Page 95 of Thorns of Frost

I had no doubt if Meegana wasn’t already at the bottom of the seafloor, Beatrice would be there before all of us could blink.

Only Georgyanna and I still stood on the water’s edge, and for some reason, the Kroravee native seemed in no hurry to join the other two.

Not wanting to know what she was up to, I plunged into the water. My lungs seized when its frigid embrace took hold of me, but I ignited my fire inside me to heat my limbs. Calling upon more magic, I formed a bubble of air around my head, and then I swam under the surface. I kicked as quickly as I could, but I wasn’t moving fast enough.

Calling upon more magic, I created bubbles around me. Defying gravity, my magical bubbles shoved me through the water, propelling me at impossible speed until I was rocketing toward the seafloor.

In the back of my mind, I wondered again what Georgyanna was doing, but that thought fled when a flash of movement shot past my peripheral vision. A dark shadow. An open mouth.

Fear raced through me as a huge predator cut through my path. Its mouth was over five feet wide. Fins like knives sliced through the water. It could swallow me in a single bite, and it probably could propel itself faster through the water than my magic.

Another shadow cut through the water to my left. They were circling me. A burst of panic shot through me, and I closed my eyes as I flew toward the bottom of the sea. I concentrated on what Matron Olsander had taught me. I expanded the air around me until it formed a diameter of over ten feet. Magic pulsed in my gut as I ignited my ringed bubble in fire.

A scream tore through the water, and I knew that one of the predators had been burned by my flame. But as long as I kept my fire encased within my air bubble, the water wouldn’t douse it.

Sweat beaded down my back as I wove my affinities together, needing to use both as the bubbles propelling me down increased.More. I needed more magic to get me there.

Another flash of movement to my left had me shifting my attention to my fire magic. At the last moment, I reined it in when I realized it was Meegana beside me.

She grinned as the tunnel Beatrice had built appeared to my right. The three of us were racing for the bottom, nearly neck and neck.

It felt so strange to compete like this against my friends, but then I remembered what was at stake. I needed to win this Trial. I could only hope that my friends understood that I couldn’t let them beat me.

I coaxed more magic from my belly and put everything I had into increasing my speed. Even though Meegana’s element was water, I shot ahead, moving faster than her. The crown prince was right. I was stronger than her. And for the first time since Norivun had taken me from my village four months ago, I truly felt like a queen ascending to her destined throne.

I was the strongest female here.

A grin split my face as my confidence at another victory reared, but just when I thought for certain I would reach the bottom, the water disappeared, and I screamed.

I tumbled through a huge pocket of air resting in the water above the sea floor.

Meegana’s scream came next as her water elemental affinity proved useless as the magic around me grew.

But it wasn’t my magic. It was the test’s magic. The test creators must have planted this pocket of air here, forcing someone with a water elemental affinity to use another power.

But Meegana continued to fall. With a shapeshifting and sensory affinity, she had nothing.

“Meegana!” I screamed just as she was about to hit the bottom of the air pocket.

I shot a stream of air magic out, catching her before her body could break.

It all happened so fast that she only had a second to recover before I released her, and she dove back into the water at the bottom of the air pocket.

To my right, Beatrice hadn’t slowed. Her earthen tunnel had cleaved right through the air pocket as her telekinetic magic threw every predator that threatened to ram it far away from her.

Still, despite how strong both of them were, I reached the bottom of the sea before either of them.

The glowing trinket waited, beckoning me with its light. It was a golden crown studded with jewels and precious gems that had been enchanted with radiance, making it glow like a beacon.

My hand burst through my fire-encrusted bubble, my flames not burning my fingers. I snatched the crown from the sand and reversed course.

Beatrice let out a wail of fury when she reached the bottom and the trinket was gone, but Meegana only grinned. Her smile was so bright when I flew toward the surface of the bay.

My magic shot me upward. Power sang in my blood and heated my heart.

I would win this Trial.

I would become the next queen.