She ducked under the swing, rolling across the floor. The blade shrieked as it struck the wall where her head had been. She came up behind him, breath steady, power still crackling faintly along her skin.
But she didn’t raise her lightning again. Instead, her fingers curled, nails sharpening into gleaming black talons. A faint hiss slipped from her lips as she stepped in close.
The guard turned just in time to see her smile, right before she slashed a single strike across the exposed gap of his throat beneath his helmet. He screamed and stumbled back, dropping his sword with a clatter as his hands grasped at the venom consuming his flesh. His knees gave way before dropping to the floor, motionless.
Silence reclaimed the corridor.
Esmyra stood between their fallen bodies, her talons retracting as the lightning faded from her veins. She slowly exhaled, as if nothing had happened at all.
Her pulse quickened as voices sounded around the bend in the hall.
Esmyra peered over her shoulder.
There she is. Lephyrin’s new elven queen.
Draped in gold silks, her dark hair braided with glinting rubies, Elowynne was walking leisurely down the corridor, accompanied by a single guard at her side. The two were murmuring, too softly for her to make out their words.
A wicked chuckle slipped from Esmyra as she met their gazes, stopping both of them in their tracks.
Elowynne’s eyes tracked the blood and bodies littering the floor. “What have you done?!” she bellowed, her lip curling back slightly.
Esmyra’s hips swayed side to side as she began to stalk down the corridor, a vicious grin forming. Halting several feet before them, she threw her hood back. “Good evening, Elowynne.”
“Wait—” the guard started, but she didn’t give him the chance to finish.
Esmyra raised her arm, fingers splayed to summon the sea as a sleek, shimmering form solidified into a spear made entirely of water. She hurled it toward them, the water-formed weapon spiraling perfectly down the hall as they both stood rooted in its center, jaws agape. It sailed through the corridor like lightning, right before slamming straight through his chest, sending him flying backward.
A scream erupted from the queen.
The guard’s breath caught as blood dribbled from his lips. His eyes went wide in shock as he was pinned against the wall. The spear melted into a puddle beneath his body, and he crumpled to the floor, lifeless.
Esmyra’s hip jutted to the side as her lip kicked up in a taunting smirk, barricading her mind behind her newly formed mental shield.
Elowynne’s hands trembled as she lifted them. Not in surrender, but in defiance. Shestilldidn’t fear her. Her gold eyes narrowed on Esmyra as she remained several feet away.
She could feel it—Elowynne’s attempt to breach her mind. A flicker of pressure brushed the edges of her consciousness, like someone knocking at a door they’d never find the key to.
She couldn’t help her soft cackle.
“You really thought I would come here without precautions in place?” Esmyra’s voice was full of contempt as she took a step forward.
Elowynne gritted her teeth and took a step back, her cheeks burning a fiery pink. “I don’t need your mind to end you.”
Esmyra sucked on her tooth, contemplating what to do next. She needed to find a way to capture Elowynne and remove her from thepalace before any more eyes found them. She didn’t want to kill the queen. Not yet, anyway. Not before her use expired.
Her fingers pressed on the pocket of her cloak, feeling that velsinyte ring there.I knew this would come in handy, she thought. And then she took a step forward, then another after that. Before she knew it, Esmyra was storming down the distance that remained between them in the corridor.
With a sharp intake of breath, Elowynne also began to stalk down the hall, her jaw locked and eyes full of a fury that appeared to rival even her own. And then the elven lunged, her fist aimed straight for Esmyra’s jaw and meeting its mark. The force of the punch snapped her head to the side.
Oh, this is going to be fun.Esmyra’s momentary surprise gave way to a grin. The tang of copper filled her mouth, and she imagined her teeth were stained red as she flashed them at the queen.
“I like her,” Kaelypso purred.
“No, we don’t.”
Esmyra spat blood at Elowynne’s feet. “Is that all you’ve got?” she taunted.
Elowynne spun, sweeping a leg out from beneath her gown and toward Esmyra’s knees, but she leapt over it. She retaliated fast; a palm strike to the queen’s chest sent her stumbling back into the wall with a grunt.
