Rage hit me so hard my vision flashed silver. I stepped to the edge and yelled down, "You had your chance to end me in that cell, Dad. Now I'm the one with the power. Come closer and I'll show you what your precious elders buried."
One of the elders: a tall woman with white hair and a scar across her throat laughed. It sounded like dry bones cracking. She raised both hands and green lightning shot straight at me. I felt it coming, felt the air turn thick and electric.
Gunnar shoved me sideways. The bolt hit the merlon where I'd been standing and blew it apart. Shards cut my cheek but I barely felt them. The bond flared hotter, like Gunnar's touch had fed the fire instead of blocking it.
I grabbed the broken edge of the wall and let the power out.
Roots again, but thicker this time. They burst from the ground right under the elders' horses, black and silver-veined, wrapping legs and snapping bones. Two horses went down whinnying. The scarred elder cursed and tried to burn them off with green fire, but the roots just drank it and grew faster.
Matthías laughed like a maniac beside me. "That's my girl. Keep it coming!"
Nina appeared on my other side, crossbow already firing. "We've got maybe ten minutes before they break through the crack in the south wall. Push harder, Elva. Whatever the fuck that is, push it."
I pushed. The fire poured out of me and the ground answered. More roots. Thicker. Faster. They snaked under the enemy line and started yanking wolves down. Jakob hacked at one with his sword but it wrapped his horse's front legs and brought the animal crashing. He rolled free, face bloody, and glared up at me.
"You think this makes you queen?" he shouted. "You're a weapon they'll turn on every pack! The elders will chain you and drain you dry!"
The white-haired elder stepped forward, green light coiling around her arms. "Enough games. The girl is ours by blood right. Surrender her, Sigurdsson, and we spare your keep. Refuse and we burn it with every wolf inside."
Gunnar's laugh was cold. "Try it. She's mine by moon right. And your old pacts died the night you tried to bury her."
The elder smiled like she already knew how this ended. She clapped her hands once. The sky answered. A web of green lightning dropped all at once, not at the walls but straight at me. I felt it lock on like hooks in my ribs dragging the power out whether I wanted it or not.
Pain exploded behind in me. The cracked pendant shattered completely. Pieces fell and bounced on the stone. My knees buckled. The roots I'd summoned froze mid-snap and started to wither.
Gunnar caught me before I dropped. His arms locked around me from behind, chest pressed to my back, and he growled low in my ear, "Elva! Fight it. Feel me. The bond. Take it from me if you have to."
I did. I reached for the bond like it was a rope in a flood. His strength poured in; pine and smoke and raw stubborn will. The green hooks slipped. My power surged back harder, mixing with his until I couldn't tell where I ended and he started.
The lightning web cracked overhead like glass. Pieces rained down as green sparks that fizzled out before they hit the ground. I straightened in Gunnar's arms and looked straight at the elder.
"You want my blood?" My voice came out doubled, like the old kings were speaking through me. "Come take it."
I slammed my palms on the battlement. The ground under the entire enemy line split open. Not roots this time. A crevice. Ten feet wide, black and bottomless, swallowing wolves and shamans whole. Screams cut short. Horses plunged in. Jakob barely jumped clear, landing hard on our side of the crack.
He looked up at me, his face wide with shock. For the first time I saw real fear in his eyes.
The surviving elders pulled back fast, dragging what was left of their line. The sky started to clear, bruise colors fading to normal gray dawn.
Gunnar kept his arms around me while the last of the power drained out. My legs shook but I stayed upright. The scales on my arm had spread to my shoulder now, beautiful and terrifying, catching the weak sunlight like metal.
Matthías whistled low. "That crevice is still open. They're regrouping two miles back. But we bought time."
Sunna touched my shoulder. "The pendant's gone. Tracking spell's wide open now. They know exactly where you are."
I looked at Jakob. He was still on our side of the crack, sword out, breathing hard. Alone. Cut off from his elders. He stared at me like I was a ghost wearing his daughter's face.
"Elva," he said, voice rough. "This power… it'll kill you. Let me take you back. The elders can bind it gentle. You don't have to die for it."
Gunnar's grip tightened. "She's not going anywhere with you."
I stepped out of Gunnar's arms and walked to the edge. The drop was straight down into nothing. Jakob stood ten feet away on a narrow ledge of broken earth.
"You had your chance to be my father," I told him. "You chose the pack. You chose the cell. Now I choose this." I raised my hand. The silver scales caught the light. "Go back to your elders. Tell them the half-breed whore just opened the ground under their feet. Tell them the Old Kings are waking. And tell them I'm coming for every single one of you who tried to bury me."
Jakob's face twisted. He backed up slow, then turned and ran for the tree line. No one shot him. I wanted him alive to carry the message.
The crevice stayed open, a black scar across the field. Smoke rose from where the lightning had burned grass. My body felt empty but buzzing, like I'd run fifty miles and won.
Gunnar came up beside me. He didn't touch me this time. Just stood there, shoulder to shoulder. "You okay?"
"No," I said. "But I'm not broken anymore."
Sunna let out a shaky breath. "Merja was right. The bond anchored it. You two just mixed Old Blood like it was nothing."
Matthías grinned over his bloody sword. "The elders are gonna shit themselves when they hear about that crack. The whole council's probably already calling in every pack that hates the idea of one crown."
I looked out past the trees where Jakob had disappeared. The fire in my chest was quieter now but still there, steady and mine. The scales on my arm itched like they wanted to keep spreading.
Nina jogged up the stairs. "South wall's patched for now. But we've got maybe a day before they come back with real numbers. What's the plan, King?"
Gunnar glanced at me. His silver eyes weren't cold. They were lit with the same fire I felt. "We don't wait. We hit them first. Hard.
Elva's power just proved she's not some weapon to steal. She's the storm they're scared of."
He held out his hand. Not to pull me. Just there. Offering.
I took it. Calluses and warmth and that bond snapping tight again. My claws brushed his knuckles but didn't cut.
The real fight wasn't over. It had barely started. The elders would come back with everything they had. Jakob would keep trying to play hero. Sveinn was still rotting in the pit, probably laughing at all of us.
But I wasn't the girl they locked in a cell anymore.
I was the match.
And this time the whole damn continent was going to feel the burn.