Chapter Thirty-Six
The wildfire was alive.
Draevan emerged through billowing clouds of smoke as flames engulfed the town, and Aemyra had never been more glad to be able to magically shield.
Terrea flew between Aervor and Gealach, almost unseating both Draevan and Fiorean.
“Would serve them right,” Aemyra muttered, still trembling from the touch of a Goddess.
“Aemyra!” Adarian shouted.
She found him halfway between the hill and the river, struggling to keep three small children on his horse.
“The princesses are trapped inside!” he shouted, pointing a grimy hand toward the manor.
An enormous pine tree had fallen and was now blocking the only exit, the gates crushed and the wall caved in.
“Fucking Hela,” Aemyra cursed.
Leaving Terrea to deal with the male dragons, she started to run. “Lead my army to safety,” Aemyra called down to Adarian. The mare was prancing on the spot and almost unseating the terrified children.
Fearsolais in one hand, the other parting the smoke in front of her, Aemyra spoke directly to the Goddess. “I won’t lose anyone else today.”
It came out like more of a threat than she had intended.
Sprinting toward the manor, flames encroached on either side of Aemyra, but none of them touched the queen.
Ignoring the anger rippling through the Bond from Terrea, Fiorean, and Aervor, Aemyra focused on her task. Ivy was flaking off the manor as it was incinerated by the raging heat.
Using her magic to part the flames, Aemyra hauled herself over the fallen pine tree. Needles pricked her skin as she looked for handholds. With her muscles straining, she finally dropped to the other side in an exhausted heap.
The inferno Kolreath had created consumed Dildain without remorse, taunting Aemyra as it crept ever closer, teasing her with destruction.
The heat shattered the windows on the left side of the house as Aemyra sprinted inside, completely drenched in sweat.
Boots loud on the floorboards of the entrance hall, Aemyra felt the heat of the flames licking through the walls as she called out, “Is anyone here?” Desperately hoping the princesses had managed to get out.
Aemyra coughed, her mouth dry, and she heard someone shout her name.
Heart thundering, she sprinted up the stairs to find that a beam had crashed to the floor, trapping the princesses on the other side with no way to exit the manor.
“Aemyra!” Maggie gasped in relief, covering her mouth as she choked on the smoke.
Elizabeth’s nails were broken from where she had tried to shift the beam, Katherine’s mouth set in a determined line as she threw her shoulder against it to no avail.
Their dresses were stained black with soot. None of them had chosen to wear the traveling breeches Adarian had left for them.
“Where are Catriona and the guards?” Aemyra shouted over the roar of the wildfire, throwing herself at the beam to find a weak spot.
Katherine sagged. “They were on the other side when the ceiling came down. We told them to run.”
Wrapping her hands around one beam, Aemyra summoned what physical strength she had left and felt the beam shudder.
“Get back,” she ordered the women, locking eyes with Katherine. “Cover your faces.”
To her relief, none of them protested.
As the wildfire gave a roaring push onto the roof, Aemyra summoned her magic to keep it at bay while throwing her entire body weight at the beam. She needed to get the women out, had to stop Fiorean and her father killing each other in their stubborn stupidity.
The effort was immense, and she was already drained after facing Kolreath. Sweat gathered on her upper lip and her stomach felt hollow, but she would not give up.
Pàdraig had built her strength with years of hard labor until Aemyra’s body worked with powered precision. Then Draevan had honed it into a weapon of war.
Orlagh had tempered the blade.
The beam gave way, and Aemyra’s muscles cramped as she pushed to create an opening. The look of relief on Katherine’s face was short-lived when the manor groaned above them.
“Run!” Aemyra screamed, trying to follow.
As she squeezed through the gap, half of the manor collapsed behind her. Just as she thought she was free, a burning strip of wood struck her to the ground, trapping her ankle.
“Fuck!” Aemyra hissed as she fell, clawing the carpet and desperately trying to control the uncontrollable.
How many times had she warned Lachlann about wildfires?
The skin of her ankle was protected by her shields, the inferno just about held at bay by her magic, but she was trapped. The sound of wings came from above the manor, but she dared not glimpse into the Bond.
“We’re going to die!” Elizabeth sobbed, pressing herself against the peeling wallpaper.
“Thank you for that helpful observation,” Aemyra ground out, straining to free her foot.
Suddenly, there were two pairs of hands on Aemyra’s shirt, under both of her drenched armpits.
Looking up, she saw Katherine’s gray eyes and Maggie’s determined scowl.
The two women had run toward the fire to save her, just as she had run into the burning manor to save them. Not wasting time on words, Aemyra wriggled her leg and arched her back.
With a painful slide, her ankle tore free.
“Quickly!” Aemyra choked out as she staggered to her feet. Pointing to the end of the corridor, she shoved them all to the side of the manor still left standing.
Maggie looked in danger of collapsing, but, together, the four women ran down the carpeted corridor as the walls creaked.
Rounding the corner, they all skidded to a stop when they saw the fire had raged through the garden and was now blocking the only other exit.
“Can’t you use your magic?” Elizabeth asked, coughing in the smoke.
Aemyra rolled her eyes. “Now you don’t have a problem with Dùileach?” Feeling the fire lapping against her invisible shields, she said, “Everyone has their limits.”
