Academy for Courting Curses - Tara West Page 0,18
felt foreign in her grip, and though she’d felt a tickle of magic earlier, she felt nothing now.
“You’d better learn fast,” Rhia snapped. “The amethyst scepter is the only wand powerful enough to defeat the kraken.”
Serah closed her eyes, trying to sense the magic within. “I don’t know how to use it.” She tried to hand it to Rhia. “Take it!”
“It won’t work for me now.” Rhia pushed it back. “You are its new master.”
“Tell me what to do!” she pleaded, fear pumping through her veins like rushing currents of a flooded river.
“The scepter listens to your thoughts,” she said. “Tell her to destroy the kraken!”
She looked to Teju. “Is it really that easy?”
He placed a hand on her shoulder. “We’ve got your back,” he said with a smile. Her mates encircled her. “Use us for strength.”
The Fae queen snorted. “We’re all doomed.”
Fuck that bitch, Thelix growled.
Thelix, I don’t ask for much, but please shut up, Serah warned. The last thing she needed was her siren distracting her when she was trying to focus.
Ignoring Thelix’s gasp of indignation, she closed her eyes again, and concentrated on the scepter once more. She pleaded with the wand to defeat the monster, but again felt nothing. She looked to Teju. “It’s not doing anything.”
He squeezed her shoulder harder. “Try again.”
“I’m trying!” she cried, her breath catching in her throat. The monster slithered onto the beach, snatching an injured Pegasus in his crushing grip. He left behind a trail of what appeared to be sizzling black venom, creating sinking holes in the white sand. Great, so the beast leeched poison, too, and he was turning the shore into a toxic wasteland.
“We’re running out of time!” Rhia snapped.
“We must destroy it with fire.” Tormung puffed up his chest and flew into the sky.
Rhia and Serah’s uncles climbed onto their winged horses and took off after Tormung.
She hung her head, shame washing over her. “I’m sorry,” she said to her mates. Her heart sank at the disappointment in Teju’s eyes.
He cupped her chin, flashing a sad smile. “It’s not your fault. You just inherited the scepter.”
Why had the foolish scepter chosen now to become hers? Couldn’t it have waited until after Rhia destroyed the beast? Her mates’ dragon family said goodbye to them before following Tormung. They left the injured Dagon and Violet behind.
Draque turned to her. “You stay here with the others.”
She waved the scepter in his face. “No damn way am I staying behind. I might not know how to use this thing, but I still have my siren voice.”
“Take her,” he said to Ladon. “But don’t get too close to the beast.”
Ladon shifted, and she climbed on his back again, sucking in a sharp breath when he launched. The kraken had captured another witch and devoured her in one swallow. She resented the scepter for choosing her and loathed herself for her failure to control it. She had to figure it out before more people were killed.
* * *
Draque dove past the monster, blowing a stream of fire, his brothers following him. He’d been so focused on avoiding the beast’s tentacles that his fire had missed the mark. Ladon and Teju missed, too. How could they get close enough when they had to worry about Serah getting hurt? His older brother Bastian managed to burn the tips of the beast’s tentacles.
Tormung and his three generals flew above them like buzzards circling their kill.
“Let the real dragons show you how it’s done,” Tormung boasted and dove toward the monster like a missile.
Draque held his breath while Tormung attacked the beast, his generals following suit. Just when they pulled up, the monster hurled black venom at two of the dragons, burning holes through their wings. They stopped midair as their wings disintegrated, charred scales floating in the breeze like burned parchment, before tumbling head over tail into the beast’s clutches. He easily ripped them apart, devouring them within seconds and muting their anguished cries.
Tormung’s expression turned from disbelief to despair. Panting like a wounded animal, his wings pumped the air as the creature let out a deep, menacing laugh.
The Fae, watching from the cloud above, let out horrified screams. They launched in winged chariots, flying a wide circle around the kraken. They flew past their former queen, abandoning Rhia and Serah’s uncles on the cliff before disappearing beyond the mountains. The surviving witches on shore jumped on their brooms and followed, which meant it was left to the dragons to vanquish the beast.
The dragon generals’