Zodiac Academy Fated Throne - Caroline Peckham Page 0,305

air shield with a scream as Orion clutched me to his chest and started running. Dragon fire spilled through the air, tearing across the room and ringing around us in a blaze that melted the furniture. Orion didn’t slow as he ran at the flames, but the heat sweeping toward us told me he’d die if he tried to get through. I did the only thing I could think of to stop him, ripping his legs out from beneath him with a whip of air. He hit the ground and we tumbled toward the fire before I threw up a wall of air to stop us before we rolled into it.

Orion wrenched a pouch of stardust out of his pocket, tossing a pinch over us but it fell in a cascade of glitter around us without us going anywhere. “The wards aren’t completely down,” he cursed.

Debris tumbled down from above as a huge shadow blocked out the light of the moon and Lionel’s Dragon form dropped out of the sky, landing on the shattered roof and glaring down at us, his jaws wide and fire flickering in the back of his throat. Panic bled through me as I cast air beneath us the same time Orion did, grabbing onto each other as we propelled ourselves over the flames. Lionel snapped his jaws at us and I blasted out a line of Phoenix fire at him before we hit the ground, making him rear away.

Orion lifted me up again and started running once more, blasting a window apart ahead of us and diving out of it. A huge wall of shadow stood in the sweeping vineyard ahead, ringing the entire property and trapping us in.

“No,” I gasped.

Clara stood between the vines with a crazed smile on her lips and the awful Seer Vard stood just behind her.

“Now, my King!” he cried and Lionel released a huge blast of fire which crashed over our combined air shield.

I yelled in exertion as Orion and I threw more and more of our power into the dome surrounding us, the fire spilling everywhere until it was all I could see.

I acted fast, casting an illusion of the two of us standing in our place then blasted the ground apart as Orion helped to conceal the hole. He shot down into the tunnel I carved as I held onto his back just as the fire surrounding us fell away. The illusion wouldn’t last long, but it might give us just long enough to get beyond the wards and stardust out of here. Lionel must have broken through them somehow, despite the strength of them. And my gut told me Clara had had a hand in it, her power unimaginable. It made me sick to think Vard had seen us here. That we actually thought we’d been safe.

The tunnel was completely unstable, collapsing in behind us as I blasted through the earth, casting a Faelight to see by as we moved faster and faster. One falter by either or us and we were done for.

A tremendous roar above ground told me Lionel was coming for us and an awful thundering, ripping sounded through the earth over our heads.

“Faster!” I screamed, clinging to Orion with one arm while tunnelling deeper, further.

Light spilled over us as the earth was cleaved apart above and tendrils of shadow clawed through it, digging us out.

I felt the tingle of magic against my body, the ward surely just ahead. But something wound around my waist, dragging me backwards and wrenching me above ground.

I was flung into the vineyard and I rolled at speed, the air knocked out of me as I crashed through the vines, softening the earth with my power a second too late. I got to my feet with my head spinning, not hesitating as I spotted Lionel in his Fae form, a dark robe wrapped around him as he raised his hands and the force of a hurricane blasted at me. I threw my own air against his, digging my heels in to stop him forcing me back, desperate to turn and look for Orion. But I couldn’t take my eyes off of this monster.

Vard strode up behind him, glee twisting his features as he watched and whispered in Lionel’s ear, giving him an advantage I couldn’t counter. But I had to damn well try.

I held my shield up with one hand then cast Phoenix fire toward him with the other, a tunnel of flames racing away from me. Clara