My stomach curdled.
“Now would be a good time for you to turn back into a man, future Grand Mage,” I told Thom through gritted teeth, urging the carriage to move faster.
He croaked in response.
We hit the main road and I snapped the reins with trembling hands. I searched the lane ahead for travelers, for anyone who could help, but no one appeared on the roads, the track hidden by thin forest.
A set of hoofprints pounded against the dirt behind me.
He’d eventually reach us. It will all have been for nothing.
But at least the idiot was alone for now. Still too proud of his abilities, still too unsure of mine. He didn’t realize wild magic flowed through the veins of the woman he dismissed as the prince’s mistress.
I could yet prove him wrong again.
A burning scent filled my nostrils, carried against the force of the wind. When I spared a glance back, a hungry flame ate through the carriage top, dancing across the canvas as it writhed amidst clouds of smoke. Behind us, Lee rode hunched, his arm outstretched, his face masked in concentration.
A sparking spell.
With no water nearby, my pulse spiked.
Think, Lyra.
I breathed deeply. I needed my time magic.
I needed the fire to leave us.
I thought of ripped shirts, torn parchments, split seams. Of allthat had been destroyed, and everything time ruined in the end. I thought of the carriage top worn down by years of use, of rips, cracked leather, and stains….
Unmake the carriage. Tear it apart.My mind scrambled for the amplifier, the golden thread, thin but strong. I pulled with all my might.
And with that thought, the carriage was torn in half, the top ripping itself free. A loud crack filled the air, then came a heavy thud as it crashed onto the dirt road. I lurched, the coach stripped nearly bare. Cold air whooshed against my backside. A yelp resounded behind us. When I looked back, Lee’s horse had tripped over the smoldering carriage pieces.
Lee lay sprawled out on the dirt, fire climbing up his mage robes.
The horse cried out in pain, and my heart twisted—I hoped that it would be alright.
But when Lee cried out as well, I did not spare him the same pity.
I urged our horses to go faster, even as exhaustion weighed on my limbs.
I did not look back again to see if he survived.
When I reached the palace, dawn was just peering over the horizon, a glorious golden glow hovering over the landscape.
My legs shook as I descended what was now merely a blackened, sooty carriage frame. The shouts of men swarmed us. I cradled Thom even closer to my chest as one guard grabbed my arm anddragged me into the castle without a word.
“I have the prince,” I said, my voice slurred. “He’s here. He’s a frog.”
The guard paid me no attention, dragging me down stone steps into the dungeon.
I stumbled as the guard pushed me into a cell. The bars clanged shut.
“His Majesty is in an important meeting at this moment,” he told me. “But I’m sure he’ll be very interested in what you have to say about the missing prince when he is finished.”
“Thomas isn’t missing, he’s here!” I cried, pushing the frog in front of me.
The guard snorted.“Sure, girl.”
