“Well, well,” she begins, her voice smooth as silk and just as deadly.“Ifit isn’t?—”
She doesn’t get to finish.
Theron’s body jerks beneath my hands as hisDrakesurges forward with no hesitation and no warning.Onemoment he is a man—and the next?—
He isnot.
Heat slams into me like a physical force as his form expands, bones cracking and reshaping in a violent, breathtaking transformation.Wingstear free–vast and powerful– and bright silver scales ripple over his skin in a wave of shiny, gleaming armor.Hishorns lengthen and his eyes blaze like molten gold as his roar shakes the very walls of theCourt.
The crowd screams, scattering in every direction, butGrizalyndoesn’t retreat.Hereyes widen for a fraction of a second—just a fraction—before her lips curl in fury.
“You dare threaten me?”she shrieks.
She lifts her hand, drawing breath to speak…to cast.
I feel it the moment the spell gathers—the invisible threads tightening, reaching forTheron.Forthe curseIunknowingly helped complete…for the deathIhave already seen.
No–Iwon’t let it happen again!
I step forward, pushing my way past the edge of theDrake’swing, ignoring the searing heat that licks at my skin.Themagic is in me,Ican feel it now—alive, hungry, reaching for its target.
AndIunderstand something–Iam the key.
I was always the key.Iwas the innocent bloom thatTheronplucked–the half-fey maiden he despoiled.I’mthe reasonGrizalynwas able to complete her curse and kill him.
Well, she’s not doing it again!
My heart pounds asIreach out—not toTheronor to hisDrake—but to the spell itself.Tothe magic that was shaped around me, that waited for this moment and now seeks to fulfill its purpose.
You don’t belong to her,Ithink fiercely.Youwere made through me.Youanswer to me.
Grizalyn’s eyes snap to mine, her expression shifting from triumph to shock.
“What do you think you’re doing you little?—?”
I don’t let her finish–Itake hold of the spell.Itresists—of course it does—butIhold tighter, forcing my will into it, twisting it, turning it.
Not him,Ithink as it tries to lash out atTheron.Neverhim!
My teeth clench as power surges through me–sharp and burning–threatening to tear me apart from the inside out.I’venever had so much magic running through me before, but somehow,Itwist it to my will.
Her!Ithink, pointing the killing curse back in the direction of the witch.She’syour target–HER!
Grizalyn’s eyes go wide as she feels me twist her magic.
“No—” she begins.
But just at that moment, theDrakeinhales…and then he breathes fire.
It erupts from him in a torrent of blazing gold and white—so bright it sears the air itself and so hot it steals the breath from my lungs.
The flames slam intoGrizalynat the exact moment the redirected spell strikes her–the two forces colliding in a blinding explosion of light and heat.
She screams and it’s not a human sound.It’sthe sound of an animal—wounded and writhing in pain.
For just an instantIsee her caught between them—the spell and the flame.Herbody is writhing as the magic she cast turns inward, devouring her from within even as dragon fire consumes her from without.
Her own curse is her undoing.
