The Dragon Slayer's Queen
They aim it at Mariah.
The blast hits the scepter dead-on. The artifact screams. So does Mariah.
The net collapses. The green light gutters out, replaced by dragon magic’s raw, violet-white glare.
For a moment, Zayla thinks she’s dead. Her body is a lattice of nerves, her vision a blur of afterimages. Then she sees Bella collapsed at her side, shivering and laughing, alive.
Mariah is gone, or what remains is fused into the ash and glass at the circle’s center. The artifact is a smoking ruin, its runes shattered and running like ink.