Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
He’s poured all his power into a new shield surrounding the city. You must find another way to get through.
—Intercepted correspondence from Queen Galena intended for Sir Ronan Merik.
The too-familiar sensation of falling slammed into me as wind pummeled my body from every direction.
I cast to Tiberius and was met with a panicked response.
Two muffled reactions collided with my own from a great distance.
Bayne and Aquila. My brain seemed to stop working as my body flailed against the wind.
The view of the overcast sky and the ominous lake somersaulted before my eyes. And that dark smudge… The lake was getting bigger. Closer.
Where are you?!
I’m blocked! She’s blocked me! I can’t get to you! Tiberius’s voice shook with rage.
He cast to me, and I was suddenly in his body, thrashing against a different kind of wind that locked him in place. A shield that she’d thrown up at the edge of the woods.
I tumbled through the air, the words registering too slowly and the water below rushing up too quickly. The Obscura reacted to my panic and bucked against the eight-pointed stars on my palms, but I couldn’t direct its power as we spun.
A woosh of warm, sickeningly sweet wind slammed into me, and my momentum was thrown upward. The jolt of the change in trajectory shoved my stomach into my throat, and I forced down the urge to vomit while falling upward.
I slammed to the ground, my face scratching against rock and pine needles as the wind pinned me into the ground. I tried to push up to my knees, and she sent another blast at my back, my face smacking into the stone. A gush of blood filled my nostrils.
The sweet scent vanished along with the force of wind at my back. The thunder of Ti’s hooves filled my ears as he pounded up to me, nudging my shoulder with his wide, velvety nose. I gingerly rolled to my back and stared at the misty sky.
Those two muffled sensations of concern and panic continued to knock at my consciousness.
I sent back my own relief and ease to quell the anxiety stretching from miles away before promptly shutting down the mental connection.
Bayne and Aquila had work to do. They didn’t need this distraction, and I could handle the queen.
Are you sure about that?
I put my hand on Ti’s soft muzzle, not deigning to reply. She definitely could kill me. With that strength… I’d never seen magic used this way. Isla was powerful with the lost arts, as were Bayne and Nerissa. But this…
“It seems we have quite a bit of work to do,” she sneered from several yards back. “Have you not mastered the basic arts? Any mage would have been able to throw up a shield of wind to at least slow their momentum.”
I tried not to bristle at the criticism. A red smear stretched across the cream fabric of my tunic as I brushed my arm against my nose.
“I’ve been training,” I growled, getting to my feet. “The basic arts have been challenging.”
Her eyes narrowed on me, considering.
“Then let us not waste time with them. We’ll focus on the Bellator powers. Though I’m surprised neither reacted to save you. That’s what happened when both manifested for the first time, yes?”
I gave a reluctant nod. The Obscura manifested when Cyril prepared to slice me open in his tower on Kayj. And the Transcindiel transformed Tiberius into my caeluma, giving him wings as we flew off the cliffs of Odessa, pursued by Saros’s soldiers.
“Curious. The Transcindiel… I suppose we don’t know its limits yet. One would think it could transform anything. Turn a floating log into a boat. Or even turn the water itself into a cloud of cotton, protecting you from the impact... Transform the air itself…” she mused.
A strange sensation of protectiveness swept over me as her eyes took on a glassy effect. Greed. Desire. She wanted this power.
“I guess that explains why you’ve made no progress with the ashen.”
The words hit like a ton of bricks. Guilt clawed at my chest. I glanced up, and her eyes held a cunning spark, waiting for my reaction. I relaxed my jaw, shoving down the emotions.
“The Obscura,” she continued. “You could have sent that after me as well. Destroy the source of the attack, and the attack would cease.” She uncrossed her arms and approached.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” she said, sizing me up. “We’re going to explore the full potential of the Bellator powers. You may not like my methods, but by the end of this, you’ll have better mastery over the powers you’ve dared to claim.”
She turned and walked to the center of the clearing near the cliffs, motioning me to follow.
“Feet apart,” she instructed, turning and standing in a battle-ready stance in front of me.
“Use the Bellator powers to defend yourself. I won’t kill you.
” Her eyes were hard, determined, as she lifted her hands and sent a blast of wind, raising several small broken sticks up into the air.
Her mouth twitched to the side, and she flicked her wrists, sending them flying toward me like airborne blades.
I was ready this time. I opened my palms to the projectiles and let the build-up of emotion swell in my chest, offering it to the Obscura.
It greedily grabbed hold of it and burst through my palms, streaming toward the projectiles, swallowing them up and leaving trails of ash floating to the ground.
Queen Antares wasted no time. Her eyes narrowed, and she threw her arms into the air, her honeysuckle wind roaring in turn. I stepped back as several small boulders rose into the air and hurtled toward me.
