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

Sarielle

Chapter Thirty-Five

Sarielle

I cling to Zyren as the earth begins to rumble beneath our feet. The air has mostly cleared, a breeze carrying the dust away over the mountains to the south. Nightmares swirl in the sky above us, shrieking and calling to each other.

“I mean it,” I say. “I always knew there was a slim chance I would survive this. But to know that you remember our time together, all of it, the whole history of us…” My words cut off, choked by tears.

“I never forgot you,” Zyren replies, rubbing his thumb across my cheek. “Not truly. My heart and my soul knew you. My body knew you. You were always mine.”

“And you mine,” I whisper, pressing my forehead to his.

He kisses me, and I can feel eternity in that kiss. We will exist in this place, long after the world crumbles. Our love will survive.

Overhead, the nightmares begin to shriek more loudly, in anger and agitation. I pull away from Zyren and look out across the courtyard, then further, into the street leading up to the gates. Something moves in the darkness there, and as I watch, two figures emerge from the shadows.

Owyn and Lilette.

Horror spikes through my chest. I turn from Zyren and run down the steps toward them. I can feel him right on my heels. I reach them at the gate of the courtyard.

“You shouldn’t have come,” I say with a sob. “Valaron is dying. There isn’t much time left.”

“There’s a rift not far from here,” Zyren says. “If you hurry…”

“No,” Owyn says. “The rift collapsed shortly after we traveled through it.”

I pull Lilette against me, shuddering against her as tears spill from my cheeks. “I wanted to save you,” I whisper. “And now I’ve doomed you.”

“You did save me,” she says. “And now it’s my turn. I brought something for you.”

She steps back. My eyes travel to the object she’s holding in her hand. A book. Not just any book, but the book of House Otreyas. My family’s history and spell book.

“How did you…” I gasp, eyes wide.

“Remember, you’re not the only one who possesses magic, my queen,” Owyn says. “We knew you’d need this. Well, Lilette did.”

I shake my head. “Merging the realms is the only thing that can save Valaron, and our sorcerer, Xinius, is dead. I don’t know how to perform the spell.”

“But your family does,” Lilette says. She presses the book into my hands. “Let them guide you.”

The faintest spark of hope blossoms in my heart. Could she be right?

With trembling hands, I begin to turn the pages of the book. No sooner have I touched the old, ocher-hued paper lined with black ink than I remember the spell I’m looking for. I flip to around the middle of the book, and I find it.

Spell to Cross Between Worlds

A source of great power is needed; death magic, a celestial event, or a great sacrifice

Imbue a dagger with this power

Cut the sky until you find the path

Mental focus is key, or you may cross into the wrong world

The way will only stay open for fifty heartbeats

Zyren is watching over my shoulder. “But that’s a spell to create a new rift between realms.”

“I know,” I say. “But it’s the same premise, just much, much larger. I need to widen all the rifts until there’s no wall left between Valaron and the rest of Aureon. We have death magic—Valaron itself is dying.” I pause and look up at him. “I’ll create my own spell.”

“Will this work?” Zyren asks Owyn.

“I don’t know,” Owyn says. “But if anyone can do it, the Queen of Valaron can.”

“I’m going to help,” Zyren says, grasping hands with me.

“Our magic is here, too,” Lilette says, and Owyn nods.

The rumble in the earth beneath us intensifies, and in the distance, I see several mountains crumble into nothing. The sky flickers from night to day, and then back to night again.

“You’re almost out of time,” Owyn says.

Holding the book before me, the fingers of my other hand intertwined with Zyren’s, I summon my magic. All of it. The light, the dark, and everything in between. My inner nightmare surges upward, and I feel Zyren’s join her. Fully this time, like I’ve never felt his nightmare before. Shadows swirl up and around us, and in the distance, the other nightmares begin an urgent cry like a chant, answering the call of their queen.

I close my eyes and focus my magic on the rifts, starting with the one closest to us. I let my senses move outward, my nightmare guiding me, as I find all the others. Dozens, then hundreds. Some large, some tiny fractures. I push outward with my magic until I become Valaron, until my body is the realm, and the realm is my body.

And then I push more.

I begin to shake as the swell of magic within me intensifies. I’ve never felt this much power in my life, nor have I ever felt this much drain. My hair flies out behind me and my bones feel as if they’re liquifying. My skin feels as if it’s stretched too far, the vessel that if my body expanding outward. It feels as if I’ve devoured the sun and the moon and an entire ocean.

Just when I feel like I’m going to tear apart at the seams, I scream the words of my spell.

“Join together that which was once one

“Reunite earth and dreams

“Reunite light and dark

“Reforge that which was broken!”

I feel Zyren’s magic along with my own, and I feel Lilette’s and Owyn’s. I also feel the power of the book, of all my ancestors, join with mine. I feel Valaron in my own heartbeat. I feel the wall between realms begin to crack, and as it does, agony shoots through my body. Zyren holds me up as my legs buckle. It feels like I am being undone, just as Valaron is being undone.

But in the darkness of death there is light.

The wall shatters and I feel a rush of power as Valaron merges with Aureon once more.

And then it is done.

Night switches back to day, naturally this time, and Zyren pulls me against him. “You did it, my love. You saved Valaron.”

“ We saved Valaron,” I whisper.