I barely heard her, stepping onto the now-empty stage. My pulse was pounding the seconds away, counting down the minutes. No magic or blades at her … But we hadn’t said anything about thrones, had we? Red magic bloomed bright as blood from my fingertips. A glorious crackle of magic, lighting up the galleries and the marble walls and the unblinking gemstone eyes around us … smashing into the towering pile of bones, punching a man-sized hole in its front and sending ribs and femurs and jawbones flying.
