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

Zyren

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Zyren

A woman stands before us. Or rather, something that looks like a woman, but with a magic emanating from her with such dark power it’s clear she is anything but. Her presence stirs something within me, some primal fear, a sense of ancient terrors, a time when the world was newly formed and nothing but raw chaos.

Xinius steps forward and throws an arc of light around us like a protective shield. The demon cocks her head to the side and lets out a low laugh that moves across my skin like spiders. With a wave of her hand, she dispels the light as if merely blowing out a candle.

“You have no power here, sorcerer,” she says in a voice of ice and blades. “I created the darkness, and I created the dreams that haunt them.”

I step sideways and place a protective arm around Sarielle. I can feel the taut lines of her body against mine, the faint shiver that runs through her.

“And you cannot stop me either, guardian,” the demon says, pinning her gaze on mine. One perfect pale blue eye, and one ruined, rotting socket of darkness. “You fell within the thrall of my magic so easily before, in my ice forest. Over and over again. I pulled you like a puppet on strings, and it was your woman who saved you that day.” She chuckles. “But you don’t remember that, do you? Your mind has betrayed you also. Slipping slowly into madness… you can’t save yourself or your queen.”

“You tricked me,” Sarielle says, shivering in a different way now, her eyes dark with rage. “You’re only free because you lied, and because you sent us to your hell dimension.”

The demon shrugs. “What’s your point, pathetic little queen? Of course I lied. And now your realm is mine. Not just your realm, but all of Aureon, now that the walls are crumbling. I will take this world back to the dark bliss it was at the birth of time, and I will drink in every ounce of suffering and misery…” She throws back her head ecstatically as if she can already taste it.

“I won’t let you do this,” Sarielle growls. “I won’t let you have Valaron.”

“And how exactly are you going to stop me?”

The wall of darkness behind the demon flares and whooshes around us. A great, howling wind rushes into my ears, and on it I can hear the screams of thousands of lost souls that I can only guess are the victims of this foul creature. Images begin to flash through the darkness, terrible, atrocious things. Rotting carcasses and the most vile and disgusting of monsters feeding on the flesh of those still living. Rivers of blood and entrails. People running to escape from something dark and evil, terror in their eyes. Piles of severed limbs and broken bones. It all whirls around us, faster and faster, pressing closer and closer until I can’t draw breath because the darkness is sucking every ounce of my strength…

Then it stops, and we fall to our hands and knees.

The demon stalks slowly toward us, pausing before Sarielle. I try to crawl to put myself between them, but the creature raises a hand, and my body is crushed within a grip of power. Agony lances through me.

“I could kill you, right here and now,” the creature hisses. “But I want you to suffer for a while longer. I want you to realize how powerless you are. I want you to be eaten alive with the knowledge that you released me onto this world, that its people will all suffer as unimaginably painful a final few days as you will. I want you to be here when Valaron falls, so you know that it’s all because of you. And when you have come to the heart-wrenching realization that you are no queen, just a pathetic, selfish girl who is the furthest from anyone who could dare to call themselves queen, and that there is only one true power in this world, one who created every terror and every evil that exists, when you acknowledge who the true master of this place is and you beg me to forgive you for your insolence, then I will let you die and release you from your miserable existence.”

A dark, withered hand reaches out and grabs Sarielle’s chin, forcing her eyes upward.

“You are queen of nothing .”

And then, in the blink of an eye, the darkness and its ruler vanish. The air rushes back into the room, and the shine of distant stars can be seen again beyond the throne.

I pull Sarielle into my arms, crushing her against me. She draws a shuddering breath and buries her face in my shoulder.

“I thought I sensed something,” Xinius says, his tone grave. “A shift in the balance of the realm. But I foolishly thought it was just part of the other chaos.” He shakes his head. “ Isthsharyn . If she is free…”

“Isthsharyn?” I ask.

“Few know her true name. She is known to most simply as Mother of Darkness.”

A pulse of shock moves through me. “I thought she was only a tale told to children, a fable…”

Xinius shakes his head. “I think we all saw that she is very much flesh and blood.”

“Can she be killed?” Sarielle asks. “Or are we doomed?”

“It has always been fated that the world will end,” Xinius says after a long pause. “As all worlds do, eventually. There is nothing that lasts forever.” Another long silence. “If Isthsharyn is here, then perhaps that time has come for Valaron. But there is always hope, Sarielle. This makes the task at hand even more impossible than it already was, but if there was no hope at all, the world would already be gone. Because a world cannot exist without at least some small hope, some small light against the darkness.”

“Well, then,” Sarielle says, drawing herself up tall, “let us prepare for what’s to come. Isthsharyn will be back, and Avonia, too. We need to speak to the warriors, and the rest of the citizens. Prepare them for what’s to come.”

I feel a wave of awe at her strength and resilience. The demon is wrong. Sarielle was made to be queen. “Yes, there are many preparations to be made. We need to evacuate the citizens—we don’t know when either Avonia or the demon will return. And I will send word for all guardians near here, and any surrounding houses still loyal to the crown.”

“Tonight, I’ll send word through my dreams to Lilette also,” Sarielle says. “She and Owyn must be worried sick since I disappeared.”

“And I will make preparations for the coronation,” Xinius says.

“Coronation?” Sarielle asks, her brows wrinkled.

“You had a wedding,” the sorcerer says, “but you were never properly crowned as queen. These are sacred ceremonies, and they should not be set aside.”