Not wasting another minute, she pulled the three of them in the opposite direction.
Aemyra kicked open the door to a small bedroom, praying for a set of servants’ stairs. When she found none, she fixed her attention on the window.
“We’re trapped!” Elizabeth cried.
“Turn around,” Aemyra said.
“What?” Maggie asked.
Without answering, Aemyra closed her eyes tightly and thrust her elbow into the glass. Elizabeth hid her face in her hands, golden waves of hair catching the stray shards.
Clearing the pane of lingering debris with her shirtsleeve, Aemyra felt her stomach bottom out. It was a long plunge to the river below. One that would be dangerous for anyone, let alone a heavily pregnant woman.
The smoke-filled sky was a violent shade of orange, but she couldn’t see the dragons. As the manor crumbled, Aemyra felt her shields falter.
She grabbed Maggie’s hands. “I need you to trust me.”
It was Katherine who answered. “We do trust you.”
They still didn’t know Fiorean was alive, but something was binding them together like the smoke curling up the corridor.
“Well, it’s about bloody time,” Aemyra said. “Right. I need you all to jump out of this window.”
Having expected them to protest, Aemyra was shocked when Elizabeth was the first to gather her skirts around her knees and set her rosebud lips in a firm line.
Aemyra helped the princess up onto the ledge.
“Jump as far out as you can,” she said, hand fisting in the back of Elizabeth’s dress to hold her steady as her golden locks blew in the fierce wind. “The river is deep enough to break your fall, as long as you aim for the middle.”
“We’re good swimmers,” Maggie said, her hands cradling her bump protectively.
Elizabeth stiffened at Aemyra’s unspoken words. If she didn’t jump far enough, she would splatter herself on the shallow bank and the rocks that lay beneath.
But Aemyra hadn’t offered her body and soul to the Goddesses for nothing.
“Brigid, lend your strength; Cliodna, give us your grace; Beira, we borrow your courage; Brenna, steady us,” Aemyra quickly intoned. Then, as Elizabeth crouched poised on the windowsill, she added one more prayer: “Savior, protect us.”
Elizabeth stiffened as Aemyra loosened her hold. “Great Mother have mercy on us all.”
Then she pushed the princess out of the window.
Elizabeth plummeted to the river below, and Aemyra held her breath as those pale arms and legs flailed around in free fall. For a split second, Aemyra was convinced that Elizabeth hadn’t jumped far enough.
Then, as if held in Beira’s wind, Elizabeth hit the surface of the water with a splash.
“Get an air Dùileach to pull the smoke from your lungs when you get to the other side,” Aemyra said to Maggie as she helped her onto the ledge with difficulty.
Wishing there was another way, Aemyra closed her eyes against Katherine’s nervous scream, but as if she was an air Dùileach herself, Maggie landed perfectly in the water.
Letting out a relieved breath that ended in a hacking cough, Aemyra felt her shields ripple. They didn’t have much time.
Straightening, she met Katherine’s eye to find the dowager queen staring into the flames consuming the corridor behind them. Smoke was spiraling in thick tendrils, and Aemyra no longer had the energy to hold them off.
“I have two sons in the Savior’s light,” Katherine whispered, her voice trembling. “I do not fear death.”
An image of Pàdraig being engulfed by Aervor’s fire flooded Aemyra’s mind. She could not change what had happened to her father, but she could still save Katherine.
“One son,” Aemyra replied.
A frown marred Katherine’s beautiful face, the wrinkles around her brow deepening as she followed Aemyra’s gaze out of the window.
Where a cobalt dragon soared through the smoke, Terrea hot on his tail.
“Fiorean?” Katherine gasped, clapping her hands over her mouth.
“Be sure not to hit the rocks at the bottom, I don’t want to have to ask my husband to forgive me again,” Aemyra replied.
“But you—”
At that moment, Aemyra’s shields buckled and she launched them both into the open air just as the manor collapsed. Legs and arms spiraling, Aemyra heard Terrea roar in desperation at her gravitationally challenged Dùileach who could not read air currents.
Screwing up her eyes, Aemyra cursed herself for misjudging the jump and tried to block out Katherine’s terrified screams.
Just as she thought they were going to break apart on the rocks, Aemyra was scooped out of the air by enormous claws.
She tightened her grip on Katherine’s wrist, feeling the bone grind, and Aemyra’s shoulder slipped free of its socket with the force. Terrea was rumbling with fury above her.
Pressing her lips together to swallow the scream of pain, Aemyra kept her fingers clamped around Katherine’s slender limb as the dowager queen flailed around.
Through a haze of pain and exhaustion, Aemyra felt herself carried to the other side of the river.
Gealach and Aervor were in the shallows, licking fresh claw marks courtesy of the she-dragon. Both males were dripping beads of blood as large as rubies into the river, and Terrea let out another warning grumble, pleased with her discipline.
Aemyra knew her dragon was also furious at her for being so reckless, but two auburn-haired warriors on the grass, swords drawn, caught her attention.
If Terrea could have spoken, the sentiment pouring through the Bond to Aemyra would have echoed her earlier curse: fucking men.