Elemental Flame (21 page)

I
t took all
the self-control I have not to run to Crwys. But once I knew he was there, hanging so high above the floor, it was damn near impossible for part of me not to reach out to him.

The hooded man continued addressing the crowd. Brendi saw me first and I waited for her reaction. For some recognition. The only emotion I saw on her face was annoyance.

The wolves all came to attention and greeted us with low growls. Bastien returned the greeting with a single bark. Ever wolf on that dais immediately sat and bowed their head.

Whoa.

The hooded man stopped his diatribe at the sound of the bark and looked at me. Well, he
faced
me. I couldn't see his eyes in the shadow of his cowl. "Who are you to disrupt this ritual?"

Think fast, think fast… "I have been in possession of something powerful, something I believe will serve the Queen better than the Drachen. I wish to offer it to the Queen," I kept my eyes on the hooded guy. "In exchange for the release of the Drachen."

The silence deafened me. I glanced around and saw every eye on Brendi. The hooded man's attention focused on the book. I held it up and the thing
glowed
. Was that something Ivan worked into the code or was it reacting to something?

"Where did you get that?" The hooded man asked in a low voice and no longer projected to the entire room. He intended me to hear the question. No one else.

Brendi's curiosity trumped the hood's question. "Approach," she said and beckoned us forward. I turned to Ivan and gave him a shake of my head and sent a word to Bastien through the link.

Bastien sounded a little too…upbeat about that.

I actually heard him laughing.
<
Oui
. Jealous
, chérie
?
>

I wasn't even gonna dignify that with an answer. I sent out a
feel
to get an idea of where everyone was in the throne room. The only position that alarmed me was Cordelia's. She'd moved to the back of the room, closer to Crwys and wasn't moving. Was she trying to use her influence on the crowd from there?

…the Drachen does not answer me. But I feel…something. I sense it.>

I knew what he meant, what he was tapping into. I had felt it for some time. The coming of something…terrible.

"What is it you have that would be so valuable that you believe I would give up my prize?" Her eyes flicked to a spot over my head. I wanted to look at Crwys. But I couldn't. I had to hold myself together and not strangle the bitch.

I held the book in front of me and stood less than two feet from her, so I knew she saw the book and I knew she sensed the dense concentration of Arcane within it. Once free of the bag, the sheer power of it, even though it was a copy, permeated the room. There was not a denizen of the gathering that couldn't sense its power. Their collective gasp was proof enough.

Brendi's eyes widened as she stared at the book in my hand. "How did you get that book?"

"It was given to my family a long time ago. I searched my heart as was requested. And I feel your greatness, your reign, your success would be better served with the power within this book than that of a would-be Destroyer." I had no idea what I was talking about but I thought it sounded impressive.

I tracked Cordelia moving with my
feel
. She climbed a column in the back of the room, her presence rising above everything else. Maybe she was getting a better angle? I was waiting on shouting and fighting as a diversion so I wouldn't have to actually pretend to give the book to her. Yeah it was a copy—but I didn't know if it contained the same Arcane spells as the original, and I really didn't want to be the Witch known for releasing the holocaust by giving a crazy Faerie queen the nuke button.

Brendi grabbed the end of the book closest to her. "Give it to me."

I kept a death grip on my end. "Release the Destroyer. He's helpless, powerless. Surely you're not afraid of him in this condition?"

Her eyes narrowed as she moved that gaze from the book to my face. "What is your name?"

I knew the giving of names in Faerie meant the relinquishing of power. I knew her name was Brendi, but that had been her human name. I didn't know if she'd taken a Faerie name.

"Inconsequential. Do you not want great power?" I asked, my voice rising above the murmuring crowd. "You have conquered the Summer court. You wish to march against the secondary courts by binding the Drachen to your will. Why put your people at risk if the monster escapes? Why hold him in this world when something so dangerous, so wild cannot be controlled. With this book, you would be invincible."

My point in that small speech was to play on the crowd's fears as well as their pride in their queen. Cordelia distracted me though, so I missed Brendi's reaction. Cordelia moved again. Not up, but sideways. I stopped myself from looking back, almost afraid of seeing Crwys.

