“What is this place?” Armand demanded.
Linniue’s lips twitched. “Welcome to the temple of Shygon.”
Gandrett’s breath caught. “The god of—”
“Of dragons, my dear. That’s the one.” Linniue took another step closer and rested her palm on the ignited stone, face ecstatic. The guard stepped to her side, marveling at the altar. “I wanted my son to be here to do the honors,” she spoke as if only half-aware they were there.
Armand started gesturing again, pointing down at Addie, opening and closing his hand, and then swishing it aside.
It took Gandrett a moment or two to figure out what he wanted to tell her.
But she couldn’t just leave him there with the crazy one. She shook her head.
“Grab her,” Linniue ordered with a nod at Addie’s lifeless form.
Gandrett stepped to Armand’s side, blocking the path, Nehelon’s knife ready to take out an eye.
“Allow me, milady. I am not certain she is even breathing.” The guard’s statement was punished with a slap of Linniue’s slender hand in his face. He winced and engaged Armand in battle with one well-placed strike of his sword while he seemed to ignore Gandrett.
“Why are you doing this?” Gandrett tried the one thing that had always helped her. A moment to figure out the opponent’s weakness before the attack. Linniue didn’t let go of the altar but raised one hand toward Gandrett with a smile. “You’re sure asking many questions for one of Armand’s numerous conquests.”
For some reason, her words hurt more than a blow of a sword. She was just about to tell her how wrong she was about her nephew, how he was the true hero of Sives, the true unifier of a land plagued by war and terror, and that she’d better show him some respect—the true Lord of Eedwood—when Linniue’s eyes turned milky, and she opened her free hand toward Gandrett.
A streak of blue flame surged from Linniue’s palm, sending Gandrett stumbling to the side, and she landed next to where Addie was slowly turning blue on the frozen ground. Somewhere behind her, metal was battering down on metal.
Before she could spend a thought on what was happening, flames licked in their direction once more, and she threw herself over Addie. Flames hit Gandrett’s back in full force, their touch like little blades made of ice rather than the hot, singeing fire in the hearth she had left behind in her chambers. A groan of pain beneath her filled her chest with relief. Addie was still alive.
The pain in Gandrett’s back was nothing compared to what she had endured less than a day ago. She just needed to get to her feet, and she’d pin Linniue’s other hand to the altar, too.
“Dragon fire,” Linniue giggled, ecstatic, marveling at her hand. “I wish Joshua could see this.”
“I am most certain he’d love to see it,” Armand’s hands circled Gandrett’s arm, lifting her from Addie. “Before he hands you over to my father so justice can be executed.”
Gandrett scanned the room for the guard, half-expecting him to appear out of nowhere and stab Armand in the back, and spied him on the ground, throat slit and eyes rolled back in their sockets.
Her stomach lurched.
Linniue’s hysterical laughter filled the dome. “Lord Hamyn doesn’t get a say in this,” she said and let blue flames dance at her fingertips.
Gandrett needed to put an end to this before she hurt Armand.
“He only hears what I want him to hear; he only sees what I want him to see.” Linniue let her fingers slide over the blue lines in the stone as if she were tracing the symbols.
“He’s under your spell, too?” Armand spat the words, little shock in them but laced with true disgust. “Who else?” he asked, voice harsh like thorns as he inched toward his aunt, sword at the ready. “Is it only Joshua and my father who you enslaved through your spells? Or am I also your victim, just oblivious?”
Linniue jerked her chin at the dead guard. “All my guards are under my spell. Not my spell. Shygon’s spell. It’s the god of dragons who gives power. My power comes from him. So will Joshua’s. As for you,” she pointed her finger at Armand as if it were a dagger to pierce through his heart. “If it hadn’t been for your mother and that nurse-maid she hired for you, you would have been long gone.”
Armand had turned paler than he already was in the frosty air at the mention of his mother.
“Your mother knew everything about this place. Every dirty little secret. Every passage, every tunnel.” She stopped, her milky eyes faking pity as Armand wordlessly listened. “What? She only told you about the Dragon Water? How well it heals injuries? She wanted a good son. A proper son. And an impeccable successor. Someone who would lead Sives back to peace.”
Gandrett had heard about Armand’s mother’s wish to finish what she had started. A better Sives. A peaceful Sives. With the true heir to both lordships as king.
“If your mother hadn’t hired a Vala-blessed to protect you, you would bow to me the way they all are or will be very soon.”
Gandrett’s heart stopped. “Vala-blessed,” she repeated in a whisper. “Deelah is a Vala-blessed.”
How could she not have noticed? The kind, humorous woman who had tended to her from her first day at Eedwood was a Child of Vala. A Vala-blessed, with the mission to watch over the heir of Eedwood. To protect him from evil with her prayers to the goddess.
Armand blinked, wordless.
“So how did you find out about these caves, Armand? Did Deelah finally tell you?” Linniue ignored Gandrett’s realization.
Armand broke free from his momentary petrification. “How dare you manipulate my court? Your own son?” His voice was deadly. Icy, making the frost on the walls and ground appear like a spring breeze. “He would have taken the throne without your interference, aunt. And he would have been a good king of Sives.”
“King of Sives,” Linniue laughed, flames flickering between her fingers. “Who is speaking about a king of Sives? Joshua will be Emperor of Neredyn. Sives is just the beginning.”
Mad. She was mad.
“All I need is for you to hand me the girl“—She pointed at Addie—“so I can finish what I’ve started—before I finish the two of you.”
Armand hesitated a moment too long as another surge of blue flame erupted from Linniue’s hands. It hit him in the chest, throwing him back like a ram.
Gandrett darted to his side, her own spine protesting as she bent down to assess his state.
His eyelids fluttered a couple of times as he blinked away the force of the impact, features twisting as he cursed away the pain.
“We need to get her out of here,” Armand hissed, eyes on Addie, “before it’s too late.”
Gandrett followed his gaze to where Addie was slowly freezing on the ground. There were only two ways this could end: either they got her out before Linniue could get her hands on Addie to sacrifice her to the god of dragons, or they’d have to stop Linniue.
Just as if Linniue had heard her thoughts, she sent a wave of flames toward Gandrett, making her stumble back a step. But no matter the pain, she remained on her feet. She couldn’t—wouldn’t give up until Linniue was defeated, or the third outcome would have to happen, and that was something Gandrett didn’t even want to think—she would have to end Addie herself so whatever horrible sacrifice to Shygon would be prevented and even worse consequences be stopped.