Page 74 of A Court of Darkness and Dragons

But the air chilled, heavy with rot. Shapes peeled out of the darkness—thin, wraithlike creatures with hollow eyes and clawed hands, their bodies made of smoke and hate. Dozens of them, rising between me and the throne, between me and the only chance we had.

Kaelith’s fury rumbled through my mind, but I lifted the key at my throat, forcing my fear down as the wraiths surged forward.

Chapter

Twenty-Nine

Iflung my hand skyward, my scream lost in the thunder gathering above. Lightning split the clouds with a violent crack, slamming into the courtyard stones and exploding outward in a blaze of white-blue fire. The wraiths shrieked as the lightning consumed them, their smoky bodies shredding to nothing.

More, Kaelith demanded, her power flooding into me. I pulled it in and released it, calling bolt after bolt. My magic danced across the courtyard, searing through the endless tide Veralin was spewing from his outstretched hands. For every one I struck down, another tore free, but I refused to falter.

Dark Fire flared to my left—Zander. His magic lashed out like living chains, whipping across the stones, devouring wraiths whole. Our powers met in the air, lightning weaving through Dark Fire, storm and shadow colliding in a single, devastating force. Together, we decimated them faster than Veralin could shape them.

Still, the others fought. Jax and Ferrula cut with steel, their swords passing through wraith-flesh that smoked but reformed, holding the creatures at bay with sheer ferocity. Naia hurled kinetic bursts, throwing them back in waves. And then Tae⁠—

He stood unnervingly calm; his hand pressed to his temple as one wraith froze mid-lunge. Its hollow eyes turned glassy, its clawed arm lowering as it swiveled on its own kind. With a guttural screech, it raked its talons into another, shredding it to smoke.

The rest hesitated, hissing in confusion as the enslaved one tore through its brethren with mindless rage. Tae trembled, sweat soaking his brow, but he didn’t stop. The possessed wraith slaughtered three more before the strain brought him to his knees.

“That’s it,” he panted, his voice hoarse. “Kill your own.”

My storm roared in answer, splitting the sky again, as Zander’s Dark Fire carved another path straight toward Veralin’s throne.

I pushed forward, each step pulling me closer to the throne. Veralin was still yards away, his crimson eyes narrowing as he realized I would reach it before him. That flicker of fear, small, but there, ignited my resolve.

“Kill her!” he thundered, his voice cracking the air like a whip.

The wraiths obeyed instantly, their shrieks rising as they surged toward me in a black tide. Shadows wrapped around them like chains of smoke, their skeletal claws reaching, jaws gaping wide.

All except one. The one still under Tae’s command. It ripped and tore at its brethren with feral determination, refusing to turn its claws on me.

I braced, lifting my dagger, though I knew steel was useless. And then⁠—

Dark Fire erupted around me.

It wasn’t aimed outward, not hurled at the wraiths like before. Zander’s magic unfurled like a Storm-born wall, a living barrier of shadow and flame that coiled in a perfect circle around me. The wraiths shrieked as they slammed against it, their forms disintegrating on contact, their claws unable to breach.

But the fire didn’t burn me.

It licked close, so close I could feel its unnatural heat prickling my skin, curling my hair, but it refused to touch me, as if it knew I was its center.

I turned my head, searching for him, and found Zander across the courtyard, his jaw clenched, his eyes black with strain as he held the barrier. He was pouring everything into keeping me untouched, unbroken.

Go, Ashlyn, his voice urged into my mind, rough and desperate. Go now.

The wraiths howled, crashing again and again against the wall of fire, but they couldn’t get through. And beyond them, I saw Veralin, his lips curling, his red eyes fixed on me with murderous hunger—because he knew. He knew I was almost there.

I tore the key free from beneath my tunic and removed it from around my neck, my fingers trembling as I held it aloft. It was no longer dull metal but blazing light, its edges glowing white-hot as though it had been waiting, hungering for this very moment.

The air around me hummed, and I realized it wasn’t just me holding the key—it was pulling me forward, a magnetic tether I couldn’t resist even if I wanted to. Each step felt inevitable, drawn toward the throne as though fate itself had wrapped its fingers around me.

The keyhole that had shimmered before now flared alive, an answering glow pulsing at the throne’s head like a heartbeat. Waiting. Beckoning.

A deep tremor rocked the ground, nearly throwing me from my feet. Dust rained from above, stones groaned and cracked. I stumbled, catching myself with one hand on the cold ground, the key still gripped in the other.

Veralin’s roar cut through the courtyard, primal and furious. “No!” His voice fractured into something inhuman, vibrating through bone and soul. Power pulsed from him, and the earth itself convulsed. An earthquake? Or some foul magic meant to stop me. The courtyard stones split apart like jagged teeth, and pillars of the illusory castle shivered, then fractured.

Still I pushed forward, rising, my legs shaking but unyielding. The pull of the key was stronger than the chaos, stronger than his fury.