Page 19 of Queen of Stars and Shadows

“Excellent point.” I sigh. “I just wish I knew where the others were.” I stand and walk to the front of my cell, looking up anddown the narrow row. “Zyren!” I call in a low voice. It echoes through the stone corridor. “Zara! Asher!”

There’s no reply, so I try again a few moments later. Nothing.

“My magic may be weakened here,” I mumble, “but I still may be able to do something as simple as break us out of these cells.” I turn my gaze to Lilette. “Your magic might, also.”

A range of expressions moves over her face. Up until now, she, like I once did, believed that her magic should only be used in rituals under the watchful eye of the High Priest. He’d manipulated all of us for so long.

“It’s okay,” I say, giving her an encouraging smile. “Your magic isyours.Yours alone. It was never meant to be controlled by anyone, least of all that deceitful man.”

Lilette worries her lower lip between her teeth for a moment, then nods in determination. “I’ll try.”

“That’s the benefit of living in a land where almost no one possesses magic,” I say with a shrug. “It will never have occurred to them that we can bust ourselves out of here.”

I place my hands on the lock at the front of my cell, feeling the rough, rusty metal against my skin, and I call on my power. A faint warmth moves through my chest, and a golden glow emits from my fingers. It’s not much when facing a nightmare, but an old lock is no match for it. After a few moments, I feel the lock break and it falls with a clang to the floor.

Cautiously, I step out into the narrow aisle between the cells, half expecting someone to come running to stop me. But I hear nothing. I turn to see if Lilette is making progress. She has her hands around the lock on her cell as I had, her magic a pale yellow like sunshine. I am once again reminded of Merla, whose magic was the same color. They would have been friends, I have no doubt. A stab of grief slices through me at the thought.

“There!” Lilette says with a triumphant smile as her lock falls to the ground.

She steps out into the corridor to join me. She lifts her gaze to mine, jubilant. I remember that feeling well—the freedom when I realized that my magic was mine. That no one could claim it ever again.

And just like that, my joy crumbles as I hear footsteps moving quickly down the hall.

Lilette’s eyes lock on mine, stricken. I lunge for her lock and place it in her hands. “Put this back on as if you hadn’t broken it,” I whisper urgently. “If I don’t come back, make your escape without me.”

“Sarielle, no—”

I shove her back inside her cell and hang the lock back where it had been, almost closed, but not quite. Then I stride down the hall toward the approaching footsteps.

“You! Stop!” shouts a guard.

I do as instructed, freezing in place. But I don’t cower in fear. I lift my head defiantly. “I am Sarielle Otreyas, Queen of Valaron, and I demand an audience with the king and queen.”

The two guards standing before me look at each other, disbelief written all over their faces. “Valaron? You speak nonsense, girl.”

“Then how do you think I got out of my cell?” I level my gaze on them, letting the full power of it burn brightly. “I possess great magic. Something, I believe, the king and queen are desperate to return to Eldare.”

The guards stare at me a moment, then at each other, clearly unsure how to proceed.

“If they find out you imprisoned a visiting queen from another realm, one who possessed magic that could save this realm, anddidn’t tell them, they will have you both hanged for sure.”

That finally jolts them from their stupor. One of them steps forward and roughly turns me, placing a pair of metal cuffs around my wrists.

“You’re the one who’ll be hanged if you’re lying,” says the other guard as the first spins me back around and shoves me down the corridor.

I suppress a laugh. If they even knew half the enemies I’d faced, and the fate that hangs over me, they’d know that their king and queen were the least of my worries.

As we move through the corridor, I keep careful watch of our distance, and dart my gaze into each cell we pass, hoping to get a glimpse of Zyren or my companions. The prison is quite large. After a hundred paces, we turn left at an intersection. Another hall that seems as long as mine leads into the distance. I get only a glance as we turn away from it.

The corridor we now travel down is shorter, also lined with cells. Up ahead, I see a brighter source of light coming down a set of rough-hewn steps. That way must lead to the ground floor of the building. I doubt very much that the prison ward is located beneath the royal palace, but we must be somewhere nearby.

Just before we reach the steps, I catch sight of a familiar face in a cell to my left. Owyn. His eyes dart up at me as we pass, but I shake my head imperceptibly and he stays quiet. There are two more guards stationed here by his cell, which must be the reason he hadn’t escaped yet. But where are the others, and why hadn’t they made a break for it?

Zara and Asher won’t leave without freeing those who had been abducted by the nightmares, I know that much about them. But Zyren? I’m not so sure he won’t leave me here and go back to his brother and Avonia. He’d been my guardian before he’d been my husband, and his entire existence revolved around my safety. But with his memories gone, he doesn’t remember any of that. I swallow past the bitterness and tears that rise in my throat.

I don’t have time to worry about that now. What was it Lilette had said? I am stronger now, no longer the girl who vanishedfrom the Amethyst Palace. I am aqueen. My heart may be broken, but I have a realm to save first and foremost.

The guards take me up the stairs and out into a bright hallway. After my eyes adjust, I can see that my surroundings are rustic and utilitarian. Undecorated stone walls. Basic wooden tables dotted here and there. Weapons hanging from racks. The smell of stew hanging in the air.

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