19. Lora
Lora
Shifting to my side on the bedroll, I kneaded my aching neck muscles. I’d been trying to sleep for over a candlemark, but my body refused to relax.
Four days through Blightlands had passed without incident. The team had truly mastered traveling in silence. Lone monsters wouldn’t attack a group our size, but we kept a constant lookout for pack beasts.
Two guards circled our camp on a slow patrol. Sergeant Rika had instructed them to keep moving throughout their shift to stave off drowsiness.
I rolled onto my back again and stared at the sky. We’d chosen to camp in a clearing, and the gloomy overcast expanse stretched wide above us.
Something large cut through one of the clouds.
I squinted. Was my exhausted mind playing tricks?
Dread surged through me as an airship plunged through the haze. Figures dropped on ropes, descending fast.
I burst to my feet. “Pirates!”
Yanking water from the nearby river, I shaped it into ice spikes hovering around me like frozen teeth.
Everyone scrambled upright as pirates landed around us—at least fifteen of them, maybe twenty.
Moon guards snapped into fighting stances.
Hands flexed in precise patterns. Water streamed from the river in serpentine ribbons, coiling through the air.
Around the circle of pirates, flames sparked to life, dancing between palms like eager predators.
“Hold your fire.” A man’s deep voice sliced through the tension.
He stepped forward, tall and lean, with calculating eyes hiding raw power.
Flaming red hair fell in a tangled mess around sharp features.
His skin was several shades paler than my warm brown complexion.
The belt cinching his waist was studded with pouches, belt bags, and a large horn, its lid popped open.
Something about him was different. The others were rough and jeering. He was too cold. Too controlling. And stars and sea, he was too handsome. Pirates weren’t supposed to look like that—strong jaw, full lips, and intense amber eyes that seemed to pierce straight through me.
“We’re not here to fight.” His voice had a gravelly depth, heavy with authority. “Surrender the Dual Wielder, and everyone else walks away.”
Erion’s terrified gaze found mine, wide and pleading.
Hadrien crouched behind his two servants, a tiny whimper slipping from him. Unlike their spineless master, the two men stood their ground, water flowing around their raised palms.
With an inward groan at the useless moon master, I stepped in front of Erion. My fingers still twirled the ice spikes around me as I fixed the stranger with a glare. “We won’t surrender anyone.”
The man’s eyes snapped over my shoulder to Erion, victory flashing in those amber depths. Ebbs and darkness, I’d just pointed him straight to his target.
His gaze slid back to me, dark and assessing. “Hand him over or suffer the wrath of the Sun Kingdom.”
A laugh burst from my throat. “And who are you to speak for the entire Sun Kingdom?”
His eyes narrowed. “I am Zaivareth, second son to Azeron, King of the Sun Kingdom.”
My eyes widened before I could stop myself. The prince? The actual sun prince? What was he doing here in Blightlands?
“Wait…” I scoffed. “Aren’t you the exiled one?”
His jaw clenched. “And who are you?”
“None of your business. Now shove off, or face the wrath of the Moon Queendom.”
A wicked smile curved his lips, transforming his face into something lethal. “Very well. You leave us no choice.”
Fire erupted from his palms. He hurled it at me in a blazing arc. I slammed my ice spikes into a protective wall that hissed and steamed where flames struck.
Chaos exploded around the clearing. Fire sizzled against water. Bodies whirled in every direction. I ducked as flames scorched past my head. Shouts and grunts filled the air as the moon guards clashed with the pirates.
My pulse hammered as I searched for an opening, anyone to target without striking a friend.
Zaivareth’s fingers danced above the open horn at his belt. Molten metal flowed out, glowing red-orange. He twisted his wrist and the metal stretched into a gleaming spear.
I’d heard rumors of sun wielders who could melt and bend steel to their will, but seeing the lethal metal obey the curl of his fingers with effortless ease made my stomach clench with dread.
He launched the spear straight at me.
I threw up a wall of ice, catching it with a hiss. Steam exploded around the impact point as the metal seared straight through. Instinct flared as I shoved the ice wall to the ground, plunging the spearhead into the earth at my feet.
Fire erupted from every corner of the clearing, but none of the pirates commanded metal like their prince. His skills reached far beyond any of theirs.
He was our biggest threat.
The spear ripped free from the earth and soared back to him, glowing metal reforming mid-air.
