I stepped backward, but Spirit pulled me to the side, as if it were a creature I’d leashed and it tugged me in its wake. I followed, curious. I wove between the Sylphs, stopping in front of a group of Enders. They stared at me their eyes hard. Dangerous.
Holding one hand up, I walked in front of them, stopping at the end.
“Samara.” My skin itched as though tiny bugs crept along it. “Hold out your hand.”
Unlike the others, she held her hand out palm up, the blue stone in it. I took the stone and then placed my hand over hers. A crackle of electricity snapped between our hands, but she did not pull back and neither did I.
“Strength, honor, belief in her people . . . trust in her queen’s choices. Love for her home. A razor-sharp intellect.”
Lark, I do not wish her to be queen. She is not the one I choose. Well, that made things simpler. I could see Samara and all she held in her heart. She was the right choice.
I grinned at Samara. “The mother goddess has chosen you to be the Sylphs’ next queen.” I bowed from the waist to her and the Enders to either side of her clapped her on the back. Her eyes were locked on mine. She stepped up to me, close enough that our bodies brushed. “Those you wiped out?”
“Yes.”
“The queen is right. Most were the ones we knew sought to destroy her. But not all.” She drove a finger into my chest so hard it could have been a dull dagger tip.
I glared at her. “You’re welcome.”
From behind us, a cry broke the air. We spun in tandem.
Queen Aria lay on the ground, her hand clutching the smoky diamond. Her remaining daughter stood over her with a long, narrow staff identical to the Ender weapons. “I will be queen here, not some lowly, dwarf Ender.”
Samara stepped around me. “I may be lowly, but I can still kick your ass, Stasha.”
For once, I would get to be a spectator and not a participant of a battle.
Yeah, that was what I thought.
Not exactly what happened, though.
CHAPTER 24
amara rushed Stasha. The queen’s daughter swung the long crystal staff, catching Samara low on her legs and sweeping them from under her. Not that she was down for long. Springing onto her feet, she launched herself at Stasha and tackled her.
I made my way to the queen’s side, going to my knees on the hardened rock. The sound of the battle echoed in the newly made valley, but I kept my eyes locked on Aria. Her chest rose and fell, slowly, but still she breathed. “I can heal you.”
“Do not waste your energy on an old woman like me. I have seen too many of my loves cross the Veil. I wish to be with them.” Her hand fumbled for mine and I took it.
“Samara said not all of those who died were against you.”
A rough cough shook her frame; for a moment, I thought she wasn’t able to catch her breath.
Finally, the cough eased and she drew in a long gasp. “Her lover was one of those who fell, I saw him tumble under the rocks. She knows he plotted with Cassava, but she does not want to believe it of him.” She tightened her grip on my fingers. “She will hate you, I think. Both for his death and for naming her my heir.”
“My life matters not,” I said. “If she demands my death I will not fight her.”
Aria reached up to my face, her hand trembling. “No, Destroyer. Our families need you yet. You must stay alive, even if you are cast out for doing the things the Glow asked of you.”
A scream snapped my head up. Samara had an arm locked around Stasha’s neck, but the queen’s daughter slipped out at the last second.
I watched them closely, noting something right away. The lines of power I expected to see on their arms as they dueled were missing.
“Are they not allowed to use their element?”
Ender Boreas stepped up beside me. “Not in a battle for the crown.”
Peta shook her head, clearly as surprised as me. Though we were not to attack one another using our elements, the right to rule seemed as though it should be all or nothing. Especially after what had happened between Cassava and me.
“Is this the way of Sylphs?” Peta asked.
Boreas looked down at her. “There has not been a new queen in thousands of years. We don’t know what our way is.”
I stared at the combatants. Stasha’s arms lit up as she reached for her element. “Samara, she’s going to steal your air!” I yelled.
My words seemed to set off an explosion within the remaining Sylphs. Most turned their faces away, as if they couldn’t bear to see what was going to happen. But seven ran toward the two combatants.
Call it a hunch, but I doubted they were going in to help Samara. I couldn’t leave her on her own.
“Cactus, with me!” I yelled as I leapt away from the queen toward those who rushed Samara and Stasha. Samara might hate me, and the goddess didn’t want her as a queen. But I felt the truth as only Spirit could show me. Samara would be the one to protect and raise the Sylphs like no other.
We ran across the broken rocks, fighting to keep our balance. My spear was somewhere in the mountainous rubble and I had no time to find it.