Windburn(75)

Spirit. Goddess, every time I used it, another piece of my soul was eaten away. “Peta, I do not want to end up like Cassava.”

“You won’t. I have . . . someone I think can help you. But we must get through this first.” I shot a look to her. My time in the oubliette had given me the opportunity to mull over all that had happened since I’d taken up my Enders leathers.

“You mean Talan, don’t you?”

She bobbed her head. “Yes. I didn’t know he was alive. If he truly lives, Lark, he can help you. But I can guide you in this in a small way. Touch their hands, use Spirit to discern their hearts.”

My fears allayed, at least a little, I stepped up to the first woman. Her blue eyes were the color of a summer sky, brilliant in their purity. “I need to touch your hand.”

She held her hand out, palm down. I laid my hand on top of hers. Carefully, calling Spirit with as much softness as I could, I threaded it through her as Peta had said. Colors and images flickered through me. “Kindness, that is your strength. But that is not what is needed now for your people.”

I stepped back and Aria nodded. “I concur. Go on.”

The next supplicant held her hand out, trembling. I barely touched her and she flinched. “Too much fear, it will stop you from being bold in the decisions you must make.”

Again Aria backed my words.

The third supplicant thrust her hand out, fisted. I laid my palm on her, my stomach rolling with the sensation bouncing between us. “Violence and war is your desire. You wish to join with those who see as you do. That the humans should be subjected to our rule.”

Around us the Sylphs gasped. It was only then I truly looked at her. The shape of her face, the curve of her lips. She could only be another of the queen’s children. She snatched her hand away. “You know nothing.”

Aria let out a sigh. “Child of mine, you are not to be queen. Do not fight me on this.”

She stormed away, leaving no one else.

I stepped backward, but Spirit pulled me to the side, as if it were a creature I’d leashed and it tugged me in its wake. I followed, curious. I wove between the Sylphs, stopping in front of a group of Enders. They stared at me their eyes hard. Dangerous.

Holding one hand up, I walked in front of them, stopping at the end.

“Samara.” My skin itched as though tiny bugs crept along it. “Hold out your hand.”

Unlike the others, she held her hand out palm up, the blue stone in it. I took the stone and then placed my hand over hers. A crackle of electricity snapped between our hands, but she did not pull back and neither did I.

“Strength, honor, belief in her people . . . trust in her queen’s choices. Love for her home. A razor-sharp intellect.”

Lark, I do not wish her to be queen. She is not the one I choose. Well, that made things simpler. I could see Samara and all she held in her heart. She was the right choice.

I grinned at Samara. “The mother goddess has chosen you to be the Sylphs’ next queen.” I bowed from the waist to her and the Enders to either side of her clapped her on the back. Her eyes were locked on mine. She stepped up to me, close enough that our bodies brushed. “Those you wiped out?”

“Yes.”

“The queen is right. Most were the ones we knew sought to destroy her. But not all.” She drove a finger into my chest so hard it could have been a dull dagger tip.

I glared at her. “You’re welcome.”

From behind us, a cry broke the air. We spun in tandem.

Queen Aria lay on the ground, her hand clutching the smoky diamond. Her remaining daughter stood over her with a long, narrow staff identical to the Ender weapons. “I will be queen here, not some lowly, dwarf Ender.”

Samara stepped around me. “I may be lowly, but I can still kick your ass, Stasha.”

For once, I would get to be a spectator and not a participant of a battle.

Yeah, that was what I thought.

Not exactly what happened, though.





CHAPTER 24





amara rushed Stasha. The queen’s daughter swung the long crystal staff, catching Samara low on her legs and sweeping them from under her. Not that she was down for long. Springing onto her feet, she launched herself at Stasha and tackled her.

I made my way to the queen’s side, going to my knees on the hardened rock. The sound of the battle echoed in the newly made valley, but I kept my eyes locked on Aria. Her chest rose and fell, slowly, but still she breathed. “I can heal you.”

“Do not waste your energy on an old woman like me. I have seen too many of my loves cross the Veil. I wish to be with them.” Her hand fumbled for mine and I took it.

“Samara said not all of those who died were against you.”