Page 138 of Enchanted Crown
Esta,I pleaded down our bond.Listen to me. We must switch spots.
She hesitated and said aloud, “No.”
Trust me,I begged.I need you to walk toward Zaire.
No,she repeated, this time down the bond.
“I am going to move the dagger now,” Morana threatened. “Everyone do as I say. Esta, if you make one wrong move, I will drive it directly into his heart.”
What I was asking Esta to do went against all her dragon instincts.Just trust me.
Morana shoved Esta to the ground forcing me to move without leaving her time to answer or me the time to further explain. I quickly released my magic, sending Esta with a breeze and sliding her as if on ice, hands still tied toward Zaire. I got her out of reach as fast as my Enchantment could carry her.
Stay on the ground,I sent immediately.Don’t get up.
“Don’t hurt him,” Esta pleaded from the ground.
Zaire reached down to help her up, but something in her eyes had him hesitate.
The dagger hit my throat, a cold pinprick. A welcomed one because now it was off Esta.
Morana let out a breath. “I thought I said no palm magic.”
“Esta was never going to willingly switch me places,” I argued.
“Fair.” Morana added to the two of them, “Have any fancy ideas about shifting, I will kill Keir and the hostages too.”
Or as many of them as she could get to before Zaire would snap her in half. My bet was only one. Still, it was one too many.
I demanded down our bond,On my command, shift. Shift and light this area on fire. I am going to form a barrier around the hostages and myself. The only person you will hurt is Morana.
I felt her hope and dread, equal parts.I cannot burn you.“Please,” she begged Morana. “Stop this.”
You won’t.
I can’t do this Keir,she said, her panic rising.What if it doesn’t work? It will kill you. I will kill you.
It will work.
“Now.” Morana’s laugh sounded so sinister, I had no idea how we hadn’t seen this coming all long. How her contempt was concealed this long into all her deceptions. “Good thing you have such a chivalrous man at your disposal. He gave you a front row seat. Ready to see your lover’s dea?—”
Despite my urgings, my wings seemed to have a mind of their own again and decided that was the point to shift outward.
“What is this?” Morana gasped as she was smacked in the face. She didn’t hesitate to jab the dagger into one of my wings.
It took everything in me not to scream out in pain. I almost went to my knees but managed to stumble a step and stay standing.
“This is an abomination,” she seethed.
Now,I begged Esta.
While Morana was distracted with stabbing my wings, reaching for the dagger to repeat the process, Esta shifted. As she did so, time itself seemed to slow.
I immediately willed my magic to leave my hand farthest from Morana, unleashing my bright blue power in droves to wrap the hostages in one dome.
“What did I tell you?” Morana snapped as she moved for the dagger, enraged by the sight of my magic wrapping around the hostages.
But her fist hit my magic barrier and stopped. She couldn’t get to the dagger as all of me, wings included, were being wrapped in thick blue tendrils of magic.
