feeble strand of magic into the epicenter of those glorious cracks, right as Adara’s talons raked through the surface, a hair’s breath from my face.
With a deafening explosion, splintered shards of mountain crashed directly into Adara’s open maw. Gold light flared outwards, blasting Adara backwards as she howled in pain, hitting one of the few pillars that still stood from the temple of a Witch Queen long dead. The pillar rocked and swayed before toppling over, crushing Adara beneath its weight. I ducked my head as rock rained down all around me, destroying the face of the alcove and opening it to the elements.
