I gasp as I’m engulfed by steam. It’s everywhere, shooting upward in great burning clouds. It takes me a moment to understand that Marina is evaporating the water. I stumble blindly, burying my face in the crook of my elbow. It’s so hot that I can’t breathe.
Eventually it begins to clear, and I squint through the lingering haze, my hair plastered to my face and neck.
Marina must have seen me first because when I spot her she’s already running straight at me. Yet my reflexes are quicker than they once were. It’s almost comical the way she slips and falls headlong on my sheet of glittering ice.
I take a small step forward as she scrabbles around, trying desperately to right herself. ‘Need a hand?’
The crowd hoot with laughter.
Marina’s eyes brim with resentment. Panting hard on her hands and knees, I watch as she lifts her fist into the air and slams it down on top of the ice. She does it again. And again. Her knuckles split and begin to bleed.
I stare at her in bewilderment. What is shedoing?
Then Marina raises her hands above her head, and the frozen shards are lifted up off the ground, jagged and sharp. Letting out a savage cry, she sends them shooting towards me, enough to slice me to ribbons.
Time seems to slow as the ice comes flying through the air.
I close my eyes.
And it’s not a swarm of broken ice that engulfs me, but a flurry of raindrops.
Exhaling with relief, I open my eyes to find Marina on her feet, her face contorted with rage. She jerks her arm and a jet of simmering water comes shooting straight at me. I throw up a shield before it can meet its mark, the water sizzling as it hits the wall of ice.
Marina circles me, but Queen Hydra taught me well, and soon I am entirely walled in, protected from all sides. I can’t see Marina any more – the ice is too thick. I’m protected, butI’m also trapped. I’ve trappedmyself. Cursing, I blast apart my wall of ice, spinning round wildly in search of my opponent.
That’s when a colossal wave hits me from behind, sending me crashing to the ground.
I struggle on to my elbows, trying to pull myself up, but the first wave is followed by a second, this one so powerful I feel my head slam into the packed earth, the impact sending shock waves shooting down my neck. The pain is blinding. Stars swim across my vision and I reach out a hand to catch one.
When the wave recedes, sloshing away across the charred ground, I hear Marina laughing. Then I feel a different sort of pressure, this time on my outstretched wrist, the same one I’d broken in the first trial when Beast-Marina shoved me headlong down that mountain. The bone has healed but it’s still tender, and pain lances sharp and hot along my arm as Marina grinds her foot down hard.
‘Did you really think you could beat me?’ she spits. ‘Did you really think that whatever sadistic game the Gods are playing would end withyouon the throne?’
I grit my teeth to keep from crying out.
‘I don’t know how you managed to make it this far,’ Marina continues, ‘but when I’m queen, I promise you, I will make you wish you haddrownedin that storm as an infant.’
My head is still spinning, my heart hammering against my ribcage. I try to flip over but I can barely move.
‘Do you know how many people died because you were born? How many great Houses losteverything? Their homes, their fortunes, their birthrights.’
Perhaps I’m imagining it, but there’s pain in her voice, which stretches thin, threatening to break.
‘And what was it all for? What have you ever done but bring misery and suffering to the very land you thought yourself worthy to rule over? You make mesick.’
A strangled yelp escapes my lips.
‘Look at you. Ember was right. You’re pathetic.Weak. Whatever twisted power you once had is long gone. It’s like your grandmother said – the days of storms are behind us.’
The pressure on my arm lifts just long enough for Marina to slam her foot into the back of my head.
I hear my nose break before I feel it.
ThenI feel it.
Marina laughs. ‘So,Storm Weaver. Do you yield?’
I spit out a mouthful of blood, fighting to stay conscious.
