Page 10 of The Queen’s Shadow

I didn’t feel comfortable using my magick this close to either of them, but without Raven, Amon or Kasha, I was really the only one available with the skills necessary to fuse metal to stone.

“Stand back.” I told Meredith, before sparing an apologetic glance at the daemon in the bed who was clearly unable to stand back herself, considering she was so graciously allowing me to chain her to the wall. Meredith took several steps back, but I shook my head.

“Farther.”

She frowned at me but obeyed. She continued to move back until I finally nodded at her. She was nearly outside of the room.

I held the end of the chains that weren’t bound to the daemon’s wrists against the wall behind her bed. I cupped my hand firmly over the metal before taking a deep breath in.

I stilled my mind and focused. I just needed a tiny bit, just enough to fill my hand. I pushed back the trauma and the fear that rushed through me every time I needed to use my powers.

It had been the same when I had needed to take Jeremy and Meredith back to The Court of Pride and away from The Origin’s Palace. I had been terrified that I would incinerate them both as we blasted through the air. Somehow, I had managed to protect them from the heat as we flew like a comet through the night, each of them tucked firmly under one of my arms.

This was no different, I told myself. In fact, it was even less dangerous. I just needed a tiny bit. I could control it. I had worked on my control for over two hundred years. It was not the same as it had been then.

I would not hurt them.

I took another deep breath, before opening the impenetrable, thick gate I kept my power behind. I just let it slide a crack, and even at that tiny taste of freedom, my power exploded from me with such force that I grit my teeth against it. I immediately slammed the door down and put everything I had into corralling the wild, unpredictable nature of my energy into the palm of my hand. The entire wall shook with the impact, and I felt the metal and stone melt beneath my fingers, effectively fusing the metal and rock together.

With my breathing slightly labored, I took several steps back, doing my best not to let the two females see how much effort it had taken me to keep the energy contained.

I didn’t want to scare them.

“Thank you,” The daemon said, watching me carefully. I think she could tell how hard that had been for me, despite my efforts to keep my features controlled.

“Aye.” I said, stepping forward, “Though I’m not sure you should be thanking me for shackling you to the wall.”

She shook her head as Meredith came forward. “It is the only way. If she realizes I am here, she could order me to try to hurt you.”

I didn’t miss the fact that she said ‘try.’ I wondered if she was aware of the fact that her powers were crippled.

“What is your name?” Meredith asked softly, stepping forward. The daemon’s head snapped to her, her crimson eyes widening and suddenly filling with tears. Meredith held up both hands, immediately apologetic. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you, you don’t have to share your name, if you don’t want to.”

The daemon shook her head hastily, a tear spilling over with the movement. “No, no. It’s not that,” her voice was strained, “It has just been so long, since someone has bothered to ask me my name.” She whispered, and Meredith’s face crumpled. I understood immediately.

Slaves had names, of course. But they were not treated as people. Their names were told to others, they were rarely asked to share them. They were property… possessions. Not people.

“My name is Cerenah.” She said softly, looking down at her hands briefly, before looking back up at us, fear and hesitation etched on every line of her face. Finally, after a tense moment, she seemed to build her resolve and spoke again.

“I am Ash Nevra’s illegitimate half-sister.”

Raven

Ididn’t allow my feet to touch the ground as I materialized at the base of the mountain. I was airborne and flying to the top of the volcano the moment the molecules that made up my corporeal form snapped back into place. The hostility of the landscape increased rapidly as I shot through the air. Before I knew it, ash and soot were raining down around me, and the widowmaker’s head slammed more and more violently against the walls of the box the closer I came to the top.

When I had come here for my Quickening with Amon, the volcano had been violent, but nothing like this. Now, it was actively erupting. Massive black plumes of smoke were billowing up into the air with the force of an atomic bomb, lightning crackling through the black clouds of soot. Fiery molten stone sprayed from the mouth of the black mountain and bled down the sides of the cliff face as I flew.

I needed to focus with more and more intensity on controlling the environment around me, to keep the ash from my lungs and eyes. Without my magick to protect me, my skin would have surely peeled away in the excruciating heat.

By the time I reached the top, I was so surrounded by ash and smoke that I could barely see a few feet ahead of me. Hovering by the giant cavernous opening, I paused, and opened the box. The widowmaker’s screams met my ears as I grabbed a fist full of its greasy hair and pulled it out, allowing the box itself to tumble into the mouth of the volcano. Rycon must have severed its head beneath its vocal chords, so it could still speak.

Good.

“Last chance, windowmaker. Give me something useful.” To my dismay, the fiend still refused to cooperate. It simply screamed and spat black slime in a raging fit. My lip curled in disgust.

“Fine. Have it your way.” I snarled, before turning my attention back to the mountain. “Frira!” I called, dangling the widowmaker’s head over the edge of the cliff. In response, the volcano let out another violent eruption of magma. More lightning crashed as the molten rock rained back down, forming the shape of a giant wolf before my eyes.

The wolf, which was easily the size of a small skyscraper, reared up before me, its massive maw dripping in fire and brimstone. A wicked smile spread across my face in greeting. We stared at each other for a moment, before the Titan dipped its head in a small bow. I tilted my head back in return.