Page 179 of Vicious Is My Throne

Maybe…maybe I could still use the knife somehow…

Zor’s hand burst out through my darkling shield as his head popped up, eyes locking with mine before I stepped closer to the ruined weapon, Gelvira pivoting with me.

Something yanked free, that hidden place below my heart unfurling—expanding—in time with the power spreading through the room, ice crystals erupting from the floor everywhere my magic touched. Trapping her inside a spiked arena of my making. She wailed, lashing against the clear crystals, sending chunks of ice flying.

I’d trapped her, but killing her…Could that even be done?

Our magics were so equally matched any fight would be a draw.

I wasn’t confident I could outlast her if it came down to that.

I scanned the floor again, the golden light a beacon around the outer edges. This place had been Corvus’s prison. But I didn’t know any containment spells, didn’t really understand how magic worked.

And after what happened with Corvus…

Sealing evil away to rise another day—no, I wouldn’t do that, even if it was an easier choice for today. Gelvira would rot this mountain from the inside out, like her brother had.

And if she ever escaped, she would raze this world to the ground.

“It all ends here,” I told her, shifting closer to the knife, gauging the distance between us, her wildly flailing arms cutting chunks of granite from the walls and sending boulders of ice flying.

If she touched me, she’d slice me in half.

“Everything ends here.”

I took stock of my surroundings, all in all, as horrible a place as I’d ever been.

“We were created here when this world was young, your brother told me. And in that moment, I realized the truth. This was a place of beginnings…and endings. If we were made here, we could be unmade.”

She was so focused on me she didn’t see Zor climbing free of his nest of darklings, giving them a horrified look as he staggered away unnoticed. Tristan was awake, his wyvern curled into a tight ball beneath my shield, red-gold eyes darting between me and Gelvira.

Keep her distracted, Anaria.

I had to restrain myself from looking to my left, toward Raz. Tavion’s still down, but three of us are up and moving. Let us help.

Stand down. I’ve got this.

Told you she’d say that, Raz. I heard the peevish aggravation in Zor’s voice. We need to stop asking permission and start asking forgiveness.

At least stay back, I hissed into their minds, knowing better than to waste my time telling them to run.

None of us were going anywhere now.

Her feet still mired in the frozen pool, she swiped those long, spiked arms and cleaved the crystals in half, sending them clattering across the floor, burying the knife beneath a mountain of crushed ice.

Raz’s arms wrapped around me and healing magic surged through me, leaving a trail of strength behind. “This is me staying back, princess. We do this together. Now rip her to shreds.”

I hit her with another blast of light and got a face full of darkness in return. Black writhing awfulness engulfed me before my magic flared, light driving the shadows away, leaving stars spinning lazily in their place.

“You’re getting weaker, sister, while I grow stronger. How much longer do you think you protect them?” Her tone turned positively ravenous. “They will not flee. They never do.”

“Again, princess. One more time.” Raz’s arms tightened around me. Right now, they were the only thing holding me up.

I threw everything into this wave of power, feeding more and more magic into that consuming blow, meant to be her last. Gelvira sent blackness howling back, and when the two powers collided, the world exploded. The mountain rocked around us, stones slamming down, Tristan bursting from his shielded dome to avoid being crushed.

“We’re going to die down here, Raz.” I gasped for air, sagging in his arms. “Another blow like that and we’ll be buried.”

Keep her occupied a few more minutes, Anaria. And someone please fetch me the hilt of that knife.

---