“Marvelous?” I asked as I looked out over the two armies, thousands of warriors clustered together, armed to the teeth. I heard dragons shrieking in the sky as they flew over my army and the shouted demands coming from the soldiers atop Bavasama’s walls. In the air was the stench of burning oil, and I could feel my arms prickle as magic, coming from both sides, rippled across the night air.
“All these warriors ready to throw their lives away for a queen that’s already as good as dead,” Bavasama said. “All the blood that will be spilled in vain.”
“You really are crazy, aren’t you?” I asked. “Not just power hungry. Absolutely crushed-crackers insane.”
“That’s what my mother thought,” she said, her voice high and excited. “The problem was I just couldn’t make her understand my vision. The beauty of a thousand worlds all wreathed in flame, begging for my mercy. Every world, every reality, bending their heads and swearing allegiance to me as the Golden Rose.”
“Yep,” Jesse said. “Completely mental.”
“Shut up, you,” she snarled. “Or I’ll have you thrown off the roof.”
“Allie,” Jesse said, ignoring her, as he grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “I’m sorry.”
I turned to him, wide-eyed. “Why?”
“You’re going to need someone else to write your stories for you.” He launched himself at the guard who had his arm then, dragging the other man closer to the edge of the roof.
Jesse broke free of the guard’s grip, and one of the dragons screeched, both of them flying faster now, the steady thump thump of their wings speeding up. The guard swung at him with an enraged scream, and Jesse ducked low, dropping his shoulder and tackling the heavier man. The guard stepped back, and the two of them seemed to hang in space for a moment before they both toppled out of sight.
Jesse had given me a moment of surprise and the chance to keep myself alive. Now I just had to be brave enough to use it to my advantage. It was time to be the sort of queen my mother would have been proud of.
I stomped down as hard as I could on the inside of the foot of my captor and then jammed my elbow into his side. The guard bent forward with a grunt, and I snatched the back of his shirt before I shifted, digging my hip into his side and throwing him toward the edge with all my strength. He stumbled once and then tripped over his own feet, tottering for just a second before he went over the side with a scream.
I turned and grabbed my aunt by the hair, pulling as hard as I could, and dragged her to the edge before stomping down hard on her legs, too, forcing her to her knees, my hands still tangled in her hair. She yelped as I jerked her head up so I could look her in the eye.
The beating of a hundred pair of wings swept through, though, and I looked away, watching as the sky filled with dragons flying toward us in a V formation. I saw the black dragon at the front, and my heart skipped a beat.
“Remember what I told you about ticking off my boyfriend?” I pulled at my aunt’s hair harder, jerking her chin back so that she was staring at the dragons flying toward us. “You should have listened. Because the dragon at the front? That’s him, and I’m pretty sure he wants to barbecue you.”
I watched as Winston roared, diving toward the army on my aunt’s walls, flames pouring from his mouth. For a moment no one moved. It was like the entire world was frozen, waiting, and the next instant my army was surging forward, battering at the gates, screaming as they went, the entire world drowned out by a single, shrieking wail.
“Defend that gate,” one of the men below us yelled. But I could hear my army roaring outside as the wood began to splinter and the gate buckled under their assault. They surged through the gate, and roars of approval and anger sounded as the men crowded across the bridge and into the castle. Winston pulled up, and the dragons circled higher again as I stepped closer to the edge to watch, still keeping my aunt immobile.
He turned toward me and flew higher, moving up into the darkest reaches of the evening sky until he was nothing more than a faint shadow above us, blending in perfectly with the night.
“Archers to the walls,” someone shouted. But before any of Bavasama’s men could scramble into position, arrows rained over the side of the walls like a swarm of angry bees. Men screamed, and dragons roared as another volley was launched toward us.
I pulled my aunt’s head back farther and glared down at her. “Your palace is going to fall, and when it does, I am going to kill you.”
“It hasn’t fallen yet.” She lashed out at me with one arm, her hand curled into a claw.
“Give it time. Your army is just too stupid to realize the fight is over.” I slammed her head forward, bashing it against the stone ledge that surrounded her walls.
Bavasama let out a grunt of pain, and I watched as blood poured from a cut above her eye. She brought her elbow back and rammed it into my stomach, knocking the air out of me, and I doubled over, letting her go.
“This will never be over,” she screamed as she hurled herself forward, tackling me and knocking us both back. “Not until you’re dead and I’m sitting on the Rose Throne.”
“That is ne—” An arrow whistled through the air and came down hard, burying its point into the roof next to my head. Bavasama and I both looked over, staring at the shaking arrow with its ragged, scarlet feathers on the shaft.
I tried to buck my aunt off me, jerking my hips upward and jackknifing my shoulders up at the same time. She groaned as I made contact with her ribs, and I used my momentum to flip us over, slamming her head back against the stones.
She let out a grunt of pain as I tightened my grip on the front of her dress and lifted her toward me, ready to slam her back down again. When I had her sitting almost upright, my aunt shifted, one of her arms swinging wide and a sharp pain lanced through my side followed by a white-hot, burning heat.
I let go of her, still kneeling at her ribs, and looked down at the jeweled hilt of the knife sticking out of my side. “Dumb move, Auntie Bav,” I snapped. I gave a low hiss as I wrapped my fingers around the knife’s hilt and wrenched it free. “Now I don’t have any reason to show you mercy. Even if I wanted to.”
I held my aunt at knifepoint with her own weapon, trying not to cry as the pain radiated through my body. I couldn’t die, but apparently, that didn’t mean getting stabbed would hurt any less.
“You’ll never be able to rule this world,” Bavasama said through gritted teeth. “Never be able to control the wizards. The ogres and the trolls will come out of the mountains, and they’ll hunt your people. You’ll never be safe again. Never know peace.”
“Once I’ve gotten rid of you, they’ll fall into line,” I said as I pressed the knife harder against her neck.
“They won’t. None of them. The wizards aren’t going to let you just take over Bathune. If you let me go, let my army surrender, and keep me on my throne, I’ll help you defeat them.”
“Shut up.”
“I will,” Bavasama pleaded. “I’ll abide by the terms of our peace treaty. I’ll help protect your borders, and I’ll keep the wizards in check. I know how. I can teach you to rule this world like it’s supposed to be ruled. Show you how to be a strong queen.”
“There’s nothing in this world, or any other, that I could ever learn from you,” I snapped.
“You can’t kill me,” she said, her eyes wide. “You can’t, Allie. I’m your aunt. A member of the royal family. You can’t just murder me.”
“Watch me,” I ground out. “You’ve killed so many people. So many people have died because of your actions, your twisted desires. Darinda. Timbago. The people who lived in the forest of Ananth. The Firas.”