It took a lot of deep breathing to keep it together then, there was so much love pouring from my familiar. Even as a small child I had known how lucky I was to have this bond. It was worth all the bad that came from being an heir. My gaze brushed across Kian and I wondered where his familiar was. He would have had one. He was supposed to be king.
“Queen on my six.” Kade’s warning brought mine and Finn’s attention right back to the end of the cart.
My eyes narrowed on the figure in white riding atop her majestic horse. Finn growled deeply beside me and said, There are about eighteen Summer Court soldiers just beyond the mountain. They are strong, but no match for the queen and her strongest soldiers.
Something inside of me began to hum. Magic, my fae magic, was swirling and building, aching to be free.
Kade caught my eye as if he knew I was up to something.
“Arianna…” The way he said my name had so many emotions wrapped up in it. Love, pride, fear.
I just stood and gave him a wan smile. “I’m her only match.” I was half her genetics and half of the brutal Red Queen’s. The thought was scary, really. If I hadn’t had the upbringing I did, I might very well have turned out to be a monster. Calista was getting a huge hug when we finally got home. She was a big part of the reason why I was who I was. Her and Winnie.
My palms tingled as the magic built up inside of me. Finn bumped my leg, asking me to get on his back. I swung a leg over the giant wolf, looking back to Kian and Shelley.
“Ride fast and hard to the mountain where the Summer Court is waiting. Kade and I will meet you there.”
I knew the second I leapt off this cart, Kade would be right behind me. No sense in asking him to stay. He never would.
Kian just nodded. He was a true soldier through and through, taking orders much better than Kade. Probably why the universe definitely did not make a mistake in ensuring the younger brother became king. Soldiers were the backbone of a people, but the leader was the head and heart. We had to make the big choices, the hard choices, and we had to live with the consequences of them when we screwed up. Following orders was not one of our stronger suits.
Bones cracking beside me let me know my mate was getting into battle form. The queen was only fifty yards away and gaining, frost creeping through the forest, following in her wake. Her people were on horses, spread out in a large semi-circle behind her, and I was thankful to spot no obvious magic born amongst them.
To prepare myself for what I would have to do, I pulled up the mental image of that butcher cutting an innocent girl’s face with a knife. The queen had ordered that. She was evil through and through. She had attacked and killed my people. She was not my family, she was the enemy.
A swirling galaxy of energy seeped from my palms. I held it contained as I mentally urged Finn forward, and with one leap we were off the cart and galloping over the hard-packed snow. I dug my hands into Finn’s fur; riding without the harness was always tricky. Bear Kade pounded across the ground next to us, kicking up flurries of snow.
Give her all you’ve got, Ari. I won’t let the mecca overwhelm you, Kade said, his mental words a grumble of bear sounds.
She’ll get all of it and more, I replied, shooting him a brief grin before focusing back on the enemy.
The queen’s beautiful face looked harsh and elemental, not even remotely human, something carved from the land and the gods. She raised her hands and blue fire began growing in her palms. I would not be weak, I would not have fear. Only I stood between her and Kade’s innocent sleeping nephew, and I would not allow him to be hurt.
Raising my hands and pinching Finn’s body with my thighs so I wouldn’t fall, I allowed my gathered energy, the clouds of purple and indigo mecca magic, to flow from me, building it into a wall – a wall waiting for direction. My intuition told me this power was inexhaustible. As long as I could channel it, it would never die out.
I was going to bank on it, so here’s hoping I wasn’t wrong.
The queen closed the gap, and in a single swift motion pulled her wrists back to release her ice magic, just as I threw everything I had at her. Control had always been my weakness with mecca manipulation, but now it was almost simple to direct the energy where I wanted it to go, like everything I had been trying to achieve in my training with Kade, all of those obstacles I just couldn’t get past, were gone. Now it was easy.
Maybe the entire time my mecca energy had been waiting for my fae side to be restored. Like two halves of a whole, now my magic was complete. I certainly felt stronger and more controlled. And even though I had feared my fae side, its icy energy like nothing I had ever felt before, once it mixed with the mecca … it felt familiar again.
The queen’s expression barely shifted, even as my magic advanced on her, but there might have been a slight glaze of shock in her wide eyes. My wall of magic slammed into her, knocking her clean off her horse. She thudded to the ground as five of her guards rode in behind her, each pulling their horse up so they could assist their leader.
Nix shrieked above us and Kade roared, stretching up tall on his hind legs.
They have an open portal to the Summer Court. Now is our chance, Kade growled.
The winter queen was already back on her feet, arms raised as she prepared to strike again. I was torn between taking off for the portal or staying and finishing her off. There was no doubt in my mind she would come for us again. She would never stop until she either destroyed all shifters and claimed the Earth-side mecca, or finally claimed the power inside of me that she so desperately wanted. At that thought, I heard hoof beats, and a familiar energy radiated close to my back. A sob stuck in my throat as Violet’s horse came in beside me.
“Vi!”
I drank in the sight of my best friend, alive, glowing with health and power. Wearing unusual garb for her, leather pants and vest, cuffs on her biceps, and weapons strapped across her back, she had gone from Renaissance chic to badass warrior.
“Glad to see you alive, friend,” she said, and her eyes shone briefly before she turned toward the queen and fury descended over her shimmering features.
Without looking my way again, she held out her hand for me, her horse and Finn keeping perfect alignment. The moment our hands locked, my energy inside went crazy, bursting out of my body before I could control the flow, filling the air with the midnight light show.
“Bring it all, Ari! Both sides of your energy!” Violet shouted over the wind whipping around us.
I nodded, calling forth everything within me. She wanted the fae and mecca power? I would give her as much as I could. The queen opened her mouth and let out a shriek like a million fingernails on a chalkboard, immediately coating the surrounding trees in ice, and I fought against my instinct to cover my ears. Instead I let go of all control over my magic; whatever restrictions I’d been imposing to keep the energy contained simply dissolved, and in a rush it took off. Violet, who felt the outpouring through our joined hands, just grinned.