The Glass Queen (The Forest of Good and Evil #2) - Gena Showalter Page 0,130
sensed their mother’s turmoil, as well?
I took the lead. Behind me, the dragons screeched with fear and fury. People would see them, but I was past the point of caring. Get to Ashleigh. Nothing else mattered. If I lost her...
Can’t lose her.
I couldn’t give her up in two weeks. Less than two weeks. I wouldn’t. I’d meant what I’d told Dior. I would win this tournament, and I would choose Ashleigh.
We would figure everything else out.
I zoomed past the campgrounds, leading the dragons down the mountains at a steep incline. So close. Searching...searching... Two women crouched over a third.
What am I seeing? That couldn’t be...it wasn’t... Realization sank in, and there was no denying it. An animalistic sound left from me.
Pagan released a piercing roar; Pyre screeched so loud, sharp pains lanced my brain, and blood leaked from my ears.
We descended in unison. My mother and sister stood beside Ashleigh’s broken body. I flapped my wings harder, faster, swooping in.
My beautiful Asha lay partially on her side, her eyes swelled shut, her twisted body motionless. A metal shackle bound her wrists behind her back, and crimson soaked her clothes. Several bones with jagged breaks protruded from her skin.
Mumbling denials, I knocked my mother and sister aside to crouch at Ashleigh’s side. Shock. Horror. Too late? Was she...had she...
Tears stung my eyes. She couldn’t be dead. I needed her here. I needed her alive.
“What did you do to her?” I bellowed with all the rage and pain inside me.
Wailing, the dragons circled us overhead, perhaps unsure if my mother and Tempest had hurt Ashleigh or tried to come to her rescue. Both females peered up at the creatures agog, my presence forgotten.
“But, but...” my mother sputtered.
“How can this be? Dragons are extinct,” Tempest gasped out. “The avian dug up their eggs for centuries to ensure they would never again terrorize our world.”
“Enemy,” I said, pushing the word through gritted teeth.
The dragons opened their mouths to blow streams of fire, creating a circle around Ashleigh and me. My family scrambled backward.
Tempest’s shoulder got singed. Raven lost a hank of hair.
Pagan and Pyre landed, each taking a post at Ashleigh’s side.
With a trembling hand, I reached out to check for a pulse. A ragged moan left her, blood gurgling from her mouth. Then she blinked open one swollen, bloodshot emerald eye and moaned.
My rage flared anew. “Leonora,” I snarled. “You hear me, I know you do. Use your magic to help her heal or...” There was no threat great enough. “I will... I will do what you’ve always desired.”
What would I do to be with Ashleigh? Anything.
“Let her die,” my mother commanded from beyond the flames. “Do not make the mistakes of your past.”
Blue flooded Ashleigh’s eye, some of the swelling in her face already beginning to fade. Leonora was taking over, healing Ashleigh’s body with her power, the battery of her magic. Because with my promise, she’d won our war, and I’d lost it.
I didn’t care. Relief nearly bent me over. As gently as possible, I gathered Ashleigh close. In my past lives, I’d told Leonora I craved peace she could never give. She’d sought what she’d thought was my love ever since. Here, now, I knew she’d sought my surrender. Now she had it. But I also had my peace.
Peace wasn’t a cessation of turmoil, as I’d once believed. It was utter calm despite it.
Ashleigh was my peace. She was everything I’d never known I’d needed. The reason I’d been reborn.
Once Leonora had healed her enough for flight, I would do as I’d told the phantom. Then I would take Ashleigh to Roth and Everly or Ophelia. I would pay any price to have the phantom contained.
I would keep my end of the bargain. I would wed the one Leonora possessed.
But I owed the phantom no more.
Was Ashleigh back in solitary confinement? Was she in torment, alone and afraid, now that Leonora was at the helm?
My claws lengthened, but I cooed, “I’m here, Asha. I’m here.” Could she hear me with Leonora in control? “I’m going to take care of you and make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”
“You are worse than a fool,” Raven hissed.
The circle of flames was dying, the smoke that curled from the ground growing thinner by the second. When she took a step forward, I clutched Ashleigh closer, every protective instinct I’d ever denied roaring to the surface, becoming a primal drive to kill anyone who threatened the treasure in my arms.