Queen of Stars and Shadows (Dark Fae Guardian #3)

Sarielle

Chapter Seventeen

Sarielle

I fall through nothingness, flailing and screaming.

When I hit the ground a few moments later, it’s not with bone-crushing force. It knocks the air out of me, but I’m alive. Whatever is beneath me is soft and spongey. It feels like it might be moss.

It’s still completely black.

“Lilette?” I whisper, realizing I’m no longer holding her hand.

There’s no response.

“Lilette!” I call louder, panic laced in my voice.

I can’t have lost her, not after all this…

I rise onto my hands and knees and start feeling the ground around me for her body. She must have been knocked unconscious when she landed. I’ll find her…

But even though I search an area at least a dozen feet in each direction, she’s not there.

That’s when I notice the glow in the distance. I can’t tell how far it is, but it’s there, a faint blue just like what had been coming from under the door. Slowly, I get to my feet and start to make my way toward it.

As I move, mist begins to curl around my feet and up my legs. Larger clouds of it float by, becoming thicker and thicker. The deep dark begins to fade, whether because I’m getting closer to the glow, or some other reason. But I begin to make out shapes in the distance.

There appears to be some sort of a wall. A wall that stretches as far as I can see in either direction. As I get closer, I see that it’s a hedge wall, made of thick, dark green foliage. I blink as I stare at it. What in the dark goddess is this place?

When I reach the wall, I can see the glow over the top of it. But I don’t see any way through it. I cast my gaze left and right, and don’t see any openings. My heart pounds as reality begins to settle in. I’m stuck in some sort of magical trap, with no exit in sight, and I’ve lost Lilette. Tears sting at the corners of my eyes, and I wipe them away angrily.

Did I really think it was going to be that easy? I should know by now that nothing ever is.

I pick left on impulse and travel that direction. I need to try to find a way past this wall. That seems clear enough. I need to approach this one step at a time.

My feet carry me what seems a mile, and then, abruptly, I reach a sharp corner where the hedge wall turns away from me. Fighting a growing sense of trepidation, I continue around the corner. I walk for ages, then and come to another corner. Then another. Then another. After what seems hours, I realize I must be back where I started, with no visible way inside.

I can feel a scream forming deep inside me. And maybe it’s because everything has fallen apart. And maybe it’s because I’m terrified I won’t get my powers back and this whole side venture will have wasted the last little bit of time I have before the demon goes free. Or maybe it’s because for years, I lived in this place, under the thumb of this power-hungry man who oppressed everything that was strong and right within me, within all of us, and now I’m trapped in his sick game.

Whatever the reason, or all of them, I let a scream rise out of me with all the fury of a thousand nightmares. It echoes across the misty cavernous space. Then I shove my hand against the hedge wall, calling what magic I can muster.

A glowing hole opens within the wall.

Blinking in surprise, I step through the shimmering archway I’d created. About ten feet in front of me is another hedge wall. My eyes cut left and right, and I can see openings spaced along it. Some are merely open spaces cut within the hedge. Others are wrought iron gates. Others are painted wooden doorways. And others still have swirling mist or colored glowing light.

It’s a labyrinth.

I’d read about these in books when I was a girl. A maze designed with only one way in and out of the center, with numerous false passages that will lead one to wander in the wrong direction. And I have the sinking feeling, this being a magical labyrinth, that there could be more challenges than the average maze. The High Priest clearly doesn’t want anyone to find what lies within the interior of the labyrinth. The missing magic is definitely here, at the heart of this place. He never would have gone to so much trouble otherwise.

A new determination spikes through my veins.

I stride toward the wall in front of me and try another push of magic, but this time it merely dissipates. Looking both ways, I decide to travel right this time. I come to the first door within a hundred feet, a simple slab of black granite hung on silver hinges. After a moment’s hesitation, my instincts tell me to move on. I continue walking.

After another couple hundred feet, I come to an iron gate made of copper-colored metal, unadorned other than the design of a rose set near the apex. I pass that one also. As I’m walking, I hear what sounds like another set of footsteps on the other side of the hedge, along with a sound like the snapping of a branch. “Lilette?” I call, my voice echoing eerily. But no one answers.

