Page 134 of Clash of Storms
The queen's smile made a chill run down his spine. She backed away, wisps of green magic forming into a spear in her left hand. "Ah, you stupid fool. You're right. I can't beat you. But Icandestroy you—"
Turning, she began to launch the spear directly at Malin.
No!
Time froze, his heart leaping into his chest.
Sirius lunged forward, driving his sword right through her chest as the fatal spear left her hand.
The queen gasped, clutching at Sirius's shoulder, but he paid her no mind. Instead, he searched desperately for Malin. He'd thrown the queen off balance at the last second. That spear might have gone wide.
It might have missed her....
But dread tore him apart, and he looked for Malin.
Their eyes locked across the distance, and Malin climbed to her feet from where Árdís's mortal husband had slammed her into the ground. Sirius's heart finally started beating again. She was safe. He owed the mortal a debt.
"Are you all right? What happened?"
"It missed me."Malin slowly turned around.
But the spear hadn't missed its mark entirely.
Sirius's breath caught when he saw whom it had struck.
Golden chainmail could deflect any sort of steel. The blade that could not be beaten would never fall in battle.
But there'd been nothing Stellan could do to avoid a spear woven of pure Chaos magic.
His father gasped as he went to one knee, lungs shuddering as he tried to breathe through the bloodied mess of his chest. He'd taken the spear right through the back. Rurik's shoulders heaved as he stared down at his fallen foe in shock.
And then Sirius brought himself back into the present, still holding the queen in his arms.
"Stellan?" she whispered, blood trickling from her lips.
"Dead by your hand," he told her incredulously. "You killed your own brother in your quest for vengeance."
Fate wove itself in a vicious circle.
"No." She clutched at him, tears wetting her eyes. "No, please...."
Stellan had always been the only other soul she'd ever given a damn about.
"You were born into this world together. And so you shall leave it together," he told her. "You'll see him in Hel."
Green smoke wove around her, narrowing in on the emerald necklace that hung around her neck. Amadea's fist curled in his hair, her lips parting faintly and a shocked cry wheezing from her lungs.
"You will pay for this," she whispered, and he heard the sense of loss in her voice, as she tried to weave some last form of Chaos magic around her, channeling it through the necklace she wore.
Devoid of responsibility, right to the end.
"I don't think I will. You're done, Amadea," Sirius whispered with bitter satisfaction, as he twisted the sword in her chest and watched the queen die. "Long live theking."
And thunder boomed three times, as the Goddess conceded he'd fulfilled his vow.
29
The battle was over in an instant, the queen's loyaldrekicasting down their swords with a steely rattle. Drekling cheered, and beside Malin, the princess threw her arms around her husband with a soft cry of relief.
