Myra Isidore could barely breathe. She could barely think. Layla gripped her hand and she gripped hers as the wagon rocked from side to side over the bumpy hills.
In half an hour she would be forced to slaughter her own. Her leopard's teeth that had ripped into the throats of Miras' enemies would be soaked with the blood of her people. Her valkyries. The last remnants of the army that once was.
Soon, the hopes of Miras would be snuffed out—by their Dragon.
She was slowly dying. Drowning inside her own head, swamped by a thousand terrifying visions of the future that was to be.
Kestra couldn't be there. She wouldn't be able to bear it if her beautiful, sweet StarSoul was there. If...goddesses above, she couldn't even think about it. She was going to be sick. Lyra was again silent. Her goddess had deserted her when she needed her most.
Layla gripped her hand tighter.
"In the skies far above, they watch down on the ones they love," The Singer sang to her.
Myra suddenly remembered that day or night weeks and forever ago when she had sung the same thing to Layla in the depths of Dorgon.
"One day we will join them," Myra continued shakily.
"High above with the fallen," Layla finished. "One day, Myra. One day it'll all be over, and we'll all be together again."
"No," she said stubbornly. "No. I won't accept this. I won't stop fighting."
Layla simply watched her with those purple eyes.
"I don't know how you do it," she whispered, shaking her head. "How you keep fighting. But one day,"—those lilac eyes filled with pity— "you're going to realise what I did. There is no hope left."
Myra shook her head, eyes blazing with renewed fury.
"Hope only dies when you let it," she told the Elfin Queen. The wagon came to a sudden stop and Lysandra peered through the window.
"Sweet sentiment," she drawled. "But we don't have much time. You have listened to everything I say from this moment on, gotcha?"
They both nodded, not sure what else to do.
"Okay then." Lysandra smiled and yanked the crowns off their heads. Two identical slivers whirled out at her command. She caught them in her hand and crushed them to pieces. Myra and Layla stared at her, dumbstruck.
"You have magic-" Layla blurted and at the same time Myra exclaimed
"You're working with-"
"The rebellion, yes." Lysandra smirked. "And yes, Layla, I do have magic."
She slid the crowns back onto the two queens' heads. This time, though, they had no effect.
"It was all my idea from the beginning, you see," the princess gloated. "I put it in Mother's head by suggesting Talia work with you and, inevitably, she decided on slivers instead. Something even better for me to use to get you out of Dorgon and into the hands of the rebellion."
Myra shook her head, suddenly realising the flaws in the princess' plan.
"It makes no sense to release us here. Even with me, no one here stands a chance. You'd be better waiting for the next strike—"
"You're going in there." Lysandra said sharply. "Or I'm going to put the sliver right back in and never let you go."
"Lysandra, it doesn't make sense. If you were truly working for the rebellion, you wouldn't want us in there." Myra begged.
"Ah, but you're forgetting something. I'm not really working in the best interests of your little rebels. I'm working in the best interests of me. There's someone in there that I want alive. So, you're going to be deployed there. And if you have any objections—well, Kestra's in there too."
Myra froze. Horror bled through her and her blood went cold.
"It seems we're in agreement," Lysandra smiled imperiously and patted her on the head. "Bring this note to Nala, will you?" She shoved a piece of paper in Myra's hand.
"Remember: you give my mother no sign you're free. The moment the armies clash, you turn around and fight for the valkyries—but no sooner. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Lysandra." Myra said, gritting her teeth. Layla didn't have the energy for a reply.'
————————————————
The war horn blasted again, and Myra rose to face the valkyries at the head of the Kallian Army wreathed in the darkest blue of the ocean.
Mother and daughter faced each other from across the field.
Myra staggered back. She knew that Kestra was there, but she never expected...this. Her own daughter, at the head of the army of lost valkyries. She scanned her StarSoul's face after five long years. Kestra went pale, staggering back. Betrayal flashed across her daughter's face, a jagged knife that pierced into Myra and twisted.
She wished she could do something. Shout across the field and tell Kestra no, this wasn't what she wanted, this wasn't her.
The war horn blasted a final time and Myra urged her horse into a gallop, eyes darting to Layla on a mare by her side. The Kallian Army rushed towards the waiting valkyries and the armies clashed with an impact that shattered through the air and wrenched the world in two.
She moved in an instant, a perfect, fluid movement. In a second, she flung herself onto Layla's mare and pressed her into the ranks of the valkyries.
"Keep her safe!" She cried out and then threw herself into the fray.
The raging ocean rushed through her bones and she moved like she was made of liquid fire. Twin swords whistled through the air and struck soldier after soldier. She was nothing but a whirlwind of steel and blood. Oh, it had been five years since the Dragon had warred and now...
The world became nothing but steel against steel and the next opponent and the one after that. She slid back into decades of training and became. Shifted into a snow leopard and back into a valkyrie, teeth and steel and claws and fists...
She was no longer a person. The swords were mere extensions of her, a part of body as much as her hands, her eyes, her face.
She became the wild and raging ocean that laid claim to her heart.
She became the swift and flickering flame that burned with fury and vengeance in her soul.
She became the swift and icy wind that whistled through her beloved mountains. She became a force of nature, deadly as any earthquake or hurricane.
She became the hunters of the sky and the earth; she became a hawk, an eagle, a falcon and each new soldier was her prey.
She became the panther, the tiger, the lioness and she struck in a whirlwind of steel.
She was the Dragon. She was the Heir of Sarai. She was Myra Lluvia Isidore and she would never bend again.
YOU ARE READING
Queens & Liars-Sequel to Three Broken Kingdoms (Completed)
Fantasy'She was a blade, forged in the flames that had burned her kingdom.' Book 2 of the Lost Continent Asriel and Miras have fallen. Their legendary armies are gone, their cities burnt to their ground, their people enslaved or murdered. The Empress now r...
