“I took nothing from you that was truly yours.” Lorelai’s voice was steady. “Everything you have, you’ve stolen. You’ve misused your power to force others to give you the life you think you deserve. You’ve killed those in your way, tortured those who stood up to you, and destroyed the land with your insatiable appetite for power at any cost.”
Irina stopped moving toward the bench. Her smile raised the hair on the back of Lorelai’s neck. “And I suppose you think you’re going to be able to stop me.”
Lorelai’s throat tightened, but she held Irina’s gaze and said, “Yes.”
Irina’s eyes gleamed. “You’re going to lose. Do you know why? Because you’ve already made the mistake that will destroy you.” She extended her hands toward the bench, her magic reaching for the wood as Lorelai sank toward the floor. “You thought I was the biggest threat in the room. You were wrong. You really shouldn’t have turned your back to him.”
The queen lunged for the bench, her hands connecting. Lorelai slammed her hands onto the marble floor, her magic surging.
And then Kol struck Lorelai from behind, knocking her on her side.
She skidded across the marble, and Irina laughed wildly as shafts of wood exploded from the bench and became a mass of vipers writhing and hissing as they slithered over the marble toward Lorelai.
The princess grabbed the handful of dragon scales from her pocket and focused on the Draconi’s hearts. The snakes coiled themselves, ready to strike, fangs already dripping venom. Lorelai shouted “Zhech`pusk.” as the closest viper lunged for her face.
A bolt of white-orange fire shot from her hands and engulfed the snake. Lorelai swept her arm wide, and the fire leaped from snake to snake.
Irina pressed her palms to the polished cherry wall, and a hail of barbed wooden spears flew out of the wall and headed straight for Lorelai.
She threw up a hand to defend herself, but Kol was there, grabbing her hand and dragging her away. At first, she thought he was pulling her to safety, but soon she realized that he was taking her to Irina. His grip was like iron, and every surge of magic she sent into his hand met resistance as hard as stone.
Irina was right. She owned him now. The only way to save Kol was to kill the mardushka whose magic was poisoning his mind, body, and heart.
But she couldn’t kill Irina if she was thrown, helpless, at the queen’s feet.
The spears clattered to the marble floor behind her and became thick, branchlike vines with serrated leaves and gaping teeth-filled mouths where flowers should be.
Lorelai bent double at the waist and shoved the back of Kol’s knees with her free hand. He stumbled, his grip softening. She yanked her hand free and twisted away from him, her palms hitting the marble floor.
“Rast`lozh,” she said, and the marble began expanding in a half circle around the princess, surging toward the ceiling like polished white hills and cutting her off from Irina.
Irina’s vines slid over the top of Lorelai’s barrier, their mouths snapping as they came for the princess. She spun to her left to avoid them. Kol snatched her waist and began trying to drag her up one of the slippery marble hills toward where Irina still stood beside the wall.
Lorelai looked past Irina to find Gabril’s face a deep shade of red as the snake around his neck tightened its hold. Desperation blazed through her, and she struggled against Kol’s grip.
Kol, listen to my voice. Hold on to me. I can help you. I can save you.
Irina laughed. “He can’t hear you. He hears only the pounding of his dragon heart and the voice of his queen.”
Lorelai whirled, planted her right foot against Kol’s left thigh, and launched herself backward out of his arms. Snarling, he lunged for her. She spun into the air, hit him in the chest with a roundhouse kick, and sent him crashing to the ground.
Sprinting out of the half circle of marble, Lorelai dove for the floor, and spoke the incantor again the second her palm touched down.
The marble expanded once more, completing the circle, rising like a loaf of bread until it was over Kol’s head.
He was trapped inside a fence of marble.
He was safe.
Now it was just Lorelai and Irina.
The vines rushed for Lorelai, tangling in her feet and sinking vicious little teeth into her legs. She kicked at them as her skin burned and blistered from the venom in their fangs, but she didn’t have time to think of an incantor to deal with them.
She needed to stop defending herself and start attacking.
“Do you really think you can take my huntsman out of the game?” Irina sent a bolt of magic into the floor and the marble circle cracked in half.
Kol burst through the opening and ran toward Lorelai, but she was focused on the arc of marble closest to the queen.
Pushing her palms against the floor, she whispered an incantor, and the thick half-moon of marble skidded across the room, slamming into Irina and pinning her to the wall. The marble knocked Gabril to the side, and he thrashed against the chains that bound him.