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Sir Featherton beamed. “This crown shall one day be worn by one of you as you sit atop the queen’s throne.”
I eyed Georgyanna from the distance that spanned us. Her gaze had fixated upon the crown as a dark snarl twisted her features. I knew she would do whatever was needed to reach that crown.
But I would too.
CHAPTER31
Sir Featherton raised his arms. “On my mark.” His finger pointed upward as familiar sparks and fireworks of magic exploded from his hand. A dazzling three appeared in the sky.
“Two.” Another firework of magic shot up as the three disappeared. A flaming two appeared in the sky, hovering where the three had been only a second prior.
My muscles tensed and coiled. I felt again for my magic. It was still there, but crap, something still covered it.
“One.”
The second he uttered the final word, he was whisked off the arena’s floor, and a blast of magic rocketed into me. The ground moved, shifting and vibrating, and then chasms split open in the sand as a flood of insects lifted from beneath the stadium.
Georgyanna leaped back as the ground split before her as well.
My eyes widened when a swarm of stinging nettles suddenly clouded the air in front of me.
Terror slid through my veins. The deadly insects were only found on the southernmost tip of our continent, but the potency of their venom was legendary. One prick from a single stinger would paralyze a fairy until their lungs seized completely, and their heart stopped. To have a swarm of them buzzing toward me at this very second...
“Blessed Mother, help me,” I prayed.
Georgyanna seemed in a similar state of panic as she staggered back. She raised her hands, and a huge gust of her electric affinity flew from her. The buzzing creatures seized midair but didn’t fall as electricity spiraled through them.
I called upon my magic, trying to do the same, but to my horror it was once again sluggish to respond.
I ran backward, stumbling away from the nettles, as Prince Norivun shot to standing.
I tripped when a dozen rocks suddenly appeared behind me. The arena’s floor was shifting and moving with every breath I took—just another trick of the final test.
I screamed in fury that my magic wasn’t responding, and perhaps it was the panic in my call, but a flash of my fire element abruptly blazed around me.
The swarm of nettles incinerated in midair, but it had been so close. One of the insects had only been feet away from me before my magic finally responded.
Georgyanna was already through her cloud of deadly insects and sprinting toward the crown. She tried to spread her wings and fly toward it, but a zap of magic appeared from the air and stifled her flight.
I called upon my mistphasing magic, but whatever was zinging through the air, zapped that out of me too.
As if sensing that magic was working against our powers, Georgyanna began to run. I pushed to my feet and did the same, legs pumping beneath me as our eyes met across the arena.
The crowd continued to cheer and roar, as a look of feral victory glowed in the Kroravee native’s eyes.
But before either of us could reach the pillar, the ground shook again, and a new cavern opened, but instead of deadly insects, a gush of water rose and flooded the arena.
The crowd screamed in surprise as Georgyanna and I did the same.
The water rose swiftly, first to my ankles, then my knees, then my waist. Before I knew it, I was swimming through powerful currents, trying to reach the pillar as the water rose like a torrential flood.
I called upon my magic again. If I could just create a buoy of air beneath me, I could rise above the water.
But my magic didn’t respond. Once again, I was begging it to heed my command.
Beneath the swirling, dark water, something tugged on my foot. I barely had time to suck in a lungful of air before a tentacle curled around my ankle and pulled.
I went under.
