Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Pride flared in my chest. Then she hesitated.
Just for a breath. Speaking to a monstra. The biggest I’d ever seen, but not Ian. This one was at least double his size, with bright silver eyes and scales like living obsidian.
He opened his mouth, revealing teeth like swords. Silver fire sprayed from him—and through Elowen’s shoulder. She dropped, a cry tearing from her, raw and animal.
“Elowen!” I screamed, thrashing in the water.
Then I saw myself charging after her. My eyes were swollen, tears wetting my cheeks. I wore the green gown, a flurry of material as I passed through soldiers, smoke, and bodies like a ghost. My hands stretched for her… I would help her. Whisk her far from here.
She reached for me—the massive monstra bathed her with more of those silver flames.
Another scream ripped free, tearing my chest open.
Zoom. It snapped like a cord cut, and I was back in the cavern, the pool, choking on water, my lungs burning as I broke the surface. “No,” I bellowed.
I hauled myself out, hands shaking, vision swimming. Rage eclipsed grief in a blinding surge. I must end Ian now. No more waiting. I already had a plan. A sneak attack no one expected. I would let myself be taken captive. He would meet with me face to face, eager to claim the Ember. Forget crystallizing him. I would drown him in buckets of water.
Trembling, I reached for the only clean clothing within reach. The emerald gown. Nope. Not gonna wear it. I’d go in my undergarments and find clothes along the way.
The air shifted. I braced, on instant alert, ready to slay whatever threat approached.
Fog slithered in, spreading out. From its depths, Elowen emerged, wide-eyed and shaken. “Come quickly,” she urged. “Ian changed his strategy. The battle has already begun.”
What!
“The palace is under siege, with Mother trapped. We’re out of time.”
To prove her words, an alarm blasted through the cavern.
My pulse tripped. The vision. The battle. Elowen’s death. “You stay here. I’ll go.”
“That’s not happening,” she declared with such dominance, there was no doubt she was queen of the seas. “Come.”
“No! I just watched you die,” I cried out. “In battle. This battle. Killed by a massive beast with silver eyes.”
The color drained from her cheeks, but she nodded. “So now we know what to guard against. Let’s go.” She took my hand and tugged me forward, into the fog with her.
I cast a glance over my shoulder at Kevin.
He stood with his arms at his side, mechanical and creepy and smiling more than usual. “I’ll see you again soon, Moriah.”
With that—warning? promise?—ringing in my ears, I vanished in a pulse of light.
I appeared in chaos. The palace burned around us. Flames licked the marble walls, shadows and soldiers clashing in a blur of steel and smoke. Monstra in human form tore through the corridors, armor gleaming like black oil. The air rang with grunts, shouts, and the metallic scream of blades. Hints of iron and ash filled my nose, and heat seared my throat.
The Ember flared inside me, and the galemark responded, slapping the green gown over my skin. Galemarks were the worst.
Elowen winked at me. “Try to keep up.”
“Stay alive,” I demanded as we snatched up fallen daggers and plunged into the melee.
A soldier swung at me, but I ducked and slashed low, catching his femoral artery. My gown fanned like wings, the emerald fabric tangling in the legs of those nearby, buying me precious seconds I used to cut down three more opponents. These monstra had come for Sandrine. To use my mother against me. One of them would murder my sister outside these walls, as I’d seen in my vision.
Fury gripped me, trying to rewrite my very being. All monstra must die.
Working in tandem with Elowen, as if we’d been a team our whole lives, we cut through one tide of opponents after another. We were a rhythm of blade and breath, survival and vengeance. We took turns, one guarding while the other launched an attack.
Our challengers thinned. When the hallway opened, royal soldiers flooded in. We raced forward, leaving the men to finish off the monstra. Thanks to my new memories, I knew which way to turn, which stairs to climb, my body a magnet drawn to the queen.
“I know this isn’t the time for a conversation,” I said as we ran, “but I think you should escort Mom to Kansas and stay with her.”
“I’ll take her and leave Emma to protect her. But I will return. You need every advantage you can get.”
“Elowen, listen to me—”
A high-pitched scream echoed from the walls, spurring us on. Momma. We pumped our arms harder. I grabbed Elowen’s hand and suddenly, between one step and the next, we were there, materializing in the royal bedroom, taking everything in.
Ahav’s soldiers formed rings around her as they fought off a horde of monstra. But those circles were tightening as one man after the other fell.