“Then why save me?”
Because she did, that hadn’t been my shield that stuck– it was hers.
Zara didn’t speak, didn’t move as she glared at me.
Snarling, I lunged. But I was suddenly yanked back.
Something was wrapped around my ankles, stopping me cold, and the pull sent me hurtling toward the ground, my face slamming into the dirt.
“What the fuck?” Hissing, I pushed myself onto my knees, head whipping in her direction. Zara stood smugly, and I looked down to find vines coiled tightly around my ankles, tethering me to the earth.
“You are injured and in no condition to fight me, Jaxon.”
Injured? This was nothing.
I tore from the vines and shot flames in her direction, meaning to give me time to get to my feet, but the flames I conjured were only wisps, and I growled as she shot a torrent of shadow toward me. Twisting out of their path, I spun right into a floating sphere of fucking water. I thrashed inside it, my flames still not rising to the surface. I gasped, water filling my lungs as I fought against the onslaught of her magic.
Zara released me, and I collapsed to the ground, expelling water from my lungs as I gasped and choked for air. A strange heaviness settled in my bones.What in the fates was wrong with me?I shouldn't be this weak. We take preemptive antitoxins for the daka poison now. It shouldn't be affecting me, not like this.
“I’m not the useless human girl you knew, Jaxon.” Zara’s voice was edged with something lethal, and I met her gazeagain. “I know how to fight. And I know how to use my magic.”
Something slammed into me from behind, knocking me forward. I didn’t have time to catch myself, barely had time to register the impact before I hit the ground, shadows snapping around me, pinning me in place.
I thrashed and watched as Zara scowled at me, stepping over Lana and coming to stand over me.
“Her blades are laced with nightshade and snake venom. You should remember that for next time.” My eyes widened as dark mist curled around not only her but also Lana, and the unconscious daka.
Zara threw something before she disappeared, and I stopped thrashing, watching as a vial of dark purple liquid rolled toward me, stopping a few feet away.
Chapter 12
Zara
“Explain.” Morgana's voice was sharp and furious, as it sliced through the air, her yellow eyes locked onto Lana. A purple gown flowed over her frame, and that black, glittering crown that had fallen from my head after we had gotten back from Nexia, was upon her head.
“It's not my fault, Mother,” Lana spat, but her glare shifted venomously to me. Lana looked like shit. Her arm was still healing from the burns she had gotten, the red welts raised and vicious. Her pants were torn down the back, and her white shirt hung loosely on her shoulders.
Morgana's gaze landed onto me and I met it unflinchingly.
“Lana nearly killed your son and was not where she said she would be posted,” I said defiantly, folding my arms and scowling back at Lana.
Lana’s jaw tightened, fury blazing in her expression, but Morgana’s returning gaze kept her in check. Morgana’s long, spindly fingers drummed against the metal arm of the goldenthrone, her nails making a clacking noise that echoed around us.
We waited at the bottom of the dais, bracing ourselves. There would be punishment. There always was. Morgana’s cool mask of disinterest faltered, and I could see the restrained fury blazing in her yellow gaze.
“I didn’t give any order for an attack tonight. Nor did I give you an order to go near my sons,” she said, her voice dripping with icy rage. Lana flinched, but she glared back at her mother just as steely.
“Son, not sons. And he wasn’t supposed to be there,” Lana bit out, her tone insolent. I tensed beside her, sensing the inevitable. My power stirred as it was pulled, and I felt myself calling it to shadow Morgana in front of Lana.
In a blink, Morgana stood before Lana, one hand clamped around her throat. Her nails dug into Lana’s skin until blood trickled down her neck, and Lana was choking. She clawed desperately at Morgana’s hand as her eyes began to glow with a faint light.
“You dare talk back to me, girl?” Morgana spat, her teeth bared and inches from Lana’s. “Youwere the one who wasn’t supposed to be there.” Morgan’s grip tightened, and blood continued to trickle, staining her white, tattered shirt. “You don’t think I didn’t notice you weren’t here this morning, that you weren’t with your sister doing what I asked you to do.” Lana held her tongue this time, and Morgana scowled. “You act when and only when I tell you. Do you understand?”
Lana's eyes burned with defiance, her lips moving silently but no words escaped. Morgana was strangling her. Morgana pulled a dagger from her belt and plunged the serrated edge into Lana’s side, angled just shy of her heart. Lana’s mouthopened in a strangled gasp, pain twisting her features, but still no sound came.
The hair on my neck stood up as I realized Morgana had stolen her breath on top of her crushing grasp. Morgana leaned close, her voice a deadly whisper. “Do. You. Understand?”
As if allowing her to take a breath, Lana gasped sucking in air. “Yes, Mother,” Lana managed, her voice a faint rasp, as she began to cough.