To my surprise, the hooded man said, "It is a good exchange, my Queen. This book's power could be of more benefit than housing the Dragon. If you remove the Destroyer—"

But that was as far as he got. Brendi lashed out at him. I never saw the knife once she released the book. But there was no denying it was there, sticking out of the hooded man's chest. He grabbed the hilt before he dropped to the ground.

The crowd protested with angry shouts and many of them got to their feet.

"Silence!" Brendi's voice reverberated off the walls. She'd tinged it with magic and the people became quiet. She refocused on me. "Who are you? Why are you so interested in the Destroyer?"

"I am only interested in protecting my people, my Queen. So should you. The Drachen is dangerous. It should not be here."

-Careful…-

Brendi's face flushed bright red. When she threw the knife, she'd taken a few steps away. Now when she approached, Bastien and the other wolves leapt into place, making a barrier between she and I.

She looked at me, looked at the large red wolf and then laughed. It was a small laugh, but it creeped me out. Brendi parted her lips and I saw her sharp, razor-like teeth. "Meticulous planning, months of research, hundreds of promises and the draining of my coffers and still, here you are before me, Samantha Hawthorne."

At the mention of my name, the glamour dropped and I stood before her in my jeans, boots and shirt. I still held the Hammer in my hand and felt Ivan step up beside me. "Let Crwys go."

She laughed again. "You still call him by that ridiculous human name? You know what he is."

"Yes. I do."

"You have no idea. He's a mass murderer."

I lowered my hands and kept the book tucked under my arm. "And what have you become, Brendi Ross?"

A gasp filtered through the throne room as I spoke Brendi's full name. Apparently, she hadn't divulged that tidbit.

"That's a human name!" yelled a lone voice.

But that voice didn't stay alone. Within seconds the masses protested within the hall. They weren't screaming for war anymore. No, they were screaming for an explanation.

"The Queen is human?"

"She sullies the Faerie lines!"

"Humans have no place in the court!"

"Call the Wild Hunt!"

Brendi came at me with both hands out and she would have tackled me if Bastien hadn't intercepted with the help of his new harem. He stood on his back feet, shifting from full wolf to his war form of half man, half wolf.

A few screams for Brendi's blood turned into screams of surprise at the Lycan's display. Brendi avoided the swipe of Bastien's claws by stumbling back in time and throwing up a small barrier between her and us. I glanced back at the confused crowds, half expecting the soldiers loyal to Brendi to attack us.

When none materialized, I figured they were just as shocked to learn Brendi's lineage as well.

"Look what you've done!" Brendi pointed at me. "I brought order to this kingdom. Me! I destroyed a mad queen and they loved me. I drank the blood of the Queen to become this!" Her appearance shifted just enough to show me she was definitely not human, even if she wasn't Faerie enough to be Queen.

I advanced on her but made sure I was next to Bastien. "And you kidnapped a man who did nothing to you. You've kept him in pain, used his name and his past for personal gain and if I am to believe the stories I'm hearing of you conquering most of
Alfheim
, then how many innocent lives have you burned, Brendi? Come on. Tell me!" my voice echoed in the hall and the crowd's protesting died down. "The way I see it, you're no better than a tyrant. You'll never be a true Faerie, Brendi. You'll never be anything more than what you are!"

Brendi's gaze glanced at her audience behind me. She finally refocused on me and dropped her voice. "And what about you? A Witch who uses a forbidden magic, Samantha? You killed that pour Ghouled Witch to gain this power, you obliterated your father's home as well as his body, your stepmother's and the nurse. And what about Fred? You're just lucky the voice in your head can destroy the evidence so you can continue destroying everything and everyone that gets in your way!" she pointed at Bastien. "What happens when he interferes with what you want? Or your precious little Ivan? How will you explain away their deaths?"

