Mik dipped her head in acknowledgment as the dragons streaked down the south side of the castle, blasting fire into the trees that lunged for them, until they came to the entrance. The second the dragons touched the ground, the wolves attacked.
Trugg roared as the animals, foaming at the mouth, ran toward them. The ground shook and then erupted as spiders, centipedes, and snakes burst out of the dirt and swarmed toward the dragons.
“Help them fight!” Lorelai yelled as the other dragons smashed, burned, and tore into their foes.
Mik strafed the ground with fire, engulfing a pair of trees and a swarm of spiders that were racing toward them. Lorelai slid off her back, her knees shaking, but her hands steady.
Two more wolves stood sentry at the castle’s entrance, their lips curled in vicious snarls.
Sasha, perch! Magic gathered in her palm like lightning as Lorelai lifted her bare hand into the air. Sasha swooped out of the sky and landed on Lorelai’s palm as the wolves dug their talons into the porch and howled, foam dripping from their mouths.
The lightning in Lorelai’s palm wrapped around Sasha, and the power coursing through the princess leaped for the threads of awareness that connected Sasha to the rest of the birds in the forest.
“Hat`sja. Come together. Come to me.”
Sasha shuddered. The wolves locked eyes with Lorelai and dug their claws into the ground.
Lorelai braced her feet as power spilled out of her. The wolves leaped forward. Lorelai spun away from one, but the other slammed into her and sent her to her knees. The gyrfalcon shrieked with fury and raked the wolf with her talons as it snapped at Lorelai’s hands.
“Hat`sja!” Lorelai yelled as her power pulsed with a multitude of heartbeats from the surrounding trees. Behind her, the dragons roared, and the thick, wet sound of battle filled the air, but Lorelai couldn’t help them. She was too busy trying to survive long enough to get herself inside the castle.
Pain seared her, and she kicked at the wolf who was snapping at her, rolling to the side as it lunged for her and barely avoiding the jaws of the smaller wolf.
Kill them all. Kill, kill, kill. Sasha slammed into the biggest wolf and then shrieked in pain as the other wolf nipped her wing.
Lorelai kicked the larger wolf, sending it skidding over the ground, and scrambled to her feet. She turned toward the castle’s entrance, where another pair of foaming, snarling wolves stood waiting. Perch, Sasha. Hurry. She held her hand in the air and sent her magic into the gyrfalcon the instant the bird settled onto her open palm.
There was an awful grinding sound as the bird’s wounded wing knit back together, and then a rustle swept through the surrounding trees. It started as a whisper, a few leaves shushing together in the breeze, and then grew louder and louder until it sounded like a hurricane ripping leaves from branches and branches from trees.
The wolves behind Lorelai growled and stalked toward her, while those in front of her crouched waiting. She braced herself to run, to fight, but then birds of every size exploded out of the trees and flew straight at Lorelai. The wolves behind Lorelai were battered from all sides, caught in the maelstrom until they were smashed against tree trunks and left discarded on the ground like crumpled toys. The animals at the castle’s entrance lunged for her, but they were driven back by a wall of birds that circled Lorelai, a swirling funnel cloud of sharp beaks and bright eyes, and swept her from the ground until she seemed to float in their midst midair.
The wolves howled as the larger birds left the funnel cloud, raked the animals with their talons, and then rejoined the rest of the flock only to do it all over again.
Kill? It was Sasha’s voice. It was a hawk’s voice. A robin’s. A dove’s. The strength of hundreds of birds speaking to her at once drove a spike of pain through Lorelai’s head. She spun slowly within the funnel cloud, high above the ground, buffeted by wings on all sides.
Kill. She answered the birds. The flock lowered her to the ground and then swept toward anything that stood between Lorelai and the castle, tearing it to pieces. As the dragons battled behind her, Lorelai mounted the steps to the entrance hall and reached for Kol. She found darkness. Pain. And a terrible hunger for Lorelai’s heart.
But she also sensed that he was close. Which meant either Irina had sent Kol out to fight Lorelai in her stead, or they were both waiting for her together somewhere in the castle.
There was only one way to find out.
The door to the entrance hall was heavy—the wood as thick as a horse’s back with stone knockers and ornate iron handles—and Lorelai had to lean into it to get it open.
A page stood on the other side of the door, her mouth open in shock to see Lorelai step inside.
“Leave,” Lorelai said softly as the echo of the door swinging shut behind her reverberated through the hall.