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

Zyren

Chapter Thirty-One

Zyren

I cut down the last warrior of the cluster that attacked me, and spin to get my bearings. The courtyard is a mass of bodies locked in deadly embraces. Every time a pair faces off, only one walks away.

Blood coats the stones as if it’s been raining rivulets of red. Nightmares scream and shriek overhead, tearing each other to bits. My own inner nightmare claws within me, begging to be released. Craving the blood and the chaos and the darkness. I shove it back inside, but I’m not sure how much longer I can battle the enemy without and the enemy within.

And then, as I spin, I see him. Jonavus.

He’s five strides away at most. His eyes are already fixated on mine, he’d clearly been cutting through the crowd toward me. We look so alike, it’s as if I’m looking in a mirror. It’s the eyes that are different, blue instead of steel gray. Dead and emotionless. It’s a wonder I hadn’t seen him for what he was before. I’d wanted so desperately for my brother to be alive; I’d ignored what was right in front of me.

The crowd parts as if to bring us together, and then we’re standing face to face.

“Have you come to kill me?” I ask.

He smiles, cruel and cutting like the blades whirling around us. “Do you think you deserve it?”

I shake my head. “No. I fell in love. I won’t apologize for that. Sarielle made her choice, too, and she has that right.”

“You told me as much outside the Court of Memory,” Jonavus says. “But of course, you don’t remember that now.”

“I may not remember much of recent years, brother, but what I do remember is that you were never malicious. Never devoid of morals.” I cock my head to the side, appraising. “Arrogant, perhaps. Entitled. But you had a good heart. Is it still in there anywhere?”

“Heart? No. I have no heart, brother .” He snarls the word as if it’s poison. “You broke it years ago when you let that dark creature kill our youngest sibling. And you shattered the fractured pieces left of it when you stole my bride.”

“So, you’ve truly hated me all these years? Ever since Tomyn died?” I haven’t spoken the name of my younger brother in centuries, and a shiver moves over me.

“How could I not? It’s your own vileness, your own dirty blood that killed him. The monster that lives inside you. ”

I feel an intense swell of sorrow in my gut, but also a release. A knowledge that there is no changing my brother’s mind. No going back. “I’m sorry it’s like this between us,” I say. “I’m sorry that you are my enemy.”

“Your choices led to this,” he growls.

“No.” I shake my head and tighten my grip on my sword. “It’s your choices that led us here. You chose to hate me because of my blood. You chose to turn against me and Sarielle. And now you fight for Avonia, though I realize she controls you. The brother I knew before would never have given his crown to a traitor.”

“It doesn’t matter, in the end.” Jonavus eyes me with hot hatred. “We are here, and your illegitimate queen will be dethroned today.”

A swirl of shadows moves around me. “You must know I will never let that happen.”

“You can’t win this fight,” my brother growls. “You are vastly outnumbered.”

“Sarielle commands one of the most ancient nightmares in existence. She’s worth half your force easily.”

Jonavus smiles. “Oh, but is she?”

The look on his face sends a spike of dread through my veins. I look up, my gaze spinning across the battle to see where Sarielle is. I’d been so distracted by my brother that now I realize the trap, and I pray it’s not too late.

But no sooner have the words moved through my head than I hear the sickening twang of a catapult.

A giant boulder flies through the air, released from the catapult that had been slowly wheeled up the path to the courtyard while we were all locked in battle. My heart stops as my gaze follows its arc through the air. And then I see the terminus of that arc, the giant winged beast that swoops down, oblivious to the threat.

“Sarielle!” I yell.

The boulder collides with Astherius, hitting her in the shoulder. She plummets from the sky, and I see Sarielle fall off sideways. They’re a good fifty feet above the courtyard. They fall, Astherius hitting first with a horrific boom , and Sarielle a moment later. I lose sight of her body as she lands amidst the throng of warriors locked in combat.

I lunge forward, but Jonavus blocks my path.

“Not today, brother,” he leers with a sick smile. “Ever the hero. But today, you have failed . If she is still alive, which I seriously doubt, I will make sure she suffers unimaginably until she draws her last breath. I can promise you that.”

“And I promise you those will be among the last words you utter in this life,” I growl.

Twisting my sword, I thrust it toward him, but he sidesteps, whipping up his own blade to block me.

“We were always equally matched with a blade,” Jonavus says, the manic grin still on his face.

“That’s because I was holding back.”

I parry again, and this time I draw blood along his left shoulder. My brother’s eyes narrow slightly, and then he comes at me with everything he’s got.

We go round and round. The rest of the battle rages around us, but our battle seems the nucleus of it all, the black heart that beats for everyone in this courtyard. Images flash through my head. Jonavus, Tomyn, and I as boys, me as the eldest showing them how to fish. Sitting around the dinner table with our parents, Jonavus making a joke that our mother scolded him for. Riding our horses too fast through the mountain passes every day of summer.

It seems impossible that it has all come to this.

But even if I don’t remember the day it happened, I know the truth. My brother is already dead. Both of them are. And there’s nothing I can do now to fix that fated past.

I spin and drive my blade upward, spearing Jonavus right below the ribs. His eyes go wide and he falls toward me. I catch him, and we lock gazes for one long moment.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “For all of it.”

His eyes empty of life, and then I step back, letting my brother’s body fall to the stones of the courtyard.

I break into a run, moving toward the dark mass that is Astherius. She seems to be moving slightly, but I don’t see Sarielle anywhere.

I’ve gone ten paces when agony abruptly surges through my body. I grab my head in my hands, staggering and crashing into a horse next to me. Not now, not now, not now …

Blackness takes me.