For once, I would get to be a spectator and not a participant of a battle.

Yeah, that was what I thought.

Not exactly what happened, though.

CHAPTER 24

Samara rushed Stasha. The queen’s daughter swung the long crystal staff, catching Samara low on her legs and sweeping them from under her. Not that she was down for long. Springing onto her feet, she launched herself at Stasha and tackled her.

I made my way to the queen’s side, going to my knees on the hardened rock. The sound of the battle echoed in the newly made valley, but I kept my eyes locked on Aria. Her chest rose and fell, slowly, but still she breathed. “I can heal you.”

“Do not waste your energy on an old woman like me. I have seen too many of my loves cross the Veil. I wish to be with them.” Her hand fumbled for mine and I took it.

“Samara said not all of those who died were against you.”

A rough cough shook her frame; for a moment, I thought she wasn’t able to catch her breath.

Finally, the cough eased and she drew in a long gasp. “Her lover was one of those who fell, I saw him tumble under the rocks. She knows he plotted with Cassava, but she does not want to believe it of him.” She tightened her grip on my fingers. “She will hate you, I think. Both for his death and for naming her my heir.”

“My life matters not,” I said. “If she demands my death I will not fight her.”

Aria reached up to my face, her hand trembling. “No, Destroyer. Our families need you yet. You must stay alive, even if you are cast out for doing the things the Glow asked of you.”

A scream snapped my head up. Samara had an arm locked around Stasha’s neck, but the queen’s daughter slipped out at the last second.

I watched them closely, noting something right away. The lines of power I expected to see on their arms as they dueled were missing.

“Are they not allowed to use their element?”

Ender Boreas stepped up beside me. “Not in a battle for the crown.”

Peta shook her head, clearly as surprised as me. Though we were not to attack one another using our elements, the right to rule seemed as though it should be all or nothing. Especially after what had happened between Cassava and me.

“Is this the way of Sylphs?” Peta asked.

Boreas looked down at her. “There has not been a new queen in thousands of years. We don’t know what our way is.”

I stared at the combatants. Stasha’s arms lit up as she reached for her element. “Samara, she’s going to steal your air!” I yelled.

My words seemed to set off an explosion within the remaining Sylphs. Most turned their faces away, as if they couldn’t bear to see what was going to happen. But seven ran toward the two combatants.

Call it a hunch, but I doubted they were going in to help Samara. I couldn’t leave her on her own.

“Cactus, with me!” I yelled as I leapt away from the queen toward those who rushed Samara and Stasha. Samara might hate me, and the goddess didn’t want her as a queen. But I felt the truth as only Spirit could show me. Samara would be the one to protect and raise the Sylphs like no other.

We ran across the broken rocks, fighting to keep our balance. My spear was somewhere in the mountainous rubble and I had no time to find it.

Hands and fists it was, then.

I caught the first Sylph around the waist in a tackle that took us both to the ground. Our fall knocked the wind out of him, if his gaping, flapping mouth was any indication. “You stay there. This is not your fight.” I pointed at him as I scrambled up and ran for the next Sylph closest to me, a woman who stood a few inches taller than me. She spun as I approached, her hands raised and lines of power lighting her pale skin up as she lifted me from the ground.

From her left side, Peta crept along the ground. “Put her down, or I’ll turn you into a kitty toy, air bag.”

The Sylph startled and her hands lowered. “Samara is the lowest of the low. Her blood is as far from royal as one can get without being a half-breed. She cannot rule.”

I closed the distance between us. “I completely understand.”

She smiled at me and I slammed my fist into her jaw, dropping her where she stood. “I understand you are as small-minded as the rest of the elementals.”

Shazer was right; all of them were assholes.

Cactus took out two of the other Sylphs. Normally I knew it wouldn’t be so easy, except we weren’t facing Enders. We were facing everyday Sylphs. Which begged the question, why weren’t the Enders defending Samara?

I turned to see them standing in a circle around Aria, protecting their dying queen.

A triumphant yell brought my head around. Samara stood over Stasha. The queen’s daughter still lived, her chest rose and fell, but her face was a wreck of blood and bits of bone. The shuffle of feet on rock turned me the other way and I swallowed hard. “Cactus, I think we’re in trouble.”

Peta crept toward me. “What in the world would make you think that, Dirt Girl?”

I grimaced. “Just a guess.”

The Enders pulled their weapons as they approached Samara. I stood, putting myself between them. If it was the last thing I did, I would defend her. She was royalty, no matter what the other Sylphs thought.

“Enough,” Samara said, her voice raised and full of threat. I held my ground, but the other Enders kept coming.

“Not good.” Peta’s tail lashed from side to side.

There was a moment where I thought the inevitable was going to slide by.