A Crown of Cursed Hearts (Kingdom of Blighted Thorns #3)

69. Tempest

69

TEMPEST

G aineos raced across the vast sandy wasteland. The sun poured down, drenching me in heat and drawing out my sweat. It was all I could do to breathe in the sweltering air.

I clung to his back with my arms around his waist and my thighs tight across his steed flanks.

We’d only traveled a short time before darkness fell, the death of the day and the birth of what could be an endless night. A dark sky soon arced overhead, lit only by tiny, flickering lights.

My heart wept for my friends who’d wandered here, barely clinging to the hope in their hearts.

“The lights above are lost dreams,” Gaineos said softly.

“Split between realms where the horizon meets the world beyond,” I whispered. “Half 'neath stars where dreams unspoken are drawn.”

“It’s all that’s left of those who came here and remained.”

My heart dropping, I stretched my neck back to imprint them in my mind. “There’s no way to bring them back?”

“Their physical forms have left your world, leaving no home to return to. Others were eaten, their hopes and heart consumed along with their flesh.”

Their sadness whispered through me, soft sighs of pain, all that was left of them now. If I hadn’t pulled Reyla and Vexxion back from this place, would their stars flicker above me?

“By coming here, you have chosen a new path,” Gaineos said. “A better one.”

“Will I remain on this path until the end?”

“There are still twists and forks ahead. Think with your heart, and you’ll know which way to travel. Look. Dawn comes.”

“So quickly?”

“Did you expect anything else on this journey?”

Blood-red beams stabbed into the sky along the horizon, sending the dreams back to wherever they hid during the day.

“It waits where a blood-red sun does sink,” I said. “In dawn’s embrace—it's there you must seek.”

Soon, full light pierced the desolate, sandy landscape. The sun baked me once more, scorching my exposed skin and making sweat hitch down my spine.

“We’ll arrive soon,” he said.

I peered around his torso, spying the low building I’d seen in Vexxion’s mind, jutting up from the sand far ahead of us.

Would I find the blade there?

Sand shifted to our right, and a snake-like creature erupted from the ground, its scales glistening darkly in the sunlight. It coiled up before slamming down onto the sand beside us, rocking through this world and maybe even the ones beyond.

Gaineos snarled, and with a shriek, the creature dove back into the sand. The harsh, biting wind soon smoothed the surface, leaving nothing but an untouched wasteland behind.

“Foolish to challenge me,” he muttered, riding on.

We continued across the sand unmolested, and soon, the structure loomed ahead, growing larger as we got closer. His pace slowed as we approached and he finally came to a stop, his hooves still buried in sand.

“I must leave you here,” he said.

Pitted marble pillars spanned the front of the dull stone building like silver trees lost in a forgotten world.

“Where no foot treads and no eye shall see,” I said softly. “Guarded by silence, as if held within trees.” This was it, the place where I would finally find the blade.

Gray tufts of what looked like torn fabric stretched across the top of the tree-like pillars, a wraith canopy fluttering in the harsh wind. Darker, steely steps jutted up from the sand, smoothing into a dirt-dusted path leading to a broken archway where darkness lurked beyond.

“The blade’s here,” I said, sliding off his back.

“You will seek it here.”

I turned back to him. “Thank you for helping me.”

He rubbed my arm. “What one seeks often leads to a true path within.” He nudged his head toward the building. “Hurry. You don’t have much time.”

With urgency driving me, I pivoted and took the steps two at a time. I strode along the path, grinding sand into the surface beneath my boots before rushing through the archway into a large open room. Frescoes of battles and kings and queens long forgotten covered the walls, the paint cracked and peeling. The relentless wind found me through the gaps in the wall, whispering hurry, hurry .

“Where?” I called out, my voice ricochetting around me.

An inky black altar stood in the center of a platform on the far side of the room.

I jogged across the broken mosaic floor tiles patterned like those at the Claiming.

Welcome, a low voice hissed, clawing across my mind, my skin, and my soul. Have you come to claim me?

“I’ve come for the blade,” I shouted.

I leaped onto the platform, striding over to stand in front of the onyx altar. Sand from a thousand years coated the surface, and I swept it off with my arm, exposing words I spoke aloud as if casting a spell.

“Soft voices hint at secrets cloaked. To bow to fear or brave the unknown. Beneath the dark, dreamless expanse, something hidden sleeps—far from helpless hands and distant leaps.”

The top of the stone altar shifted, sliding away from me. It tumbled off the back and a bang erupted when it hit the mosaic floor.

I leaned over to peer into the opening . . .

. . . finding nothing inside.