I was right when I smelled the wolfsbane in her blood and identified the blood curse, but I didn’t know what it was until now. She was my mother and was cursed with the death seeker gift, so, like me, she took small amounts of wolfsbane to keep from traveling during our dreams.
Xander growled, but his stepmother stepped up in challenge.
“No more, Allemar,” Anya yelled. “You’ve had your claws dug into Florin for years. Now it’s time to feel mine.” Her hands sparked with power, but she was untrained. Anya sent a bolt of power directly at Allemar, but he deflected it easily, like swatting away a gnat.
“How pitiful.” He chuckled, then waved his hand, tossing her into the golden thrones. I heard a sickening crack, and she cried out and fell across the red cushions her body still. A wail of grief came from King Gerald, who rushed to her side and cradled his beloved queen. Her face wasn’t shining, and a trickle of blood came from her mouth. She looked to be sleeping, but I feared the worst.
“So long, Queen Hyacinth!” Allemar taunted as Aspen walked past.
“Wait, Mother’s here?” Aspen yelled. “She’s alive?”
Allemar’s cackled and pointed to her still form. “Not for long.” He beckoned with his finger, and a lone man came from behind the curtain. His hair was gone on one side of his head, and his body had been burned, but there was no mistaking his stride and confident smirk.
It was Gaven, the burned remains of the enchanted brackenbeast skin draped over one shoulder.
“Kill them,” Allemar commanded Gaven, who took a wary glance at Xander and the queen, “and I will give you an even greater predator fur to hunt with.”
“With pleasure,” he said firmly.
Gaven’s body contorted as he moved forward, pulling his cloak over his head as he shifted. With the crack of his bones breaking and reshifting, and his teeth popping out of his gums, he howled in pain. His fur only grew in patches along his skin, and only one horn sprouted from his malformed head. Saliva dripped from the deformed brackenbeast’s lips as it stepped down the stairs to the marble floor.
He turned and roared at Xander. The beast’s thick lips pulled back, revealing yellow teeth over black gums. He snarled and took a step toward King Gerald, raking his claws along the wall, leaving deep furrows.
“Father, go!” Xander screamed, his body stretching, the armor plates falling from his broad shoulders. I couldn’t look away as my amber-eyed prince turned into a copper- and gray-furred werewolf. His coat rippled as he lunged, but when the brackenbeast swung, Xander torqued his body midair, dodging the claws and latching his strong jaws onto the beast’s wrist. I heard the bones snap, and Gaven howled in fury. His left hand gouged, clawed, and ripped at Xander’s wolf’s head as he tried to dislodge the jaw.
King Gerald joined the fight then, his mighty arms lifting his sword over his head, yelling as he brought it down straight toward the beast’s. Red-rimmed eyes turned and the brackenbeast grabbed the sword with his claw midair, the blade not even piercing his skin.
“What the—” King Gerald cried out, but he was flung backward as the beast swung Xander’s wolf into him, trying to dislodge the steel trap of teeth that still gripped his arm.
Xander held on for dear life; if he let go, it was over. His back paws came up and dug at the brackenbeast’s stomach, leaving bloody scratches all along his torso.
I smelled the magic before I saw it, and so did Eden. We turned and searched the room, finding Aspen standing over the still form of his mother, his hands weaving a spell in the air. Eden and I shared the same horrified look. He was trying to summon a magical beast, one only the strongest of magic users could, and I knew he didn’t have the talent nor strength.
“No, Aspen,” I warned, but it was too late. He hadn’t time for a full conjure, and a vortex opened up in the sky above Gaven and Xander. Lightning spilled out of the hole, singeing the floor and columns and catching the curtains on fire.
“Do something, Rosalie.” Eden pushed me forward. “You’re the only one strong enough.”
With the brackenbeast distracted and Aspen having opened a portal in an attempt to pull something through, I knew I needed to end this, but I couldn’t. I felt the death vision pull, and I couldn’t fight it.
“R-Rosalie.” My mother