Page 59 of Court of Bone and Amethyst

I open the door, my eyes lighting instantly on Owyn, who is stepping out of his room with a perplexed look. “Did you hear the horns? They’re not leaving without us, are they?”

“I don’t know,” I say, shaking my head, my jaw tight. I don’t have a good feeling about this, whatever it is. “Let’s go find out.”

We stride through the castle. The few windows to the outside reveal that it’s still dark, though the sky has that haziness that announces the approach of dawn. It should be another hourat least until we march. Was the second set of horns just a latecomer from the northern armies who didn’t make it in time for the ball last night?

When we reach the courtyard, we find a state of chaos. By torchlight I can see warriors running back and forth, half-dressed, some still strapping on their swords. Most of them are massing behind the main gate in the distance. In the village, people are poking their heads out their windows, looks of bewilderment on their faces. Several loose horses gallop in front of us, a stable hand clearly having lost control of them.

It snowed overnight, and it’s still coming down lightly now, sparks of diamond against the dusky purple sky. Everything is dusted in white, and small banks of crystalline powder collect in odd places, driven by the wind. Frost bites my cheeks and tries to make its way under my cloak. Above the noise in the courtyard, I can hear a clamor beyond the gate, the sound of a very large army.

I see Baron Ethanas making his way across the courtyard toward the gate, a stern look on his face. “Stay here,” I tell Sarielle, and I start after him.

“I will not,” she barks, following me. Owyn and Merla follow as well.

When we reach the back of the crowd gathered at the gate, I slip in between people, following the path the baron has carved through his men. He heads for the tower on the left side of the gate. I move faster so I don’t lose him, and I catch up as he begins to climb the steps into the tower. He turns when he hears my footsteps, and his eyes widen when he sees Sarielle behind me.

“Sarielle, go back to your room,” he commands. “I will retrieve you shortly, after I see what’s going on.”

My chest tightens. That means it’s not one of the northern armies arriving late.

“Excuse you?” Sarielle growls, her expression turning deadly. “I will do no such thing.”

The baron’s eyes narrow. “The Queen of Valaron, and my future wife, should not risk her life so foolishly.Stay here.”

“Is this how you always address women, let alone women who outrank you?” I ask, my tone darker than the sky. It takes all my strength not to cut him down where he stands.

He makes a gesture to the warriors on either side of Sarielle, but she has her shadows up and around her before they can lay a hand on her. “Touch me and you will regret it,” she snarls. The men blanch and look to their leader.

A look of fury flashes over the baron’s face. “We will address your disobedience later. Just stay in the stairwell so you’re not a target.”

He rushes up the steps. For a moment, I think Sarielle is going to blast him with her magic, but she seems to decide that whatever is outside the gate is more important. We follow him up into the tower. When we reach the top, we pause in the doorway, looking out across the walkway between battlements, and beyond, to the snowy plains leading up to the castle.

There, black and red against the pure white snow, is an army stretching as far as my eyes can see in the pre-dawn light.

Only one person possesses an army of this size.Avonia. How had she known we were here? Sarielle killed all the nightmares that attacked us. Or at least I thought she had. Had she missed one, or was this just a lucky guess? It’s an insane journey to make based on a hunch.

A horrifying thought washes over me. Had she found where the survivors from Selaye and House Lyonian were hiding in Valor’s Keep and killed them all? Tortured an answer from someone?

The baron’s voice booms out across the battlement to his warriors. “Have they said or done anything, after sounding their horns to announce themselves?”

“No, my lord,” one of the warriors responds. “They sounded the horns and since then they’ve just been standing there.”

The army is set back from the castle walls, beyond the moat a couple hundred feet. No doubt they don’t want to be beset upon by arrows, catapults, or magic. It’s eerie, however, how still they’re all standing. I can make out the warriors in the dim light, all at attention, eyes forward, arms straight at their sides. It’s like they’re waiting for something.

Footsteps ring behind me and Esbella pushes her way past Sarielle to join her nephew. He turns, his eyes widening. “My queen! It’s not safe here. You should step back into the stairwell.”

“Hush,” she says, her voice emanating with absolute power, silencing him with one word. She gazes out across the scene before her for several long moments, then turns to sweep her gaze over me and Sarielle. “Well, I suppose this doesn’t change much. Now we don’t have to travel to meet them. And our position is highly defensible.”

Sarielle nods. “That is true.”

“But why are they just standing there?” Esbella muses, echoing my thoughts from moments before, her brow crinkled with consternation.

Silence falls for several moments, and then, far off in the distance, I see movement, a flash of something in the dark. In the same breath, Sarielle lets out a gasp of horror. I tear my eyes from the sky ahead for a moment, spinning my gaze to hers. “What is—”

And then I feel it. A nightmare, one of the ancients, like the one Sarielle had killed. Avonia had freedanother?

A strange sound rends the sky, like a great wind cutting across the plains. Avonia’s warriors ripple, their stoic formation shifting ever so slightly. I realize then, a moment before it comes into view, what the sound is. It’s the sound of wings, massive wings beating down the air, slicing through the sky.

It comes into view, the biggest nightmare I have ever seen. It looks somewhat like a dragon, but no one looking at the thing could mistake it for an ordinary dragon, not with eyes that are spinning vortexes, a mouth that could be a portal to another world. And its wings… its wings are huge black spiny things, but between the bones and joints, glowing galaxies can be seen. The size isn’t what makes my heart tremble in my chest, however. This creature feels older and more eternal than anything I’ve ever encountered in all my centuries here in Valaron.

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