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

Sarielle

Chapter Thirty-Three

Sarielle

F or several long moments that feel like an eternity, I can’t get to my feet. Everything is shaking so intensely I can barely focus on anything. Through the blur, I see a mountain peak behind the palace being shorn in two, half of it sliding and crashing down into the rest of the mountain range, and then a huge cloud of dust rolls over Selaye and the world goes gray.

I’m forced to close my eyes to protect them, but even blind, I can feel what’s happening.

I can feel the world tearing asunder.

I can feel the barrier to the nightmare’s territory weakening, cracking, dissolving entirely.

I can feel the wild glee of the released creatures as they burst through.

And I can feel the evil presence that radiates just paces away from me, a darkness that devours all light, all life.

A scream fills the air. I risk a glance through the dust spinning around me, and I see that Avonia’s fallen to her knees. A dark shadow looms behind her. It’s not Isthsharyn, but another demon. They have the same dark energy, the same ancient, terrifying presence, but I can tell this one is different.

Whatever it planted inside Avonia is now fighting to claw its way out of her.

“You’re pulling too much magic, Avonia!” I scream. “Shut it out!”

A cry of agony rips out of her, and she goes down on all fours, but she swings her head to look at me, hatred burning in her eyes. “I can control it!” she snarls. “All of Aureon will be mine .”

“All of Aureon will be destroyed,” I gasp. “Stop! Now !”

“No!”

“You can’t control a demon!” I plead. “You’re just a pawn, Avonia!”

“I will never surrender to you,” she growls.

Her last words prove true, because a moment later her body twists unnaturally and she falls limp and lifeless outside the palace doors. It is not a child but a shadow that rises from her body, a demon. It moves to stand beside the first demon. There’s another terrible sound, either the earth splitting or a mountain crumbling, or…

The palace itself.

The left half of it shears off and crumbles to nothing before my eyes. Rocks fly all around me, but somehow, the majority of it misses me, and I’m left lying on the steps leading to the doors of the palace, the rubble of the collapse no more than fifteen feet away from me. When the dust clears slightly, I look up, my heart hammering in my chest. The throne room is gone.

Xinius and the other sorcerers are buried beneath the wreckage of the palace, nothing but a huge pile of shattered stone.

It’s over.

Avonia is dead, but Valaron is ending, too, and there’s nothing I can do now to stop it.

After the last of the rumbling stops, the courtyard is eerily silent. Is Zyren still alive? Are any of the warriors? Night sky can be seen overhead through the clouds of dust, but there are no stars. Only darkness.

I can feel the burning shadowy presence of the two demons behind me, their gazes hot on my back. At any moment, they could end me, end any threat to their plans. Not that I pose any real threat to anyone right now.

Then I hear the sound of shuffling footsteps drawing near. For a moment, my heart leaps in hope. But then I sense another wave of magic, and horror rises in my gut.

“I see you’ve met my mate, pathetic little queen,” croons Isthsharyn. She moves into view before me, her half-beautiful, half-ruined form. “What, no greeting? No words of welcome?”

Somehow, I still have the strength within me to glare up at her.

“Ahh, good. You still have fight left. I would be oh so bored if you’d already given up.”

The demon walks in a slow circle around me.

“Remember my words to you in the throne room? How I promised I’d make you watch the fall of Valaron? To admit that you are a failure as a queen?”

When I don’t respond, she raises a hand, and agony like I’ve never felt before lances through my body. It feels as if I’m being torn into a million pieces, just like Valaron. It feels like I am ending .

She releases it, and I gasp.

“Are you ready to admit it now?”

My voice is weak and hoarse, but I force myself to respond. “I will not submit to you. Not ever.”

She laughs, and pain becomes my entire existence. I can feel the life draining from my body, feel my consciousness slipping away…

“Not too much. I want you awake for this, girl. I want you to feel every ounce of delicious agony.”

“You’ll have to kill me,” I gasp.

“Actually, I don’t.” She chuckles, and the sound climbs up my spine like blades. “I can trap you in a prison in your own mind, enduring endless suffering, watching your people endure endless suffering, watching Valaron fall over and over and over until you slowly go mad. But I can keep your body alive, decade after decade after decade. Centuries, even, with your very long fae life. How does that sound?”

And the last thing I see is all three demons closing in around me, their darkness shrouding all else.