The third entrance I come to is made of gold, two huge double doors carved in intricate patterns and inlaid with red jewels. As soon as I set my eyes on it, I know it’s the one, gaudy and dripping with self-importance. I press my hands against the metal and shove inward. It opens soundlessly, with such ease that I stumble forward and almost trip.

On the other side of the golden door is a shadowy forest of dead trees. Their branches stretch upward like frozen snakes, twisted and smooth and pale. I pause for a moment. My hunch had been correct. This maze is far from traditional. A maze designed to hide something far more precious than any other maze, a maze wrought with magic and dark intentions.

I cut at an angle through the trees, careful not to let them touch me. I’m not sure why, but the idea of those smooth, dead branches touching my skin makes me shiver. They look… alive in a way that trees should not. Up ahead, I see another hedge wall a few dozen feet off. I begin to wonder how far this place goes, how deep into this creation I’ll have to travel.

I’m halfway across the unnerving forest when the trees begin to shiver and moan, a strange howling sound as if something is dying inside of them. My heart pounds in my chest, taking off ahead of me. I can’t help it—I run, panic shooting through my veins. Branches reach for me, scraping at my hair, my cheeks. One makes contact, sliding down my face. It’s cold as ice and feels like skin rather than bark.

When I reach the hedge wall on the other side, in my desperation to escape I plunge through the first door I see, an opening with pale orange fog swirling within it. On the other side, I pause, bent over, hands resting on my thighs, sucking in air. My heart begins to slow, but I can still hear the moaning and rustling of the trees on the other side. Sweat begins to bead along the back of my neck.

I straighten and take in my surroundings. I can go left and right, or down a path slightly left of straight ahead. No more doors, just open paths weaving through the hedges. The tightly woven leaves here have taken on a darker color. They’re less green and more deep steel bordering on black, and they look almost as if they’re tipped in metal. A careful touch to one with the tip of my finger confirms.

As I stand there debating which way to go, I feel a prickle up the back of my neck. Turning, I see a dark wall of shadows slowly sweeping toward me from the direction I’d come. It’s already dim in this place, with swirling fog and no perceivable source of light, but this is a darker dark, an ominous presence. As if something is eating all remaining light, slowly and inexorably moving toward me.

There’s nothing to do but press on, deeper into the labyrinth.

I dart forward into the opening closest to me. The hedges are closer here, barely wide enough to move through. As I move more quickly, jogging to escape the darkness behind me, I can’t help but brush the metal leaves which seem hungry for a scrape of skin, a droplet of blood. I weave in and out, taking any path that seems to lead deeper into the labyrinth.

Whereas before the doorways were spaced far apart, now there seems a new path every few feet. I turn down corridors only to reach a dead-end almost immediately, requiring me to backtrack. Or I pick one that takes all turns in the same direction, leading me back almost to where I started. My heart races faster and faster, not just from running. The darkness is getting closer, and I’m running out of time in more ways than one. I’ve been in this place for hours now, I can’t find Lilette, and I don’t have much longer before the demon escapes.

I don’t know how long I’ve been running. Sweat covers my body, along with cuts from the hedges, and my breath comes in ragged gasps. The darkness is so close now. I can’t see over the hedges to tell if I’ve made it far at all. Am I anywhere near the heart of the labyrinth, or am I going in circles?

I’m going to die here, swallowed by nothingness, alone.

My legs give out and I stumble, scraping myself along one of the hedges as I fall to my hands and knees. Shaking, I look over my shoulder. It’s almost upon me now, maybe a dozen feet. This looming wave of shadow high above, ready to swoop down on me. Tears burn at the corners of my cheeks. It can’t end like this. After everything…

A nightmare cannot succumb to darkness , whispers a voice in my head. You are the darkness.

I go still, sniffling and sucking in a sharp breath.

Remember who you are. What you are.

I’d lived my entire life not knowing where I came from or who I truly was. Lived in fear of my magic, suppressing it for fear of the High Priest and his power-hungry gazes. I hadn’t known that I was Queen of Nightmares. Not just queen, but a rare queen possessing nightmare blood. I have a darkness inside of me. I command the darkness.

Shoving with the last of my physical strength back into a standing position, I turn and face the shadows advancing on me. I clench my fists and open my mouth and I scream with everything inside of me. Every bit of pain I’ve felt these last few weeks, everything I’ve endured and survived, it all comes pouring out of me.

