Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
“Berwyn?” I guess.
“As if I would answer to that fool? I think not.” She glances skyward. “Pity you sent your dragon away, but don’t worry, there’s plenty of power beneath your feet. Now, show me what my patience has bought.” She lifts her arms as the breeze picks up, sweeping off the cliffs at our back.
No more stalling, then. Here we go. As long as Bodhi counters her signet, we can end her before Tairn even gets back.
Bodhi raises his right hand and turns it as though clasping a doorknob none of us can see. The sky darkens and wind gusts, and though no lightning strikes, the temperature and humidity rise in a way I’ve only ever felt around one other person.
Theophanie’s smile sharpens.
Gravity shifts, and my perception of everything changes.
“It’s working.” A smile tugs at Bodhi’s mouth.
“It’s not,” I whisper, all the hope leaving my body like water out of a bathtub drain. “You can’t counter her. You have to go. Now.” I palm the next blade. Maybe I can’t throw it, but I’m not going down defenseless, either. I can hold out until Tairn returns.
“There’s no lightning,” Bodhi argues, his knuckles whitening on the pommel of his sword.
“I was wrong. She’s not a lightning wielder.” It had struck in both battles, and I’d conflated its presence with hers when it was simply a byproduct of her true signet. She hadn’t controlled the lightning during their assault on Suniva.
She’d controlled the very thing causing it.
“Of course I’m not.” Theophanie flicks a finger, and the clouds above us begin to rotate. “There is only one exception to the rule, Violet Sorrengail. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be you. If it was going to be one of her daughters, I’d have bet on your sister.”
“Amari help us.” Bodhi’s hand slowly lowers, and his gaze jumps skyward. “She isn’t the dark wielder version of you.”
“No.” I shake my head as the next gust of wind nearly pitches me forward. I’ve prepared for the wrong fight. I know the feel of lightning charging, recognize the crackle in the air just before it strikes. I understand the limits, the boundaries of wielding it. Each strike requires its own burst of energy, and once it’s over, it’s done. But what Theophanie’s doing will take on a life of its own and carry forward long after she’s given it her power.
This is so much worse than battling myself.
“She’s their answer to my mother.” Saying it out loud snaps the shock from my system, and my mind begins to race. Only Aimsir’s exhaustion or a physical illness weakened Mom. Not even the strongest wind wielder could diminish Mom’s storms.
“She was the answer to me,” Theophanie hisses, and the clouds start to swirl.
The tornado. My chest clenches. My mother had never accomplished that particular feat. No wonder I hadn’t recognized Theophanie for what she is—I’d never met a more powerful storm wielder than Mom. Until now.
“You have to get out of here.” I shove at Bodhi’s arm. “Go before Cuir can’t launch in the wind!”
“My signet is always the balance,” Bodhi argues, lifting his hand as the wind rises to a constant roar at our backs. “I can stop her!”
“You can’t!” I push again, and this time he stumbles sideways. “Your signet must only work on our magic, not theirs. Now go! You promised Xaden!”
“Come with me!” he shouts.
Somehow, Theophanie knows you’ll try to save everyone… Brennan’s words fill my head.
“I can’t.” If I go, she’ll follow, and we’ll lose. If I stay, I can be the distraction the others need.
“Then I’ll fight beside—” Bodhi starts, but Cuir wraps two talons around his midsection and launches before he can finish. His green wings beat in giant sweeps as he carries a loudly protesting Bodhi from the field, heading south. No doubt he’ll clear the wind before ascending the cliffs.
Tyrrendor’s succession is safe, but there’s no time to feel even an ounce of relief.
A howling gust of wind forces me forward, and I fall to my hands and knees in the grass, narrowly missing the conduit that dangles from my wrist. Something groans behind me, and I look over my shoulder just in time to watch a tree taller than Tairn lean in my direction from the edge of the field, pausing at an obscene angle before it’s completely uprooted.
Oh shit. I push to my feet and throw my body weight to the left, racing to get clear. The wind takes me down again in less than ten steps, and my stomach lurches as the tree plummets toward me. My feet slip over a group of loose rocks, but my boots hold my ankles in place as I scramble for another few feet of distance.
The tree crashes, hitting the ground with the force of a dragon. Heart pounding, I stare at the branch lying less than an arm’s reach away.