I share Sarielle’s skepticism. “You really think this is the appropriate time?”

“No, hardly,” Xinius says. “But there are ancient rites that will help Sarielle in the battle ahead. It’s not enough to turn the tide of the battle, but it will give her a little extra strength. We need any available advantage.”

“I’ll agree with that,” I say.

“Of course, if you’d like, I can crown you as king also.” The sorcerer’s pale eyes glitter.

“No.” I shake my head. “I gave up my royal title long ago when I took my oath as guardian.”

Sarielle turns away slightly, and I don’t miss the brief look of disappointment that passes across her face. Though I don’t remember it, I have the distinct feeling we’ve had this discussion before.

“As you wish,” Xinius says. “Sarielle alone will be crowned. The ritual will take place tomorrow at sunset.”

We work through the night to prepare for the battles ahead that will determine our destiny.

While Sarielle gathers a small contingent of palace servants to help her go through the city and spread news of the evacuation orders, I round up the warriors we’d released from the dungeons below the palace, a scant fifty or so who had survived the attack from Avonia the month before. Their bodies are gaunt from malnourishment and their expressions haunted. But all men crave redemption and revenge.

By light of the moon, and under the watchful gaze of Astherius, I address the small crowd.

“You are all free now, and if you choose to leave this place, I will not stop you. But hear what I have to say before you decide.” I pace back and forth in front of them, my eyes scanning their faces. “The throne of Valaron was stolen by a traitor, someone who only seeks power, someone who is even as we speak expanding her conquest through the rest of Aureon. She defied the very laws of magic, utilizing power so dark it tore apart the fabric of our realm. Valaron may not survive. It may be too late for all of us.”

Murmurs ripple across the courtyard, but I raise my voice even louder, letting it echo across the stone.

“But you have a choice to make! You can hide and wait for the end. Or you can join me, and our true queen, and help us take back what is ours. And when I say ours, I mean all of us, not just the queen. Sarielle is kind and just, and she seeks peace across our realm. Help us make this last stand against our enemies, and even if we do not succeed, we will know that we fell as protectors of this realm, protectors of its people!”

This time, a small cheer rises up. The fear in the faces before me turns to hope. Doubt turns to resolution.

“Look behind me!” I gesture toward Astherius, who towers above me, half the height of the palace itself, dark and formidable. “Only a true queen could command a creature so ancient and powerful and cunning as this. A queen that is powerful and deadly. A queen to fight for, and a queen to die for. Let us send a message to those who challenge us that we will not go quietly. Let us vanquish our enemies and warn anyone else who may think they can claim what is ours!”

A roar of agreement rings out across the courtyard, and I feel a strange warmth in my chest. I have lived such a solitary life as a guardian, and now, on the steps of the palace I was meant to preside over, I realize there is a community here, a fellowship that I’ve missed out on all these years traveling the land.

I spend the rest of the night planning battle strategies with my tiny army, and when dawn breaks, Sarielle returns, looking weary but satisfied.

“The city has been emptied, and everyone is on their way to an encampment in the mountains a few miles from here. Except for those behind me.” She waves to a few dozen people in tow, a small smile on her face. “This group, while not warriors, has refused to leave, and bravely volunteered to help with the defense of the city. Healers, blacksmiths, builders, and others who can help us.”

I nod and wave to the scrappy group of people behind their queen. They enter the courtyard, and I introduce them to the warriors, and we set everyone to their tasks. Astherius flies back to the top tower of the palace since she seems to be making everyone nervous.

I reach out and take Sarielle’s hand. “You look exhausted.”

“No more than you must be.”

“Let’s at least get you something to eat. You didn’t have anything when the warriors ate earlier.”

“Neither did you,” Sarielle points out.

We wander inside and find the massive kitchen in the eastern wing of the palace. We’re lucky there’s still a store of food, and staff to cook it. Avonia had made the wise choice not to murder the people who fed her troops.

Sarielle introduces herself and gives orders for the next meal for all, as well as a feast for the evening ahead, something fit for a coronation. I swipe a small loaf of bread and block of cheese for the two of us, and we wander upstairs to the second floor, where we sit in the wide marble arched windows overlooking the courtyard. The smell of smoke and cooking meat wafts up to us.

“Here, eat,” I say, handing Sarielle a chunk of bread and cheese.

I watch as she begins, then take a bite myself. Such a simple meal, but it seems a luxury after everything that’s happened the last few days.

“Have you seen Xinius?” Sarielle asks between bites.

I shake my head. “No. He’s off being mysterious, as sorcerers are oft to do.”

“I wonder what he means about the coronation strengthening me,” she says, her brow wrinkled in contemplation.

“Well, he said the queen was tied to the realm. I’m sure it just tightens that bond. Making it more official.”

She locks eyes with me a moment, opens her mouth, and then closes it again.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Sarielle…”

She sighs. “I wish you would reconsider being crowned at my side. Valaron could use a queen and a king.”

“I am not king material.” I shake my head. “I am not worthy. You are more than enough to rule Valaron.”

“But you are worthy, Zyren.” She slides closer to me, intertwining her fingers with mine. “I wish you could see it.”

“Sarielle…” I close my eyes, trying to find the right words.

Agony suddenly washes over me. I fall sideways onto the floor, and the room spins. As if from a mile away, I hear Sarielle scream, see a flash of movement as she stands over me…

And then there is nothing.