Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Lavendera strolls into the thorn forest. Her beautiful pink and purple eyes are bright and clear, completely in the present, and she has an almost excited spring in her step.
I have never seen her look this happy before.
I’m not sure if it comes from being in the woods or from simply being away from her dragon shifter guards.
In the end, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that she dies.
Sunlight filters down through the green canopy above, painting bright highlights in Lavendera’s flowing brown hair as she walks past the tree that I’m hiding behind. The leaves around us rustle restlessly again. I turn with her when she moves, getting into position.
Isera steps out from the trees a few steps in front of Lavendera. Her sudden appearance makes Lavendera stop short. But to my surprise, she smiles as she locks eyes with Isera.
“It’s her, isn’t it?” she says, that strange smile still on her face. “I knew it would be.”
I slip out from my hiding place and quickly close the short distance between us.
“Who is what?” Isera asks, keeping Lavendera’s attention fixed on her.
Only cold calculation remains inside me as I sneak up behind Lavendera’s back and raise my blade.
I ram it towards the side of her neck.
“NO!”
Vines shoot out from every tree around me. They curl around my wrists and ankles like whips and yank me away from Lavendera.
“No!” that same furious voice repeats in a vicious snarl.
Chaos erupts as thick vines strike at my friends as well, leaving them battling opponents they can’t see that seem to be coming from every direction.
Lavendera whirls around to face me.
But to my utter shock, her eyes aren’t glowing. Which means that the vines are not her doing. And what’s even more baffling is that she looks as shocked as I am.
“Do not touch her,” that same voice hisses. “If you hurt her, you will face the wrath of every forest on this world.”
It all suddenly clicks in my head. The voice. The words. The vines.
Twisting my head to the side, I find the Dryad Queen gliding out of the trees. Fury flashes in her brown eyes as she glares at me. The intensity of it is enough to make my heart skip a beat. It feels as if I’m facing down the merciless power of nature itself.
Two steps away, Lavendera whirls towards her as well.
Anger, as old and terrible as the woods themselves, darkens her beautiful features when she lays eyes on the Dryad Queen.
“No!” she growls. “Not you!”
The Dryad Queen hesitates, the anger in her eyes disappearing when she shifts her gaze from me to Lavendera. “You can’t—”
“How could you do that to me?” Lavendera demands, insanity starting to bleed into her voice. “How could you?”
“You know that—”
“I don’t care!” Desperation and insanity lace her voice, making it sharp and high and unhinged. “You don’t know what it’s like!”
The vines trapping my limbs abruptly disappear as the Dryad Queen yanks them back and slams them up to protect herself instead.
I hit the ground hard and jerk back in shock as Lavendera starts attacking the Dryad Queen.
Branches shoot through the air, slamming into the Dryad Queen’s wall of vines.
I throw myself backwards as one of them bounces off and almost spears through my eye.
Across the forest floor, my friends stagger upright again when the trees stop fighting them to instead focus on Lavendera. Trees and branches and vines shoot up from the ground and flash through the air and crash into each other as Lavendera throws her magic at the Dryad Queen in mad fury.
I adjust the grip on my knife. “We should—”
A dragon roars from the city.
Whirling around, I snap my gaze towards the city across the grass.
Four silver dragons have appeared above the rooftops. Their wings boom through the air as they climb higher, letting out another series of bellowing roars.
Lavendera shoots a tree into the air, right through the tree line and out into the open air outside. It sails gracefully through the warm summer air before crashing down on the ground.
All four dragons whip their heads towards it. Towards us.
With a roar, they speed forward.
Oh shit.
“Come with us,” the Dryad Queen calls to Lavendera while still blocking her furious attacks. “They won’t—”
“No,” she snarls back. “I’m staying with them! It will happen soon now. I know it will. They said so.”
“They’re lying.”
“No, they’re not! They promised. They promised.”
Wings boom through the air as the silver dragons shoot towards the tree line.
“Orion,” Draven yells over the cracking branches and snapping vines.
“He’s not opening the next portal for another half hour,” the Unseelie King calls back.
