Chapter 26
VALANCE
The dragon’s deafening roar shook the ground beneath me. She took to the sky, her wings so powerful a burst of wind rolled my body closer toward Lasair.
Silver magic healed me, the grip of death unable to gain purchase on me. Iron pushed out of my body, leaving behind a nausea my magic worked to diminish.
Guns. Iron. There was too much power in the enemy’s hands.
I sat up as the dragon unleashed a torrent of fire into the army. It exploded in radiant fury as she swept across the plains, engulfing the masses easily.
Aeveen. That will be your name…
Lasair roared, snatching the gun from the Gentry beside her as her Fomorian soldier fired at Aeveen.
“Damn you!” she bellowed between every crack.
Those bullets appeared to be useless against Aeveen’s scales.
Good.
I got to my feet, enchanting Lasair and her flanking companions, forcing them to face me.
She visibly struggled, her army screaming and burning behind her.
I took a few steps forward. “What did you think would happen here?”
“Your death!” she spat back.
“Then you are a fool.”
Her arms moved, her own gun now pointing at her head. Again, she seemed unafraid, angry more than anything else.
“You’ll never win,” she seethed.
“Tell me, Your Majesty,” I said. “What happens to a head when a gun fires a bullet so close?”
I made the Fomorian soldier show me his weapon. His skull exploded, spraying brain and bone and blood everywhere.
“Hmmm,” I folded my arms, stroking my chin mockingly. “I need to see that again.”
My magic forced Lasair to point her gun at the Gentry, pressing it into his temple.
“Please—”
The Gentry fae’s words were cut short as the gun blew his head apart.
“One more time,” I said.
Once again, Lasair turned her weapon on herself. “This changes nothing.”
“Oh, but it does. It leaves you no head.”
“Florent will—”
She killed herself, her powerful, assertive face exploding in a spray of pink and red. Her strong, fighter body sprawled in the mud. As simple as that. No need for my army, only my enchantments and my dragon.
No. This wasn’t even a quarter of the forces of the united continents.
As much damage as Aeveen and I could deliver, we were only two and my magic’s limitations were to be adhered to.
My soldiers had to sweep the lands, the fire and magic of me and my dragon to be saved for pulling apart the heart of power.
I smiled as the meadow engulfed in a raging inferno of ten-foot flames, the rain unable to fight back against it.
Come a week from now, everything would be new.