And my darkness comes pouring out of me, too.

The nightmare within, the beast that lives inside me, the creature of midnight and rage. I feel my eyes turn dark, feel my body go rigid with the power flowing through me. Shadows spiral up and around me, my hair flying back as if in a storm. My scream dies and a feral growl vibrates through my chest. I stand there and stare into the wave of black that’s now no more than three feet away from me.

The wall of shadow stops, then slowly retreats.

Trembling and triumphant, the nightmare within me lets out a final growl.

“Sarielle?” comes a faint, shaky voice behind me.

I spin, my inner beast still in control, my shadows still unfurled around me like giant wings. Lilette stands there, face dirty and bloody, and when she sees me, the color drains from her face. My golden eyes shot through with black, the menacing shadows towering over me. The thing within me surges forward, sensing an intruder, a threat. Power crackles around me as I take a step toward her.

But the part of me that knows Lilette, that knows she is my best friend, shoves down against the darkness, pushes the beast back. My inner nightmare snarls and claws for the surface, but I lock her away and take control once again. She growls and bucks within me, and a shudder runs through my body.

Then she is still.

“Lilette,” I whisper, my throat dry and hoarse.

“Sarielle!” She rushes forward and pulls me into a hug. After a moment, she steps back and looks at me, eyes wide. “What was that?”

“My nightmare side,” I say softly. “It saved me from the darkness.”

“Does that mean your powers are back?”

I shake my head. When I speak, my words come out hesitantly. “No. There’s my normal magic, which sometimes taps into that part of me. But then other times, she actually takes over, and my magic is… different.”

“She?”

“It’s hard to explain.” I sigh. “It’s like there are two parts of me, two sets of magic.”

Lilette nods slowly, but the way she’s looking at me I can tell she doesn’t understand. Not that I would if I were her. I don’t fully understand it myself. I just know that every time I tap into that side of myself, I’m always unsure if I’ll ever be able to let go again.

“We need to reach the center of the labyrinth,” I say, exhaustion claiming me once again. “And then we need to find a way out of here.”

“Is there a way?” Lilette asks, despair clinging to her words.

“There has to be. The High Priest must have somehow come into this place and left again.” I point straight ahead. “We have to keep moving.”

She nods, though her eyes hold doubt.

I lead the way, moving the direction I’d been headed before the darkness caught up to me. I can still feel my inner nightmare scratching around in the core of me, restless and dying to be let out again. Each time I summon that darker side of my magic, that beast inside of me grows stronger. She’d never lingered quite so persistently before. I can feel her at the back of my mind each moment, an ever-present companion.

Turn this way , she whispers when we reach the next intersection in the path. No. Straight , she purrs at the next one. Somehow, though I don’t know how, she can sense the path to the heart of the labyrinth, the route to what we seek. The way out of this place.

And then, I turn a corner, Lilette on my heels, and we stumble into a large, open space, perfectly circular. The hedge wall borders it on all sides, no other openings but this one. Purplish-colored fog creeps like fingers along the ground. In the center of the circle stands a huge pillar made of marble, pale white veined with gold. It’s wide enough that I could only wrap my arms around half of it, like a huge oak trunk. It appears to be a simple monument, but the power that emanates from the thing takes my breath away. It’s clearly what my nightmare could sense, from much farther away than I could.

“We found it,” Lilette says breathlessly. She can clearly feel it, too.

I walk toward the pillar, each step feeling heavy as if I’m dragging boulders behind me. I don’t know how long we’ve been in this place now… five hours? Twelve? A day? I can’t tell, I just know that I’m completely tapped out of any physical strength, and probably what tiny bit of magic I had to begin with.

But we haven’t come this far to fail now.

The thing shimmers as we approach it, the mist swirling faster around the base of it, as if in anticipation. I can feel the magic thrumming in my heart. The magic that has been kept from Eldare for so long, harnessed like a wild horse, tamed when it should be free. Rage roils in my stomach and the nightmare spins. I want to be free, too. I shove back against her. I am not losing myself to you.

Right before I reach the pillar, something steps out of the shadows behind it.

“I knew you would come,” the High Priest growls. “I will not let you ruin everything I’ve built.”

