Page 53 of The Princess of Portals

“Savannah, get up!”

I blinked a few times. Seriana reached down and pulled me to my feet. My whole body ached.

“Where are we?” I asked her.

“Gaia.”

I took a closer look around. I saw ruins, debris, and, somewhere in the distance, the Harbour Bridge. “We’re outside the Fortress.” I gave her a dark look. “Where the Cursed Ones roam.”

I waited, half-expecting to hear the answering call of the Cursed Ones, but all I heard was the wind cutting through the broken, hollow remains of a once-great city.

“Capricorn’s portal was supposed to bring us to the Fortress,” I said. “Fenris threw something into the portal, and it went all weird.”

“A Portal Disruptor,” Seriana said. “A very expensive piece of magic and notoriously unreliable. He tried to override the portal’s destination. It only partially worked. We still made it to Gaia, and nearly to the Fortress too. We’re not far from our destination.”

“But far enough.” Fenris’s mocking smile shot across the debris field, aimed right at us.

Of course he was here. But if he was here, the question was why. He could have escaped. Why hadn’t he?

Seriana read the question in my eyes. “I grabbed him as we fell through the portal. I wasn’t about to let him get away.”

Fenris tromped toward us. “Yes, Mother, and now here we are. You’re cut off from your bodyguards.”

“So are you,” she shot back.

“I don’t need guards,” he scoffed.

“Neither do I.”

They both drew their swords. Fenris swung, Seriana parried, and soon the ruins echoed with the staccato notes of swordplay. Seriana was very skilled, but Fenris was better, and he was stronger. It didn’t take him long to land a hit.

Seriana withdrew a few steps, clutching her arm. Crimson stained her gold sleeve.

“You’re slowing down in your old age,” Fenris taunted her. “Do you need a rest?”

“I’ll rest when I’m dead,” Seriana replied, gritting her teeth.

The swordplay symphony played on. Fenris landed another hit. Seriana was slowing down, and he was just getting started. I wanted to jump in and help her, but I didn’t know anything about fighting with swords. We hadn’t yet reached that part of our training program.

Magic was out too. Fenris’s Portal Disruptor hadn’t just affected the portal; it had scrambled my magic too. I figured that out real quick when I tried to knock Fenris back—and blew up an old mailbox instead.

“Your era is over, Mother,” Fenris said. “The days of the Court are over. The Order’s time is only just beginning.”

“You talk big, Fenris,” she shot back. “Is that all you can do?”

“No.” He knocked the sword out of her hand, then plunged his blade through her. “It’s not.” He pushed her off his blade, and she hit the ground.

“You’re a monster,” I growled at Fenris. “She’s your own mother. She’s family. That’s not how you treat family.”

“What would you know about family, you freak of nature? You know those people you think are your family? They’re not.”

“That’s not true.” My fists clenched up, like they had a mind of their own. I wanted to punch Fenris, and I wanted it so bad.

“Of course it’s true. They’re human. You are not. Your magic is proof of that.”

My fists squeezed tighter. “Stop it.”

“You don’t have a family, you aren’t human, and you don’t belong anywhere. How does it feel knowing that your whole life is a lie?”