Drawing more water from the river, I shaped a massive chunk of ice and slammed it into his chest. The impact hurled him backward, away from the other fighters. I followed, keeping him isolated. The moon guard would handle the rest.
I’d never faced a sun wielder in combat before, but I’d been fighting beasts since I was fifteen. Hopefully, my years in Blightlands had prepared me for this.
His fingers twitched and blinding light flared in front of me.
Snapping my eyes shut, I plunged us both into darkness, pulling shadows from every root and crevice of the clearing.
When I opened my eyes, I froze.
Light and darkness wove together—an eerie tapestry of shifting shadows threaded with glittering rays, moving like living things. I’d never seen anything like it.
The confusion in Zaivareth’s expression mirrored my own.
Through the shimmering gloom, I caught sight of Sergeant Rika and her guards forming a protective barrier around Erion. Rika faced off against a woman in a wide-brimmed hat whose movements flowed with practiced grace—almost as skilled as the prince.
Hadrien crouched behind Erion, sheltered within the ring of guards. That brine-hearted coward. One of his servants screamed as fire surged over him, igniting his clothes and hair.
Revulsion roiled in my gut, but I forced my attention back to the prince before he took advantage of the distraction. Both of us held our hands raised between us, his light and my darkness coiling together in a mesmerizing dance.
I waited for him to strike first. He seemed to have the same idea, his gaze roaming over every inch of me.
But something had shifted in his expression.
Not cold calculation anymore. The hint of a smile played at the corner of his lips, and something unreadable glinted in those amber eyes.
Curiosity? Respect? No, of course not. The way his gaze lingered on me was nothing but derisive disdain.
“Why are you doing this?” I demanded. “What does an exiled prince want with the Dual Wielder?”
The smile vanished, cold detachment snapping back into place. “He’s the key to restoring my honor.” His fingers curled. “And you’re in my way.”
A dozen metal needles shot toward me. I slammed an ice shield up just in time, and the metal sizzled off the frozen barrier.
Indignant heat surged through me. Of course the silt-tainted prince was here for personal gain. I retaliated with ice spikes, but he mirrored my defense, forming a metal shield that deflected every spike with ease.
My jaw clenched as I ripped more water from the river, hurling a wave mixed with jagged ice shards at him. His metal split the water, sending it rushing past him with maddening ease. My furious attacks did nothing except melt his cold demeanor, sparking that predatory smile again.
Mocking amusement danced in his eyes. “Is that the best you’ve got, moon girl?”
His taunt awakened something feral inside. “Careful, prince, or you’ll lose more than just your honor.” Chest heaving, I flung a slab of ice toward his head.
He blocked with a shield and a wave of heat, turning the entire chunk of ice into steam. A low laugh rumbled from his throat. “Your threats would have more bite if you actually managed to hit me first.”
Snarling, I pressed forward, hurling another volley of spikes toward him. “You salt-cursed, tide-sodden rot of the deep. Let’s see how smug you are when I have you flat on your back, begging for mercy.”
Surprise flickered across his face as he deflected my spikes. Then his gaze fixed on me, mischievous delight gleaming in his eyes. “What a wicked mouth you have. Too bad those pretty lips are only good for lying.”
Pretty lips? His smoldering tone sent prickling tingles racing across my skin. But he was only trying to distract me. I slammed a shield up just in time to catch a burning spike.
We traded blows, striking and deflecting in a deadly dance, caught between murder and something electric crackling in the space between us.
Sweat dampened my back despite the constant cold I wielded. I couldn’t keep this up. The prince was too good.
A shriek cut through the air from the main battle, stealing my attention.
Drowning stars, several moon guards lay motionless on the ground. The ones still standing had tightened their circle around Erion. Fire and water clashed in violent bursts.
The pirate in the wide-brimmed hat shaped glowing metal into a spear and hurled it at the group. Rika threw up an ice shield, but she wasn’t as quick at freezing water as I was, and barely managed to redirect the weapon’s path.
I yanked on the river, drawing more water than I’d ever attempted before, my head swimming with the effort. I shoved the entire mass forward, sending a wave crashing over pirates and guards alike. Bodies tumbled off their feet. Every fire died and the pirate’s metal hissed and blackened.
I sensed the attack a heartbeat too late.
Despite my desperate lunge to the side, white-hot pain erupted down my arm. Sizzling metal, meant for my chest, seared into my shoulder instead. A scream tore from my throat as the burning sensation flared through muscles and tendons.