I reacted, sending the darkness reaching for the boulders when I realized too late, I’d never successfully destroyed anything other than organic material. A spasm of panic sent me diving for the ground as the boulders flew through the darkness, past me, and over the edge of the cliff.
Disappointment escaped the queen’s lips in a click as I got to my feet.
“No stones. I assume no steel then, either?”
I pulled my gaze away.
“Pity.”
Another volley of boulders burst forward, hurtling toward Tiberius. My heart leaped in my throat, and a wild hysteria grew as I released the Obscura. This time, I sent it right for the queen’s smug face.
The boulders faltered in the air and dropped, rolling to where Tiberius had previously stood.
He circled overhead, waves of rage rippling off him.
The queen threw up a shield of her own as her eyes locked on mine, narrowing in focus.
Icy rage raced through my veins, feeding the Obscura.
The darkness swarmed as I released it in ribbons of black mist. They bucked as they hit her shield, and I pushed. How dare she come after Ti?
I loosened my control over the darkness, allowing it to search the shield for weakness.
Harder, I demanded.
It obeyed, thrilled with my rage.
The queen’s eyes locked on mine, triumph glimmering in their depths. I blinked and closed my hands, choking off the darkness. The power recoiled as the black streaks along my forearms slowly receded. Tiberius landed in the distance and snorted as his massive hooves stomped on the ground.
That was a test, he grumbled.
I realize that now, I snapped.
The queen looked between the two of us as she let her shield drop.
“I suspected there was more to the bond than magic wings. You can speak, can’t you?” she asked, arching a delicate eyebrow.
Her smile widened when I didn’t respond, and my stomach dropped. I was exceedingly outmatched by this woman.
The queen’s sweet wind whipped up from the ground, flipping my feet above my head in a vice grip.
Tiberius let out a snort as he cast to me from behind another cage of wind.
I sent the Obscura after her, attempting to distract her enough to drop the force of air.
She threw up a pile of logs into the shadows, forcing it to obliterate the wood instead of herself.
I strained to block out Tiberius’s rage and panic, trying like hell to concentrate on breaking the hold she had on me. I slowed my breathing, pushing past that sickly smell, allowing my mind to empty as it did during my centering exercises with Vulcan.
A tiny, prickling sensation snagged my attention. It was foreign, curious. I opened my eyes and glanced into the forest around us. My gaze snagged on the smallest glimmers of silver, flickering in and out of the dense pocket of leaves.
The queen snarled in irritation, and she hurled a group of stones at the silver, which disappeared, along with the tingling sensation.
Her wind shifted, and I began to spin. The world around me tilted and blurred.
I swallowed the nausea that rose and reached desperately for that connection with the wind.
My brain rattled in my skull as she picked up speed.
I opened my mouth to beg when I thumped on the damp forest floor with a hard thud.
I stood on the wobbling knees of a foal and blinked against the still-turning world when my heart stopped.
A crazed look of delight danced in the queen’s eyes.
She held a new shield against Tiberius, whose black wings pumped wildly as he reared before her.
Rivers of black mist streamed from the tips of his soft feathers as he blew a cloud of raw darkness and power in her direction.
A look of wild triumph crossed the queen’s features, and my stomach plummeted.
STOP!
His anger was the only response.
My lips parted as Tiberius’s massive hooves cut through the air, shadows of death rippling from his wings and chest, a mighty and formidable sight. My knees crashed to the ground in shock.
Tiberius’s dark eyes flashed to mine, and he galloped to where I knelt, the shadows siphoning back into his raven body as he snorted and huffed, frothy sweat dripping from his withers.
How did you… When did—
I don’t know, he replied, his voice wavering in my head. I thought she was going to kill you—
“You’ve been keeping things from me, Bonder,” Queen Antares purred, her tone deathly sweet.
My stomach dropped. We hadn’t even known…
“As you both wield the power,” she continued, “Tiberius is bound to our air oath. He’ll train with us.” Her gaze greedily snaked over him, and he pinned his ears in response, lifting his head high.
My stomach dipped as I repeated the words of our air oath… To hone the Obscura and Transcindiel powers… She’d said nothing of training me, just the powers…
I’m sorry, he repeated.
You have nothing to apologize for, I replied. She’s a manipulative bitch—
My mind’s voice caught before I hurled into a nearby bush, my stomach still reeling from the queen’s attack.
“What was that?” I asked, more to myself, as I wiped my mouth on my arm and glanced at the bush where the silver disappeared.
A sound of disgust escaped the queen’s lips.
“Pixies,” she murmured, pursing her lips. “Bad luck. Death follows their flight.” She plucked a small leaf from her shoulder before pulling her eyes away from the bush.
“We’re done for today,” she said, a satisfied smile tugging at her lips.
I resisted the urge to claw her face off as she waved a hand in dismissal. I made to turn when she raised an expectant brow.
She’s waiting for us to bow, Ti said.
Don’t you dare lower yourself to her, I replied before leaping onto his back.