58. Irina

Chapter 58

Irina

D anai’s carcass smoldered.

The ungrateful thorn had festered beneath my skin for a thousand years.

I was free.

I looked down at the crown in my hand, my crown.

The diamonds pulsed their steady rhythm, as if welcoming their mistress home. I grinned and placed the golden band carefully on my head.

A wave of white-hot power rippled through my body.

I turned to exit the chamber, eager to walk the halls of my former home once more, when the sound of leather slapping against marble snapped my head around.

The man from the candle shop stood twenty paces to the side of the dais, the same man who’d attacked me at the Well. While his appearance startled me, it wasn’t the man himself or his strangely swirling eyes that drew my attention most; it was the solid-gold tunic emblazoned with the Phoenix on his chest that arrested my breath.

It glowed brighter than the fire I’d just thrown at Danai.

The man took a step forward and threw out a hand.

I threw up a shield of air.

The man’s attack pressed me backward but couldn’t penetrate my defenses.

Then I heard something behind me.

I chanced a glance over my shoulder as an old man raised his arms.

The massive throne rose from the dais and hurtled toward me. It cast a mighty shadow just as I Traveled to avoid its crushing blow. The chamber echoed with the roar of a mountain’s rage as a thousand pounds of marble slammed into the ancient stone of the dais. Shrapnel burst in every direction.

I Traveled again and reappeared midway down the aisle.

The man in the tunic lunged behind a column as shards of shattered stone pelted everything in sight.

The old man wasn’t so lucky.

So focused on launching the throne, he failed to shield himself when it fell. Pieces of rock sliced into his chest, arms, and face.

He tumbled to the ground and did not move.

“Atikus!” the other man screamed.

The old man lay still.