“Fuck.”
I snap my gaze between the rapidly approaching dragons and the woman I was supposed to have already killed.
She said it herself. She’s going back to the Icehearts.
I can’t let her do that. I can’t let her keep helping them with something as dangerous and important as dragon steel.
This might be my only chance to kill her. I need to take it.
Adjusting the grip on my knife, I flick my gaze over Lavendera’s body and calculate the best moment to stab her while she’s focused on attacking the Dryad Queen.
There.
I lurch forward.
“NO!” the Dryad Queen screams again.
Vines shoot towards me. I dive to the side, barely escaping them. But the Dryad Queen can’t try again because Lavendera has increased the intensity of her attacks and begun backing towards the tree line. Towards the four silver dragons who are almost here.
Leaping to my feet, I get ready to make one last attempt.
“Don’t!” the Dryad Queen yells, desperation pulsing in her voice. “We’ll help you! We’ll help you if you don’t hurt her!”
I hesitate. We need the dryads on our side. But we also need to neutralize Lavendera.
“Draven!” Lyra calls. “Orders?”
Before he can reply, the four silver dragons reach the tree line.
Deafening roars echo across the landscape as they open their jaws and bellow. A shimmering starts at the back of their throats.
“Isera! Alistair!” I yell.
Lavendera slams a massive wall of trees towards the Dryad Queen and sprints out into the open grasslands.
Ice flames shoot towards us.
I gasp.
Fire roars through the air. It’s followed by storm winds and a massive wall of ice.
My heart thunders in my chest as the ice flames from the silver dragons crash into the storm of defensive magic.
Alistair’s fire burns through the ice flames, making mist explode into the air, while Draven’s winds blow the attack back towards the dragons.
In the middle, those crackling ice flames slam right into Isera’s thick wall.
Ice shatters against ice, sending chunks flying through the air.
Underneath it all, Lavendera sprints across the grass, heading straight towards the Golden Palace. Indecision flashes through me. I could still try to shove my magic into her to kill her that way. But my magic doesn’t seem to work on her. And we also need the dryads.
“Selena!” Isera calls.
I snap my gaze back up to the dragons. Ice flames stream through the air as they attack again. Alistair shoots another torrent of fire to cancel it out while Isera blocks her side with another ice wall. Draven shoots a bolt of lightning at the dragon on the left.
The dragon screeches but manages to mostly get out of the way.
Summoning my magic, I shove it straight at that dragon. Just as I anticipated, a flame of violet pain has flared up from the partial hit from the lightning strike. I pour magic into it, forcing it into a wildfire.
An earsplitting scream tears from the dragon’s chest.
Outside the city, more silver dragons, along with red dragons, appear in clouds of black smoke. Wings boom as they climb into the air and shoot towards us.
“We need to get out of here!” Galen calls over the roaring magic and beating wings.
Trees shake around us as the four silver dragons hover right at the tree line, breathing ice flames with furious intensity. I increase the strength of my magic, and the dragon on the left screams in pain.
“Grey isn’t—” Orion begins.
“Then we retreat deeper into the woods,” Galen interrupts. “We can’t stay here!”
Above the Golden Palace, a massive silver dragon explodes into view.
Icy dread and burning fury rip through my soul at the sight of it. At the sight of her.
Jessina Iceheart.
The rage makes me pour even more magic into the dragon on the left. He screams in agony and wobbles in the air. The other three roar in fury.
“RUN!” Orion screams.
Disconnecting my magic, I whirl around and sprint towards the thicker trees.
Ice flames crackle behind us.
My heart jerks as I hurtle across the uneven ground.
“Follow the lights,” the Dryad Queen’s voice suddenly echoes through the twisted woods.
Ice flames clink and roar through the air right behind my back.
I gasp.
A muscular body slams into me.
The force of it sends us both flying sideways.
Ice flames shoot through the air where I used to be a second later.
Holding my breath, I brace myself for a hard landing. But the ground never comes.
My stomach lurches as we continue plummeting down through the forest floor and into the unknown depths beyond.