He looks half-mad, a deranged glint in his eyes. His normally clean-shaven face is stubbled, his purple robe tattered as if he’d run through brambles. I’d only just seen him the night before, and the drastic change in appearance is unsettling. But I do not pity him.

“I’ve already won,” I say. “The king and queen no longer trust you. What use is this magic, trapped here, if you cannot leave this place?”

“It is mine !” he snarls, clawing his hands down the sides of the pillar. “You cannot have it.”

“I don’t want it.” My eyes meet his unflinchingly. “It’s for all of Eldare. Not one person.”

The priest’s eyes flit to Lilette, standing next to me. “You are my High Priestess. You must obey me. You are nothing without me.”

“You are the one who is nothing without us,” Lilette says. Her voice is firm, even though her lips wobble slightly as she speaks. “You lied to all of us. You used us—me, and every other High Priestess before me.”

His eyes grow wild. “I taught you to use what little magic you had! You would have been nothing but ordinary women without me!”

“ No woman is ordinary,” I snap. “And the women of the Amethyst Palace were more extraordinary than most. They are the ones who somehow heard the call of magic even though you trapped it here. The ones who defied all odds, who found the tiniest remnants of it that you left behind when you stole it.”

“I should have left you to die,” the High Priest says coldly, his gaze landing back on mine. “That morning when you were left as a baby on our doorstep.”

“You’re right,” I say. “You should have let me die. But you were power hungry, and you felt the strange magic within me, and you wanted it. And now that magic will be your undoing.”

“I will not let you!” he gasps, clinging to the pillar desperately.

I reach for Lilette’s hand. Her gaze meets mine and I nod. We call our magic. The answering call is weak and fluttering. Mine was already barely present since I arrived in Eldare, and now I am exhausted after the ordeal in the labyrinth. I feel only the slightest glimmer of power, barely enough to light a candle if I wished. I stare down at the faintest of golden glows surrounding my fingers, and my heart drops.

But Lilette’s is stronger, and she squeezes my hand tightly as she stares at the pillar and the High Priest. A yellow glow surrounds her body, a building warmth carrying the scent of crushed flowers. With a high-pitched cry, the High Priest flings himself toward us.

“You are my High Priestess! You cannot defy me!”

Lilette’s eyes flash, and her power pulses off her, knocking him off his feet. “I am not yours any longer!”

Our combined magic continues past his prone body and hits the pillar. At first, nothing happens. The bright light merely moves around the marble, spiraling upward and over the top of it.

But then the stone ripples as if melting, and after several moments, a blinding light bursts forth and a wave of energy like a hurricane blasts into us. Lilette and I fall backward, landing hard on the ground. I can feel the magic rushing off, moving with lightning speed out of this place and out into the land.

It is done. We did it.

I climb to my feet, helping Lilette, too. The labyrinth disappears around us, the magic that had created it gone now. A few feet away, I see the outline of a door behind us.

“Look,” she whispers, pointing.

I turn back toward where the pillar stood mere moments before, and the High Priest is gone. In his place is a pile of ash and a tattered purple robe. The magic he’d trapped had been his death, abandoning him the moment it was freed.

Another flash, and I spin to see that the door is open, and Owyn stands there, a glowing blue light pulsating from his hands.

“Sarielle!” he calls.

We run toward him, the space we now occupy just an ordinary room, our footsteps ringing across the stone. When we reach him, he pulls me into an embrace. “I thought I’d lost you.”

I sink against him for a moment, too exhausted to move. “How long were we gone?”

“Half a day,” he says. “I couldn’t get the door to open again until just now, when you freed the magic.” He shakes his head in disbelief, a smile on his face. “You did it. You released the magic. I’ve never felt anything like it.” He raises one hand and summons a bright ball of blue light, grinning.

His smile falls a moment later when I sag against him even more. “You’re hurt.”

“Just exhausted,” I say.

“We can stay here the night,” he says. “I’ll find some food and build a fire.”

I look at Lilette and we shake our heads. “I don’t want to spend another moment in this place as long as I live.”

Owyn squeezes me. “Okay, then. I will help you walk.”

“I’m okay. Let’s just go.”

We don’t move fast, but we make it down to the first floor of the palace, and then out the grand entrance, across the courtyard past the cathedral, and finally, out the ornate gates that were my gilded cage for most of my life.

I don’t look back as we walk away from the Amethyst Palace for the last time.