Page 47 of Heart of Fire (Royal Ice Dragons #3)

HANNA

Baelur had found my weakness. The people that I loved.

I cast my shadows toward him. He wove and twisted away, fighting to reach the next person who stood against him.

It was Branok, who raced to my defense, and it was Branok who was frozen in midair for a second in his dragon form before he plummeted to the ground. Just like Kaelan, he transformed into a statue.

“Shadow Weaver!” I called out to her. “What is this magic? How do I bring them back?”

“You defeat him,” she said in my ear, hot and fierce. “They’re dead anyway if you die, so focus! Don’t let him distract you! His magic will die when the god abandons him, and they’ll turn back to living beings.”

That was easier said than done when the people I loved were being turned to stone. I wasn’t sure I could even trust her. She might very well lie to me to keep me from being distracted while protecting the others from being turned the way Kaelan and Branok already had.

But I focused on raising my shadows, trying to ignore the screams and cries around me as others fought Baelur, and he reached them, turning them to stone.

As Thorne rushed to my side, Baelur turned toward the two of us. Baelur’s eyes fixed on Thorne.

I struck out at him with my shadows, but all he seemed to care about was reaching Thorne. Thorne hardened by my side, turning into a statue.

Was I alone now? Had all of them fallen to Baelur’s twisted magic?

How much stronger was he than the Shadow Weaver?

I raised my shadows, and they drove into him, beating him backward. But it wasn’t enough. He raised his arms, and suddenly I found myself blinking, squeezing my eyes shut, as the world illuminated too brightly.

I couldn’t raise any more shadows. The supernatural light seemed to come from everywhere. I blinked, trying to find its source so we could destroy it.

“Let me take you over,” the goddess cried frantically within me. “You can’t win!”

She fought to overcome me. I pushed back, barely managing to keep control of my own body. Her magic felt as if it were choking me, growing up like vines inside my chest and up through my throat.

My mouth opened and shadows billowed out. But they died in the brightness of the light before very long.

Then I heard a shattering sound to my right, and I turned to realize that it was Dare, standing over a magical lantern. There were a dozen of them spread across the clearing, casting insanely bright supernatural light. As soon as one died, there was a flicker of shadow.

It was enough for me to fight with. Baelur charged toward Dare, and I moved to intercept him.

I would protect Dare, and Dare would break the lanterns and protect me in turn.

Dare extinguished all the lanterns. The world was still too bright, but it was enough. Shadows cast on the ground again.

Even the frozen statues of my friends cast shadows which gave me something to use to fight.

Baelur was driven back, choking, and finally fell to his knees.

Baelur’s mouth opened and some kind of immense dark cloud billowed out, rising up toward the sky.

Now Baelur’s gaze met mine, and he held out a hand. Somehow, he still seemed confident and arrogant, even though he had lost his power.

“Thank you for freeing me,” he said. “The god had possessed me. You saved me.”

“You are full of shit,” I snarled back.

Tall, muscular bodies moved to flank me. Kaelan and Thorne. Relief rushed through me.

I turned to find Dare.

He stood over one of the decimated lanterns, his chest heaving, his sword clutched in one hand. His face was nicked and bleeding from breaking the lanterns and being hit by the glass shards as they flew.

When he gave me a wink, warmth flooded my chest.

He didn’t need to stand by my side or try to protect me for the two of us to work together.

Baelur had been right when he saw these people I loved as my weakness, but he hadn’t realized they were also my strength.

“I can help you,” Baelur said, bending his head. “You have freed me. Let me serve you.”

But when he raised his head, he was focused on Kaelan. “I can offer you the command of the House of Restoration. With our help, you can easily defeat the king. No one else has to die.”

“You don’t seem in any state to offer me anything,” Kaelan said coolly.

My thoughts earlier about how we could ally with the House of Restoration flooded back to me.

I didn’t want to partner with them in any way. But in the end, we had to take the throne from Edric, as bloodlessly as possible. I didn’t mind bleeding Edric, but I didn’t want to see the number of deaths that would come from a prolonged battle.

Dare came up beside us. His jaw was stiff with hatred.

“Tell me everything you know,” I told Baelur. “Then we’ll decide.”

Dare’s gaze flickered toward mine, filled with hurt for a second before his gaze shuttered, before he was nothing but the cool, stoic man I’d once known.