Tale of the Heart Queen (Artefacts of Ouranos #4)

Chapter 61

C HAPTER 61

NADIR

U NDER THE B ELTZA M OUNTAINS

A fter what feels like a century, the magic pinning me down finally dissipates. “Lor!” I shout down the tunnel, but it’s been at least twenty minutes, and I’m sure my father is long gone.

Willow’s restraints disappear as she slumps against me. Though she’s unconscious, she appears unharmed, her chest moving steadily up and down. Morana and Khione’s restraints also melt away, and they pace back and forth, snarling into the darkness that swallowed my father and Lor.

I look up the tunnel at the way we came, and I have to make a decision. I need to go after Lor, but I also know she would be furious if I left her sister lying here alone and helpless.

After scrambling to my feet, I heave Willow into my arms and start running up the path the way we came.

“Help!” I roar at the top of my lungs. “Help!”

Gods, someone else has to be close.

Finally, I see two figures moving in the dark and nearly collapse in relief when Mael and Tristan emerge from the shadows.

“What happened?” Tristan demands as I transfer Willow into his arms. I explain as quickly as I can.

“I need your sword,” I say to Mael.

“What are you planning to do?”

I hold out my hand and shake my arm. “Go after her, of course! Give it to me.”

“You can’t do this alone,” he says as he drags the weapon from its sheath.

“Get Willow checked out,” I say to Tristan. “Lor will never forgive me if anything happens to her.”

“I’m coming with you,” Mael says, clutching his blade in his fist.

My lips thin as I face him. “No, you’re not. It’s too dangerous.”

“Nadir—”

“No. You aren’t coming. My father didn’t kill me when he had the chance, but he will kill you to punish me, Mael. I’m not taking that risk.”

I hold out my hand again, and he passes me the sword, his expression clouded with displeasure as my dogs trot over and stand next to me. His mouth opens, but before he can protest any further, I wave my hand, erecting bars of light across the tunnel, leaving them all trapped on the other side.

“Nadir!” Mael shouts, thrusting his shoulder against the shield, but it remains firm. “Don’t do this! He will kill you too.”

My throat tightens, and I reach through the barricade for Mael. We clasp forearms as I stare at my best friend. “Thank you for being the brother I never had,” I say. “For being with me during some of the worst days of my life. And thank you for helping put me back together.”

Mael’s dark eyes shine in the glow of my magic as he shakes his head. “I should be the one thanking you. For everything.”

I squeeze his hand as a ball of emotion presses the backs of my eyes and then dip my head. “It has been an honor to be your friend, Captain.”

Mael runs a hand down his face. “Fuck. Don’t do that. Don’t get yourself killed.”

“I can’t promise that. Take care of Amya for me?”

“Of course,” he answers after a long pause.

I nod and look at Tristan holding Willow in his arms.

“Please find her,” he says to me in a raw voice as he clutches his sister closer.

“I will try until there is no breath left in my body.”

Tristan stares at me and blinks. “I know that. I know you would do anything for her.”

With one more glance at Mael, I dip my chin.

“Go and get your girl,” he whispers as we release our hold. “I love you. ”

“I love you too.”

Then I spin around and barrel down the tunnel with Morana and Khione at my side, praying that wasn’t really our last goodbye.

Winding down into the mountain, the darkness closes in on me, my ice hounds keeping close at my heels. They prowl on silent paws, their hackles raised. I have the map we found in my father’s study in my pocket, and I pull it out, banking on the fact that he took Lor this way.

It feels like it takes hours—I have no sense of the day or time buried under miles of stone—but eventually, I’m spit out into a cavern with a ceiling that soars high overhead. At the far end stands a wide opening and a tunnel beyond glowing with bright luminescent lights. I blink and shake my head because this seems impossible .

Is this really the Underworld? How could my father do this? My desire to kill him increases tenfold. I will not allow him to live after this. He has spent his entire life hating me, attempting to carve away every sliver of joy I might find. But taking Lor from me to be delivered to this devil? Some actions can be answered only with the end of a sword.

I approach slowly, and a deep-seated instinct tells me this is the end of everything. All the years and months of chasing this hazy future I’ve been imagining will come down to whatever lies beyond this doorway.

As I stand at the threshold, studying the luminescence beyond, I understand I’m about to go to a place from which I might never return. I once told Lor I’d follow her into the fires of the Underworld if that’s what it took. I never expected to mean that literally .

But I did mean it, so I won’t hesitate. This might truly be the end, but I have to try. I could never live with myself otherwise. I’d rather be dead than live in a world without her. I refuse to let her down.

“Wait here,” I tell Morana and Khione. They whine in protest, but they obey the command as I take a step, crossing into the unknown. With my sword raised at the ready, I touch the walls, my fingers coming away coated with a layer of shimmering dust. My mind spins with the sheer impossibility of all of this, but it’s here, and it’s real.

“Lor,” I whisper. “I’m coming. Hold on, my queen. My heart. My mate. I’m coming.”

With one look back over my shoulder, I take a deep breath and plunge into the tunnel, hoping there’s the slightest chance we’re ever coming back out.