She drifted closer, and maybe it was wishful thinking, but I could have sworn she was displaying a touch less hostility. “Give up the stone, Dannie,” I begged, hoping that name would remind her of who she was to me. “Release it and allow it to return to the Fae Realm, where it belongs. You’re already amazing and powerful. You already keep the balance. You don’t need anything else.”

There was no way for her to truly frown, not with the beak that made up a large part of her face, but her eyes were definitely frowning. “I failed before,” she said. “I tried to protect everyone, and I almost lost my son and… you. I almost lost myself. Fighting the stone brought me close to the sort of true death that not even a Nexus born can recover from. If that happened, the Nexus would have fallen. You’re no longer a being able to bring the balance, since your soul is shared with a shifter soul. It’s only me, Mera, and I must take this responsibility seriously.”

“You can do it without the stone,” I said, putting every iota of my belief in her into those words. “Trust me, you don’t need it or the boost of power it gives you. You’re now the one throwing the balance off, and deep down, you know that.”

I’d been doing so well, but of course, foot-in-mouth disease had to kick in as I’d said the exact words she didn’t want to hear. Maybe it was her own guilt, or maybe I’d reminded her of her mission, but either way, that was the moment I lost her. The moment she stopped listening to my reasoning. The moment her resolve grew.

She spread her wings wide, the flames bursting out of her from all angles, near engulfing the entire forest area around us. The heat scorched me as it blasted past, but it was a fire built of my own power, so I wasn’t burned to a cinder, unlike the rest of the foliage. It crumbled in an instant, leaving behind a land that finally held a resemblance to the lava fields.

The forest blackened, ash crumbling all around us, even filling the sky until the only light that remained was the golden glow of the fortress. Shadow, despite his exhaustion, managed to shoot a blast of energy at his mother, knocking her back. I joined him, sending my power into Dannie, and between the two of us, we forced her across the clearing.

We knew there was no way to best her, not like this, but that hadn’t been our aim. Our aim, once again, was to give the others the extra minute they needed to finish the fortress.