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The flight across Windhaven and past the Delfian border wall seemed to take forever, though I knew it was only a few minutes. Throughout the flight, I wracked my brain, trying to come up with a way to stop the spiders. I remembered the cauldrons of tallow we had positioned on the border wall and the wall around the city. Those would be our first line of defense to stop the spiders. But I didn’t think that would be enough—a few dozen cauldrons of boiling oil compared to millions of spiders.
If only our daughters were here. They’d know how to defeat them. What we needed was something to sweep or wash away the creatures. My gaze shot to the massive seawall as salty water sprayed over the top. The wall protected all three cities from the monster sea waves. But what if it didn’t? If the wall came down, it would certainly wash away the spiders, but it would also drown the Fae in the deluge—at least those who couldn’t fly. It was a mad idea, but either way we were doomed.
Mages greeted us as Marius and I landed on the dividing wall, Derrick as still as death in Marius’s arms.
I spied the captain of the guards and shifted into my true form, giving him orders to ready the cauldrons. I paid no heed to the mages flying overhead, except to flag one of the captains, telling him to ready every available cauldron, though I knew it wouldn’t be enough.
I spun on Marius, my voice taking on a hard edge. “We have to tear down the seawall!”
He gaped at me while shifting Derrick in his arms. “What?”
I wildly waved in the direction of Windhaven, my veins turning to icy sludge when a sea of black raced over buildings and through the streets, turning every living thing in its wake to blood and bone. They were unstoppable!
My heart faltered then plummeted as animals ran from the spiders, only to be caught in the crush, their flesh stripped away in a matter of seconds. This is what would happen to the citizens of Delfi, for we couldn’t fly away from these demons forever. We had to stop them before this demonic pestilence spread across the country.
I swallowed back the knot in my throat. “We need to wash them away.”
Marius shook his head. “Everyone who can’t fly will drown.”
“Or be eaten by demon spiders.” I clutched the side of the wall, my fingers digging into the stone. “It’s the only way to stop them.”
“It’s not the only way.”
I spun around, glaring at my sister. Her eyes were bloodshot from days of crying, her skin as pale as winter frost. Her name was poison on my tongue. “Malvolia.”
She tilted her head toward me, her mouth set in a grim line. “Flora.”
“Are you ready to be queen again?” I said on a sneer. All this time she’d been locked up in her room, sobbing over a horse while her soldiers mourned their sons and brothers.
“No.” She turned from me, raising her hands. “I’m ready to be the darkness.”
Black smoke unfurled from her fingertips, shooting down the wall like bursts of cannon fire. Her magic fanned out, growing like a fog as it washed over the advancing spiders.
I winced at the popping sounds, like heavy wheels rolling over gravel, followed by thousands of ear-piercing, shrill shrieks. By the time the smoke cleared, the spiders were no more, and the once pristine city of Ventus was covered in ash.
My knees weakened beneath me as I leaned against Marius.
A wave of cheers rose up from the mages and witches, followed by, “All hail Queen Malvolia.”
Malvolia looked ready to pass out, too.
Her young mage lover wrapped his arm around her waist as she gave me a withering look, and though she didn’t speak to me, I knew what that look meant. This is why I’m queen and you’re not.
I shot her a dark look, too, one that said, I never wanted to be queen.
Her mage swept her into his arms and jumped from the wall, flying her toward the castle walls amid more cheering.
I shifted back into a winged mage, following Marius as we trailed in Malvolia’s wake.
Though I was grateful my sister had been able to stop the demons, I couldn’t help the bitterness that crept into my heart, overshadowing it like a wave of spiders washing over a city. After years of abusing her dark magic, Malvolia had finally used it for good, and she was suddenly a hero. As if this one act washed away all her sins.
Tari
RIDING ISA HAD BECOME easier with each flight. She was very gentle and always checking to ensure we were comfortable, a stark contrast to flying with Radnor. It was hard not commenting on her relationship with her mate, for I felt her longing whenever he soared past us. Then she would grumble when Helian threw sultry looks in my direction while I blew him kisses.
I appreciated Helian distracting me from my depression. The further we flew from Finn and the children, the deeper the chasm within my heart as the bond between us stretched and thinned. It was hard not thinking of them on our flights. Shiri and I filled the long stretches of silence with mental conversations, though most of our subjects drifted to the children, and I knew Shiri missed them as much as I did. My sister had always had a loving mother’s heart, and I’d been too consumed with my own sorrow to realize how keenly my sister had been affected by the separation.
We did not stop for a repast when we flew over Skullgrove. For that, I was grateful. That place held too many bad memories, not to mention it smelled like moldy feet. Evidence that the dragons had been here was everywhere, from the smoldering treetops to the demolished crops and barren fields. We spotted nary a stag or sheep anywhere. I tried to grow as many plants as I could, letting my magic fall like rain drops whenever we flew over a barren field, leaving flowering plants in our wake. We had yet to come across any dragons, though Isa sensed them nearby.
