Kingdom of Ash

Still the waters came, breaking against the
flames that did not so much as yield an inch.
Maeve’s death blow. Spent here, to save
the army that might mean Terrasen’s
salvation. To spare the lives on the plain.
Rowan gritted his teeth, panting against his
fraying power. A burnout lurked, deadly close.
The raging wave threw itself over and over
and over into the wall of flame.
Rowan didn’t see if Elide and Lorcan made
it into the keep. If the other soldiers and riders
on the plain stopped to gape.
Princess Hasar said, rising beside him,
“That power is no blessing.”
“Tell that to your soldiers,” Fenrys snarled,
standing, too.
“I did not mean it that way,” Hasar
snipped, and awe was indeed stark on her face.
Rowan leaned against the battlements,
panting hard as he fought to keep the lethal