APRIL SYLKRANA, the only daughter of the High Queen, has to make things right. When a series of assassinations breaks out in the Imperial City, April takes matters into her hands and investigates, distracting her from a plot against her and the crow...
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"You fool!" Elami shrieked as she pushed April off her. "Why did you interrupt the spell?!"
April attempted to push herself up but her muscles felt like jelly against the weight pressing against her back, gluing her to the floor. Her borrowed sword had clattered somewhere beyond both of them. What's happening outside? Was it already chaos? What would a falling city look like to people underneath? To the people on it?
"Witch," April hissed back. "Why did you tamper with it in the first place?"
Elami paused her slow crawl towards the pedestal, turning to April with enough venom in her eyes to poison a grown fairy. "I don't explain myself to the likes of you," she said. "The Heiress is not going to be happy about this."
April stretched her hand and gripped Elami's shins. Then, with a grunt, she dragged the Potentate down. "You can all go to hell," she said. "Stay here. I'll fix this. Then, you and the entire council will spend your eternity in the dungeons. Witches and traitors, the lot of you."
"No!" Elami dug her nails against April's skin, hard enough to draw blood. Still, April held on. She continued pulling back. Elami continued trying to dislodge April's hold. "You will not defeat me, brat!"
April eyed the ball of light in the middle of the room. It quivered and knocked against the invisible chains holding it inches atop the pedestal. The spell's not going to last another second. With hooked fingers, her nails scratched against the room's stone floor, dragging herself up, up. She's slower than an overworked dagrine but she'd get there.
Something clawed at her leg. Elami's nails tore a strip down April's leg. When April looked back, the Potentate had such a feral look on her face as she bared her teeth. Panic overrode everything. April drew her leg back and kicked. Her heel hit Elami in the chin. The nails clawing against April's skin lessened their grip.
The rumbling heightened. April cursed. Hurry. The heat turned a notch as Elami's scream filled the air. April felt the hairs at the back of her neck stand. She ducked just in time for a bolt of magic to strike past her before slamming into the pedestal. Debris exploded and almost dimmed the orb's shine. Rock groaned and crumbled. To April's relief, the pedestal still stood, albeit a little bent from a crevice punched in its body.
April whipped back. "Are you crazy?!" she yelled through the island-wide grumbling of the ground. "Why would you do that?"
Elami's smile was bordering on crazy. "Better death than facing the Heiress' wrath," she hissed. "You don't want to see it. I promise you."
April knew better. It's not like she could trust the word of a traitor. "Stay put," she said.
Elami answered by firing another spell at April. The light blinded April. Wait. Where was it headed? Too late. The spell smacked into her.
Except it didn't. When she opened her eyes, a dagger shone in her periphery and apart from the stinging pain in her leg, she was fine.
A voice called from the sky. "April, what are you doing? Go!"
