lunged. Her fingers scraped against Celestine’s chest, but Celestine grabbed her wrist and twisted, until Aurora turned, her back to the witch, arm contorted between them. Celestine’s nails dug into Aurora’s skin. She gripped Aurora’s hair, close to the scalp, and yanked her head backward.
“You think you can fight me?” Celestine hissed in her ear. “Do you think you can stop any of this without me?” She pulled Aurora’s neck farther back, and Aurora fought not to cry out in pain. “Shall I show you?” she said. “The final lesson? Do you want to see what your defiance has done? Yes,” she said. “Let us see.”
Her hand still tight on Aurora’s hair, Celestine dragged her down the stairs, out of the tower, out onto the dais again. Flames swirled around them, the heat so intense that Aurora flinched back. The square itself was scattered with scorched corpses, and a few living people too, injured and unable to run, huddled by the castle as though it would protect them, frozen by fear. The pyre burned, and fire leapt from roof to roof, chasing back toward the city wall.
“Look,” Celestine said. “Look at what you have done. You need me, Aurora. You need to join me.”
“Never,” Aurora said. She struggled against Celestine’s grip, but she could not break free. “I will never join you. Not even if you burn the whole world away.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Iris, struggling to hold Rodric back, as he watched them, sword in hand.
“And still you refuse to listen,” Celestine said. “You are burning the whole world away.”
Finnegan and Nettle plunged into the square, the soldiers limping behind them. They were ash-covered, scratched, but did not seem seriously hurt. Finnegan mouthed Aurora’s name, but she couldn’t hear him. She couldn’t hear anything except the rush of her own blood and the hiss of Celestine’s voice. Yet she saw his eyes, focused on something descending behind Celestine’s head, and she felt the heat in the air, that yearning and starving in her chest. “You are nothing without me. So look at this world. Look at the world you have created, and tell me you’re better than me. Tell me.”
Aurora struck with her free hand. Her nails scratched Celestine’s face, across her eyelids, down her cheeks, scraping, gouging. Celestine screeched, and Aurora jerked her elbow backward, catching the witch in the stomach and twisting away.
Aurora summoned flame, and her dragon screamed, engulfing Celestine in fire. The witch laughed and screamed, the sounds melting together as her hair crackled and crumbled away.
The dragon landed behind Aurora, its tail curled around her feet, the heat from its scales filling the air. And Celestine grinned at them, her skin blackened, blood dripping down her face where Aurora had attacked her, hair falling away. “I can cure a little dragon burn,” she said. Her voice scratched against her throat, like it too was turning to ash. “Can you?”
“Shall we try it again and see?”
Rodric stepped behind Aurora, sword held out in front of him. Then Finnegan was on the other side of her, swordless but defiant, while the dragon snapped its teeth.
Celestine tossed what remained of her hair, even as her skin crumbled away. Her grin was wider now, her lips shriveled, so Aurora could see all of her teeth. “I only wanted to help you, Aurora,” she said. “I only want a return to what is right. But I see you are not yet ready. You have not accepted who you are.” She glanced from one prince to the other, taking in the dragon, the melted castle, the flames. “You will destroy yourself, you know. Or they will. You’ll see. You’ll see how right I am.” She turned away, looking over the destruction of the square. “You want magic?” she shouted to the quivering crowd. “You want justice? You want what you deserve? Come and find me. Your new queen does not want the power that I offer, but she is a fool. If you want magic, come to me.” She twisted back to Aurora. “I am not your enemy,” she said. “I do not wish to hurt you. You shall see.” She swept into a curtsy. “Enjoy your new kingdom, Your Majesty. I’ll see you in the ashes.”
And then she was gone, leaving nothing but the smell of burning flesh and an army of screaming dragons.
THIRTY-TWO
ONE OF THE DRAGONS CLUNG TO THE CASTLE’S EAST tower, its claws gorging the stone. Another gripped the city walls,