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Nish gave the priestess a mocking wink. “Next time your king brings a request to you that hurts my king or queen, remember this moment. Remember what happens when you cross the Death Master.”
A sob shook her chest, and her face paled until she was as white as the sand below.
For a moment, I felt pity for the priestess, but then I remembered how eager she’d been to trick me when I’d come to this temple. She’d never tried to warn me or had even been fully honest with what they had planned. Of course, that wasn’t surprising. She was loyal to the Lochen.
But Norivun was right to remind her of what happened when anyone crossed us. Jaw locking, I returned my attention to my mate.
Norivun’s giant dragon maw opened, and a roll of fire gathered in his throat. The heat of it was enough to singe one’s eyebrows off even though he hadn’t released his flames.
“Stay behind this rock,” I instructed, then created a solid Shield of air around us.
Norivun glanced our way, his reptilian eyes narrowing to slits.
“We’re safe, my prince!” Sandus called.
Norivun swung his massive head back to the diamond. A rush of flames shot from him. His fire was so thick that it consumed the entire circular remains of the temple. Scorching flames burned the mountaintop. Intense heat rose from his fire. It was so hot that it could have melted glass.
And then a fluttering sense of awareness began to creep over me.
“Stop!” I shouted.
The prince abruptly released his fire, and my eyes widened when I beheld nothing but a simple rock where the diamond had once been. Norivun had let his fire burn long enough that a crater had formed where the diamond had lain. Everything around it was charred to black bits, ruined beyond recognition. The once beautiful white stone temple had turned into black melted rock.
But at the center of the crater lay the simple pebble that Drachu had used to channel my power. It remained untouched. It was the only thing unaffected by the fire.
And the diamond was gone.
Norivun had destroyed it.
I felt my magic flying toward me on the wind, like the whispered call of an old friend. I sang to it internally, sensing it as it barreled through the air from the obliterated gemstone.
The missing piece of my magic hit me like a lightning bolt. My arms flew out, and my breath rushed out of me. Heat tingled along my fingertips before my magic barreled toward my center.
My core throbbed when the returning essence that I hadn’t even realized had been missing molded within me once more, and when all of my magic was finally fully seated back inside me, I opened my eyes and grinned.
I felt whole. Complete.
Norivun stared down at us from the top of the charred mountaintop, back in his fae form. He was dressed, an illusion covering his naked body since his real clothes lay in charred tatters around him.
“Did it work?” he asked as a strum of worry drifted toward me on our bond.
“Yes,” I grinned. “It worked!”
We leftGenoova on the mountaintop. She’d collapsed to her hands and knees, crying and wailing over the destruction we’d left behind. Another twinge of guilt bit me when I saw how broken she appeared, but then I recalled how she and Drachu had betrayed me.
Norivun clasped my hand. Leaning down, he whispered just before our mistphasing magic swept around us, “You’re right not to feel guilty. You are a queen now. Queens do not show mercy to theirenemies, not when those enemies sought to destroy them.”
I nodded and firmly shoved any remaining guilt away.
Norivun was right. If he and I were to one day rule the Solis continent with crowns of ice, an icy heart was needed at times when difficult decisions were to be made.
With one last look at the priestess and ruined temple, we all disappeared from the mountain as mist and shadows sucked us away.
We reappearedin Norivun’s chambers. A fire crackled in the hearth, and despite being told to take the rest of the day off, Balbus was there. He was fussing and fixing everything even though nothing appeared out of order.
The second the six of us materialized from thin air, he straightened by the fireplace, then dipped into a deep bow. “Your Highness.”
All of us were filthy. Soot from the mountaintop covered us since none of us had bothered to clean it with our magic yet, and since Norivun’s clothes were a constructed illusion and nothing more, his bare skin met my fingertips when I reached for him.
