Page 39 of Tree of Ash (The Runic Saga #2)

A thrill of joy raced down Larissa’s spine, but a second too late, her eyes caught the movement as the sentry behind the boy raised his own gun.

“No!” she cried, flinging her galdr out, calling his gun to her hand, but she was too late. The shot rang out, piercing through the boy who collapsed to the ground in front of her just as the gun landed in her palm.

The shot released the crowd like a cork springing from a bottle. Larissa fell to her knees beside the boy, who clutched at his bleeding chest, his lashes fluttering over half-closed eyes. She took one look at the wound and knew there was nothing she could do.

Behind them, Larissa heard a growl and the cling of steel as Anara and Darien defended her from attacks, but they could only last for so long. Whatever restraint Anara had exhibited before vanished in a sea of blood. Perlian blood that Larissa had failed to save.

Another pair of hands entered her vision. “I’ll take him, Princess.”

It was a sentry. Tears streamed down the man’s face that looked far too similar to the dead boy’s to be a coincidence.

Larissa’s head jerked in the mimic of a nod as she rose to her feet.

All around her, the flailing of arms and bodies crowded her vision, but there, on top of the gallows, Hammon fled, firing shots into the crowd, his hold on Torsten gone.

Larissa’s skin burned with the force of galdr inside her veins, growing with every second.

She pushed through the crowd, scorching those who came too close.

Where she passed, yelps of pain followed, but she could not tell if they were from allies or enemies.

She knew if she turned, Darien and Anara would be behind her, engaged in one altercation or another, but she didn’t have time to wait.

She had to get to Hammon before he fled.

If he escaped, it would only prolong the battle. It would only delay her search for Halla and put others at risk. She needed to end this now.

Larissa broke through the crowd at the base of the gallows. She took the steps two at a time until she reached the stage and raised the sentry’s gun at the Regent’s retreating form. “It’s over, Hammon. Call them off, surrender.”

The Regent turned slowly to face her, his empty hands up in a show of surrender.

He carried no weapon save for the pearl rings he wore upon multiple fingers—a tactic those with lesser galdr would employ to better help channel their power.

His fingers tensed, and the sentry’s gun was ripped from Larissa’s fingers to where it clattered across the deck, falling into one of the empty square holes beneath the dangling noose, leaving her hands just as empty.

Her gun pressed against her side, but there was no chance to reach for it.

Static danced in the air as he turned his galdr on her, but she reached out to counteract with galdr of her own.

She could feel how he sought to freeze her limbs, to immobilize her where she stood, but he had greatly underestimated the power building within her.

Larissa trembled once before throwing off his restraints and tightening her grip on the energy surrounding his body.

She envisioned every particle of it as if it were tree sap, clinging to his skin, binding him until his face went red with the effort of trying to escape.

With her free hand, she removed her gun from her waistband, raising it level with the man before her.

He snorted like a bull as he attempted and failed to shake the galdr . “Release me.”

“Renounce your claim to Perle, and tell your men to stop fighting,” she countered, not bothering to wipe at the bead of sweat that rolled down her forehead.

“Never.”

Larissa’s arms shook as the galdr took its toll. She should shoot him and be done with it, but he was unarmed. He wasn’t attacking. It would be wrong. Wouldn’t it?

No doubt, King Torsten would have shot him by now.

But what kind of ruler would that make her if this was her first act as Queen-to-be? Would she be just like Shiko, killing those who were weaker than her because it was the simplest solution?

They remained frozen in the silent battle of wills as Larissa held Hammon perfectly still, even as the gun shook in her hand.

“Lara!” Darien’s footsteps thudded across the platform. “It’s okay. It’s over.”

Larissa’s eyes strayed to the crowd. Darien was right. Though few still fought, most of the sentries had surrendered to the Vienám. King Torsten and Halvor were heading in their direction, no doubt to take Hammon captive as their prisoner. Larissa released her breath, lowering the gun.

Too late, she realized she’d also lessened the restraints she’d placed around Hammon. Movement flickered from the corner of her eyes. She turned back, registering the gun in his hand, the way his finger flexed toward the trigger, the muzzle pointed not at her, but at Darien.

“No!”

With a snarl, she raised her hands to shove Darien out of the way, allowing what remained of her galdr to surge through every fiber of her being.

The force of it pushed him across the stage just as the bullet passed by, but the wave of galdr could not be contained.

It barreled across the wooden deck, slamming into Hammon with all the force of a tidal wave, lifting him from his feet and hurling him against the Second Wall.

The crack of his head against the stones resounded in the silence.

Then his body thudded to the platform beneath the gallows.

Larissa stared at the blood pooling around Hammon’s body. She’d killed him. Darien rose to his feet, his hands falling onto Larissa’s shoulders, checking her over for any bullet holes, but the wound was not in her body. It was in her mind.

That crack of Hammon’s body played over and over again.

Her breath was harsh in her own ears. She’d killed him, without hesitation. Did she even regret it? Vienám, Perlian, sentry alike stared at Hammon’s body where it lay. Larissa had only ever killed a draugr , but the draugr had not looked so human in death.

Hammon was a monster , she told herself, but the pit in her stomach remained as she stared at the broken body that resembled so many of the others that littered the streets of her kingdom.

King Torsten ascended the steps, followed closely by Anara. His voice boomed over the crowd. “Hammon is dead. Lay down your weapons or meet the same fate.”

With frantic obedience, sentries raised their hands, dropping guns and knives which members of the Vienám hurriedly removed from their reach. Larissa could hardly bear the way the sentries gaped at her. In hate. In fear . As if she was the monster.

“Long live the Queen!”

Larissa’s eyes snapped toward the voice, shocked to find Jari who looked at her with approval. Then the entirety of the Vienám was screaming the same chant, screaming her name, but her ears had gone deaf. Even her battered heart flopped in joy.

Standing next to Jari, Larissa saw the familiar freckled face.

Halla! her heart screamed as she jumped from the stage, pushing through the crowd. Halla ran to her, her small hands shoving her way through the bodies. The sisters collided, falling to their knees as they locked each other in an embrace.

Larissa wept, not caring who saw or what they thought as she clung to her sister.

Based on the wetness on her shoulder, Larissa guessed that Halla was crying also, her face buried in Larissa’s neck.

As if disconnected from her heart, her mind made note of her sister’s shorn hair and the burn at her neck that Larissa was careful not to touch.

She would hunt down whoever had done these things, but her heart shushed such thoughts, reveling in the warmth of her sister.

There’d been enough blood, too much blood, to let thoughts of vengeance override the pure relief that flooded through her.

Only after the chanting of her name stopped did Larissa reluctantly release her hold on Halla, though she kept her sister’s hand in her own even as she stood.

All around her, the Vienám and Perlian citizens bowed to one knee, one hand over their heart and another reaching out toward Larissa in acceptance of their lost Princess.

She could have wept again.

A tug on Larissa’s braid broke her attention.

Halla grinned up at her with shimmering green eyes that reminded Larissa so much of her mother. “I knew you could do it!”

And when Halla looked at her with such admiration, Larissa could nearly forget the blood she’d shed to save her sister. Nearly forget Shiko’s retaliation that was sure to come.