Page 58

R yton had been patrolling the city, hiding among its shadowy structures and crumbling roads. He’d avoided the cathedral and its spires. The place reeked of earth magic and set his teeth on edge.

But then he scented her. The Earth Queen.

Raging through the water, he raced along the trail, nostrils and gills flaring.

He whispered spellwork into his shell spear.

Water magic gurgled and roared all around him, steadying him against the unholy thrum of the creature attached to his spine, the monster that would allow him to hunt the Earth Queen on land.

The sickness of the being’s foul power pulled at his energy.

It was impossible how it both drove and drained him.

He felt like he’d swallowed poison every day he’d risen with that thing on his back.

Blasting through the door, he barreled into the royal-blooded elf and raised his spear, pointing it ahead.

All in a matter of seconds, the elf tried to grab Ryton with a powerful twist of air magic thrown into the currents.

His magic overpowered the elf’s, and the elf hit the wall.

His body drifted, unconscious, as Ryton shot through the water toward the painted face of the Earth Queen.

What magic was this that allowed her to breathe under water?

Triumph soaring through his soul, Ryton struck the female across the head with his spear. Blood spooled from the wound, but she did not falter as he would have guessed. She turned to him, eyes blazing with righteous fury, gripped the edge of a table, and shouted into the water.

The table exploded into a thousand pieces and flung themselves at Ryton like arrows.

Shocked, he was slow to react. The first of them pierced his flesh, but he felt no pain. He lifted his spear and shouted his own spell. His magic drove the jagged points of wood away from him and back at her.

Ryton blinked, unsure about what he was seeing. The wooden projectiles did not lance into her body. The wood veered around her as if it knew its mistress well.

But this was Ryton’s world, here in the jeweled depths of the sea. And he knew exactly how to vanquish this queen.

His spear cut through the water, speeding in a blur of pale shell. Water swirled around him and the Earth Queen. The spellwork threw her to the ceiling of the cathedral. Her body hit the sloping, golden reaches and slammed hard, arms and legs going limp.

Grinning, Ryton swam after her, to finish her.

Before he could cast another spell, the Earth Queen’s eyes flashed open.

She smiled, set her hands on the ceiling and spoke. “Break.” Her voice echoed, the dragon language sliding from her lips, a curse, a horror to Ryton’s ears.

The cathedral opened up, cracking along the stone seams of the vaulted ceiling.

The Earth Queen swam up and away, Ryton following and quickly catching up.

Something hit him from behind. He whirled to see the elf, conscious again.

Bruise-hued shadows poured from his fingertips like squid ink to surround Ryton, blinding him more thoroughly than any night could.

He bellowed and struck into the dark with his spear and spells.

The inky clouds drew away and he turned and twisted, searching for her. For him.

But they were gone.

He looked up, rage and frustration crawling up his neck, seething inside the black creature on his back, making him shake.

Across the rippling surface of the water, high above, the shadow of two dragons blocked the sunlight. Ryton swam hard. His mind tripped over what he was seeing. Were the dragons trying to rescue the human and the elf?

He knew the human had been raised by them. But to see the loyalty, the kinship, the risk the dragons took to save her in front of his eyes? Ryton could hardly focus on his mission.

The larger dragon lifted the elf free of the ocean.

Ryton closed the distance. His spear glanced across the Earth Queen’s bare foot, and his spellwork sent a wave clawing up to grab her.

The sea clamored around Ryton, lifting him toward the dragon that carried the Earth Queen.

The gurgling hands of salt water spilled over the dragon’s legs and drenched the Earth Queen in full.

Fury defined her features as she screamed. The dragon shrieked, and his grip loosened. The Earth Queen began to slip below the surface. Keening, the dragon closed his hold on her again and wheeled in wild circles toward the shore.

Temples throbbing, Ryton shouted another spell and raised his spear.

The growing wave crested with him at its peak, water bubbling at his elbows and around his legs. The air washed over his face, harsh and empty.

He could breathe above the water, he realized belatedly. The foul beast he wore was doing its job.

With his magic, he drove the crashing, spelled salt water onto the rocks, where it spilled him out fifty feet from the dragons, elf, and Earth Queen.

Stumbling, falling, he sucked a panicked breath before his hands hit the ground.

He hadn’t meant to drive himself ashore.

He’d been so unsteadied by the feeling of the air filling his lungs, by the bizarre solidity of that which normally felt far too insubstantial to support his weight.

A dragon screeched, tearing the thickened air with a sound that had teeth.

The world spun, and Ryton’s stomach roiled as he worked his way to standing.

The Lapis matriarch lowered her corpse-blue head and flew at him.

A different sort of fire burned under Ryton’s flesh. Oh, how he hated her. This foul beast had killed his sister, Selene. This raging menace had morphed Ryton into a desperate servant to revenge. This monster had shredded the heart of his family.

Dragonfire spouted from the matriarch’s foul snout.

Ryton leapt toward the cliff, just past the rocky breakers, then the sea welcomed him home.

But the dragonfire plunged into the waves, chasing him.

Blood red and glaring yellow, smelling of sulfur and death, the flames dragged across his back.

Pain exploded over Ryton’s skin, and he jerked, arms flailing.

The cursed thing on his spine emitted a horrifying squeal.

Ryton forced himself to swim deeper, where the dragonfire could not reach.

At last, the teal sea cocooned him, cooling the burns along his lower back and left arm. The black creature between his shoulder blades blessedly went silent. He didn’t care if it had died.

Flipping, he looked to the surface.

Three dragons soared over the waves before disappearing from sight.

A distant dragon’s groan of pain echoed through the water, and Ryton thrilled to hear the glorious sound.