This was bad. Dawn had never mentioned her mother possessing a shield like this.
“Guards!” I shouted, but before the word had fully left my mouth, Liliana charged at me. Her blond hair whipped behind her like a cape as she lunged for the fallen dagger.
I stepped in front of the blade, kicking it aside just as she fired a beam of sunlight at me. I ducked, the heat of her magic brushing past my face.
I’d seen the aftermath of Dawn’s power before. It was devastating. If Liliana wanted, she could take my head clean off. But I knew her goal wasn’t just to kill me—it was to carve out my black heart. In order for it to stop the curse, she had to do it with the faestone dagger. I needed to incapacitate her before she had a chance to do that.
I scanned the library around me. The quarters were too tight, and I had no backup. Even if guards arrived, they wouldn’t stand a chance against a Faerie queen. I was vulnerable, especially with that shield protecting her. I needed space to think, so I did the only thing I could.
I ran to the left and leaped out the window.
The glass shattered as I crashed through, landing on a massive bluebeard bush below. I tucked into a roll, scraping myself on the branches, but I managed to pop up quickly.
Scanning the grounds, I searched for guards, anyone who could help. But instead, I stumbled across two bodies lying motionless on the grass. I couldn’t tell if they were unconscious or dead, but I had to assume the Summer queen had taken out a good portion of my guards already. That’s what I would have done in her position. To stop a curse. To save a world.
I clenched my fists, suppressing the urge to shout louder for help. If I woke Dawn and the babies, they’d be in danger. The thought of Liliana turning her wrath on them chilled me to my core.
Dropping to my knees, I pressed my fingers into the earth andsent a quick, desperate message through the ground to my brothers inside the castle. It was short—just two words. Anything longer would drain my magic, leaving me even more defenseless.
“Help. Outside.”
The faint crunch of footsteps on broken glass made me whirl around. Queen Liliana emerged from the shadows, the faestone dagger now in her hand, her lips curled into a triumphant grin.
“Looking forward to murdering your daughter’s husband, are you?” I spat, my voice tight with tension.
Her response was a sharp beam of light aimed directly at me. I twisted to the side, but not fast enough—it tore through the shoulder cap of my right sleeve, leaving the skin underneath stinging from the heat.
I fired two more black shards at her shield, desperate to find a weakness, but they shattered uselessly against the protective barrier. Her grin widened as the fragments fell at her feet.
“Lorelei was seriously under-using her power,” she said, her tone almost conversational.
I didn’t know what she meant, but if she was talking, I could work with that. Talking meant reasoning, stalling, buying time for my brothers to arrive.
“You have grandchildren,” I said, my voice pleading as I grasped at anything that might soften her heart.
Her face twisted into a mask of disgust, and a spear of fear pierced my chest. “I saw. I’ll be taking care of them next.”
Something inside me snapped. I wouldn’t let this woman or anyone else hurt my children. Ever.
Black shards shot from my hands in rapid succession, anunrelenting barrage aimed at her shield. The sheer force made her flinch and cover her face, her magic flickering under the onslaught. One shard pierced through the weakened barrier and struck her forearm, drawing a hiss of pain from her lips.
Before I could press my advantage, shadows enveloped us, plunging the battlefield into complete darkness.
“Stryker!” I shouted, recognizing my brother’s handiwork.
“Does she have a shield?” his voice called from somewhere to my left.
“Yes,” I yelled back, my tone tight with urgency. “But if you overwhelm her, it weakens.”
A sudden burst of light pierced the shadow fog, Queen Liliana’s beam of magic slicing toward Stryker’s voice.
“Missed me,” Stryker taunted, his voice cool and sharp.
“I’ve boxed her in. You can drop the shadow fog.” Adrien’s voice rang out, calm and confident. Relief swept through me, loosening the knot of fear and rage in my gut.
The shadows dissipated, revealing Stryker and Adrien flanking me on either side. In front of us stood a black box of shadows—a prison crafted by Adrien’s magic. Queen Liliana was trapped inside, her movements completely obscured.
Adrien’s mastery over shadows was formidable. The box would hold her as securely as steel or stone, giving us the time we needed to decide her fate.