My body shook as I stared at her. My response died on my lips as she tore away the coverings to expose my sins to Bastien and to Ivan. "How did you—"

"Know these things?" Brendi laughed. "Because the demon inside your aunt told me your secrets, Sam. The idea to bring the Dragon here, to leave you helpless without him, was not my original plan. I still wanted
you
, Samantha. Not some boorish cop."

I blinked. "The demon in my aunt?" That was Dionysus!

"Your expression is priceless. Your being here isn't by chance, Sam. We knew you'd never voluntarily come back to
Alfheim
, so it was my job to bring you here. We attacked those closest to you—but it always seemed you won out. Even through a warlocking meant to weaken you, you were always protected."

"No one protected me."

She looked up over my head. "He's always protected you. Him and that damn Witch Vervain."

"You're working
with
Dionysus."

"Until you made me kill him."

What? I turned away from her and searched the floor for the hooded man.

He wasn't there. I pointed to where he had been. "That was Dionysus?" He'd been right in front of me and I still didn't know what he looked like! I called my Elementals and they came in record time. All of them faced Brendi, and I felt the tingle and surge of Arcane.

She laughed at me. "You can't hurt me. Even the Dragon can't hurt me." She conjured a fireball and threw it at us. Even though my Elementals were there we weren't ready for her strong and sudden magic. The fire enveloped us and I built a sphere of protection with Spirit.

Bastien sounded surprised.

I lowered my hands and looked at them. I'd seen the fire, felt its heat and knew it was real. But we weren't even singed.

Ivan leaned in. "Is she shooting blanks?"

Brendi's eyes widened as she stepped back and pointed at us. "You drank it! You stole it!"

"Drank what?" I heard Ivan ask. "You mean that stuff in the green room? It was water!"

"No!" Brendi looked really terrified now. "It was blood. Blood of the Drachen!"

I wanted to throw up. I turned and got a better look at Crwys. The arrow. I saw the constant trickle of blood from the wound in his heart down his chest, and over chain links as it fell into a hole in the ground. A hole that led to a basin deep under the palace. A basin that collected the blood of a Dragon.

Something moved over Crwys's chest, a slight shimmer of light, and I realized Cordelia was hanging onto his shoulders. She was right there with him in a place I couldn't get to.

"Cordelia!" I shouted. I wanted to tell her to free him, cut the chains, to somehow get him down.

"Samantha! He's hurting because of
this
." Cordelia became visible and had her hand on the arrow.

"NO!" Brendi shouted as she ran forward.

Cordelia, visible now, her big eyes excited, grabbed the arrow and, after a few yanks, pulled it from Crwys's heart.

Everything broke up at once. The crowd screamed as they realized what just happened and tried to climb down from their seats. The guards took off running toward the pit where Crwys was suspended, all of them barking orders.

The building pressure I'd sensed erupted in that instant as Crwys's head came up. He opened his mouth in a yell that shook the hall's foundation. I put my hands to my ears as Ivan grabbed me and pulled me to the side as a chunk of obsidian fell where we'd been standing.

I landed hard on my side with Ivan on top of me. When he scrambled off, I looked back to get a glimpse of Crwys but all I could see was a ball of light. It was like peering directly into the sun as it expanded to fill the room. The scream continued until it deepened and became a deafening growl.

"Oh holy Goddess of the five Elements!" Ivan said nearby. "Sam! We gotta move!"

I'd put my hand up to shield my eyes from the light, but the light was gone. In its place was something I'd never believed I'd ever see in my lifetime, except maybe in the comfort of a movie theatre.

A Dragon.

A real live, fire-breathing
Dragon
. It stood on its back legs and spread out its arms, stretching thin membranes between long, boney knuckles. It lifted its head back and roared.

Crwys's true form.

"FOOLS!" came a voice over the screaming, running Faeries. "YOU WOULD SEEK TO CONTROL THE SON OF GAIA?"

Ivan was up and dragging me to my feet. I was too preoccupied with watching the Dragon. Watching Crwys. He bellowed fire as he spoke and focused on an entire stand of Faeries. Yellow, red, amber fire belched forth and covered the stands. When the smoke cleared, nothing moved.

Dear Goddess…