Page 3 of Castle of Nevers and Nightmares

“Wait for her,” he urges. “Wait and prepare. She will come.”

“Our fated queen hates us,”I reply.“She called us monsters. What if Emrys is right, and she’s no better than the others?”

“She doesn’t know us.”

“But she rejected us.”

His face tilts a fraction and his eyes lock with mine. The soul-crushing hole in my heart grows deeper as a seal is placed at Emrys’s feet. His presence winks out. Oblivion nips at our heels.

“When she comes,”Varen murmurs into my mind.“When her heart opens to ours, we will walk in her light for eternity. For this, I make the sacrifice.”

“Sacrifice?”

Varen breaks eye contact to watch another seal being laid on the ground. Styx’s blue-pink skin pulls taut in fear. His long, curved horns slowly diminish. His tail and wings evaporate.

Dread knots in my stomach. His presence winks out, and his otherness disintegrates into the mundane.

“Your faith in me is misplaced,”I send to Varen, struggling against my restraints. “I am the Fifth. Give this responsibility to someone else. Make me the sacrifice.”

“Don’t let them see your true self,”he instructs.“Feed within the smoke. Keep the Wild Hunt hidden. Follow the rules, no matter how painful. And above all else, wait.”

“Why me?”

“You may be the Fifth, Fox, but you were the first to understand true freedom.”A smirk touches Varen’s lips as a seal is placed at his feet.“Catch our falling star, give her your heart, and she will guide us home.”

I am alone.

Druidic chanting rises to a crescendo. A stone seal lowers into my field of vision, and my death rattle rages. I don’t want this. It shouldn’t be me—the one who recklessly heads into danger, who acts first and thinks last. So I lash out—wings, tail, and stubby horns that never quite grew as long as Styx’s.

I clash with a nearby druid. It takes Titania by surprise. She fumbles. The final seal spills from her fingers and rolls left to thud against Varen’s disc. He frowns in confusion, fathomless eyes now human.

But the disc is right there. I lurch forward, reaching with taloned black fingertips. To my shock, my metaphysical leash gives, and I almost connect with the disc.

“Get the seal!” Titania shrieks, turning the full effect of her power back toward me, reining me in. Her magic smells familiar, yet foreign. I am yanked harshly back into place and forced to my knees. Dainty fingers with colorful nails place the final seal before my feet.

The chanting stops. Everyone holds their breath.

“Is it done?” someone dares to ask.

“Wait,” another snaps. “We must be sure.”

Wait . . . that is what Varen instructed.

Varen, whose disc now sits beneath my face, somehow mixed up during my attack. They believe I am sealed, yet he has been twice bound instead.

Don’t let them see your true self.

Yes, we have changed. Titania was our first queen, but we have had many since. We have taken on a magical trait from each. Before, we could only wear glamour. Now... I shift my monstrous parts into myself, hiding the truth from judgmental eyes. Horns, tail, wings, talons. It all melts beneath my skin.

Relief exhales around the cave.

“It is done,” Titania says with a sigh.

Part One

Elphyne

Chapter

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