Court of Nightmares and Ruin

Chapter 49

Icelyn

"Noo!" The heart-wrenching scream that left my lungs echoed throughout all of the Night Realm as I fell to my knees and scooped up the ashes that were once my mate.

I couldn't breathe. I struggled to inhale but could not get air past my constricting throat. Never in my life have I felt so much pain. The world around me blurred as tears poured from my eyes.

"Well, that was unexpected, but I will take the victory nonetheless." I heard Isadora speaking, but everything was moving slowly like I was stuck in a nightmare I could not wake up from.

"It doesn't matter. I never needed his power anyway. I have all I need inside my book." Isadora said as she hurled her magic at me, but I don't care at the moment if I perish.

My eyes lifted and skimmed over the wounded fae, trying to regain their feet. If they still had fight in them, so could I. All I wanted to do was to lay on the ground beside Kohl's scattered ashes, but he would expect so much more of me.

Just as I started to feel the heat from Isadora's magic nearness. I raised my hand, commanding a wall of ice to block her power. I slowly stood and looked up in awe at the wall I had formed. I ran my hand across the smooth, frozen surface. It was ice, but it was as black as a moonless night and swirled with silver stardust. The perfect offspring of mine and Kohl's magic.

Isadora continued to pound away at the inky ice wall but was not even putting a chip in it. I hesitated and glanced back at Kohl's remains as the wind shifted and blew his ashes through the air. A hand gripped my shoulder, and I turned toward its source.

"We don't have time for you to grieve. Do not let my brother's sacrifice go to waste. You end her, just like he asked you to do." Leon released my shoulder, stepped around the ice blockade, and continued to throw his magic at Isadora.

I glanced back only once more. Kohl's ashes had completely blown away, and then I looked back at Jen, whose eyes rounded in horror. More of the Night Realm fae rushed from inside the castle and out of the woods, but I refused to let anyone else get hurt this day. In a flash, I threw up more walls of ice, blocking everyone and everything from the courtyard.

I waved my hand over my body like I had seen Kohl do a million times. My torn clothes were instantly replaced with a black shimmering warrior outfit with a flowing cape that would rival the twinkling night sky and my crown that Kohl had placed on my head the day he declared me his queen.

With a brush of my hand, the wall separating me from Isadora instantly fell. I saw a fleeting moment of fear cross her eyes when she saw me, but it was quickly replaced with hate. Leon moved to block Isadora as she focused her power on me, but I catapulted him over the wall I had made to secure the other warriors. Now it was just Isadora and me.

"You think you are strong, snowflake? Just because you have the Night King's power?" She mocked the pet name that Kohl had given me when we first met.

"No one calls me snowflake. No one but Kohl."

Isadora tried to strike, but I was too quick. I hammered her with black ice until it drove her through the castle walls. Isadora picked herself up from the rubble and threw her magic at me. She was quicker this time and angrier, so I missed my opportunity to block her. Her magic hit me full force, but it healed so fast it was like nothing more than a bee sting.

She gasped, sputtered, and took a step backward when she saw that her magic had even less effect on me than Kohl. She raised her hand to strike at me again, but I was too quick. I used my magic to freeze the blood that pumped through her veins.

"That is for my people."

She raised her other arm, but I froze that one as well.

"That is for Athen."

Isadora's eyes shifted in sheer panic of being hopelessly pinned in place.

"And this is for Kohl."

She screamed bloody murder as I entered her mind, just as Kohl would have, but I used mine to grab her liquid blood instead of killing her instantly with mind power. I spread my hands apart, and the evil blood circulating throughout her body burst from the inside out in the form of black ice.

Isadora fell forward with a million holes in her body and hit the ground with a thud. Her book flew forward and landed a few feet from her. I walked over to the book as Isadora attempted to claw her way to the book. I snatched the book from the ground just as she approached it.

"Wait! I can bring him back! Give me the book, and I will return your king."

I hesitated for a minute. I would give my life to have Kohl back, but not the lives of anyone else. Kohl would expect more of me, and I was learning to expect more of myself. I kicked away her hand that wrapped around my boot in desperation.

I released all of my power on the book as Isadora screamed. The book froze and then exploded in a puff of mist. An unholy dying screech came from Isadora as she, too, exploded. As I watched the ashes of the book and Isadora blow away in the wind, I could not help but think it was a fitting end for them both. An eye for an eye and ashes for ashes.

I moved to lower the ice wall blocking the Night Realm fae. They glanced around in shock, and then one by one, they hit their knees and bowed to me, the ultimate honor for the Night Realm Queen.