Page 6 of Queen of Stars and Shadows

“I can try again tonight, in my dreams,” I say. “Try to get another clue as to where everyone has been taken.”

“We’ll certainly do everything in our power to find them,” Asher says, his voice a deep rumble of power. As it shivers over me, I wonder yet again what magic he possesses. Zara’s shadowmagic feels closer to mine, but his… his is something entirely different.

“At dawn, we’ll go find Harken, and begin tracking those that are missing,” Zara says.

I feel a fracture in my heart. I might actually be able to find Lilette, to save her from whatever darkness has fallen over this place. But in doing so, I draw further away from Zyren.

“Let me prepare dinner, then you can rest,” Uitan says, getting up from her chair.

“Do you have maps of this land?” Owyn asks her.

She nods and points toward the library. “In the trunk in the corner of the room.”

Uitan heads to the kitchen, and Owyn retrieves a large map, returning a few minutes later to roll it out on the table after we clear the tray of drinks. We spend the next hour familiarizing ourselves with the realm. The layout of Eldare on a map I of course am intimately familiar with… I’d spent countless hours in my childhood poring over every map I could get my hands on, dreaming of life beyond the palace walls. Now, however, it’s odd to look at it from an entirely different perspective. Never in a thousand years had I dreamed my life would take the turn it had. I may have spent the beginning of my life behind those walls, but now I had seen not one world, but two.

Zara points out where we are on the map, which is about fifty miles southwest of the Amethyst Palace, in the far southern corner of Eldare, framed by the sea. The place I grew up sits roughly at the center of the small realm, and the royal palace, where the king and queen of Eldare reside, is due north of that another fifty miles. Not far beyond the royal palace is the border of the realm, where it joins with the rest of Aureon.

“And you are from Eldare, too?” Owyn asks Zara and Asher.

She shakes her head. “No. We hail from the City of Night. Far, far on the other side of Aureon.”

I stiffen in surprise. I’d heard of that place, as had everyone else in Aureon—the place where the wild magic was trapped for over two centuries, depriving the other realms of magic. Until just over two decades ago, when it had been released and returned to the other realms.

“Maybe one day you will tell me your story, too,” I say.

A smile moves over her lips. She looks over at Asher, who smiles at her with such love it makes my heart twist painfully. “Perhaps we will.”

“It is quite the tale,” he adds.

Uitan summons us to dinner shortly thereafter, a simple but delicious meal of hearty stew and savory muffins, and after that we are shown to the guest rooms. Zara and Asher share one, and Owyn and I each have our own. I realize, as I shut the door behind me and strip down to my undergarments, that I’m utterly exhausted. It seems it’s been the longest day of my life. I’d woken thinking I would have to marry a lord from the Court of Memory to gain the army I needed to defeat Avonia, only to haveherarmy arrive and capture us. I’d been held captive, seen Zyren’s brother resurrected from the dead, and watched a dear friend die before me. And that was all before traveling to another realm and losing my husband to a madness that was entirely my fault.

My body feels numb and lifeless as I go to the small basin in the room and begin to sponge myself clean with cold water. I stare sightlessly at myself in the small mirror, my long silvery hair, my golden eyes, my pale, pale skin. I’d read about the curse in my family book, the history of House Otreyas. I’d known what would happen if an heir of House Lyonian fell in love with an heir from House Otreyas, and both possessed nightmare blood, a trait that skipped most fae in both bloodlines. A trait started two thousand years ago when my ancestor fell in love with a nightmare and the bloodlines first mixed…

I’d just never thought Zyren would actually fall in love with me.

And I’d been so tragically wrong.

The part that terrifies me most, however, isn’t that Zyren has gone mad and lost all memory of me. It’s the last part of the curse. The part where that madness leads eventually to death. I have to find a way to fix this. Ihaveto, if it’s the last thing I do. Even if it means forsaking my realm and my duty as queen.

Because I’d rather the whole world perish than live in one without Zyren.

When I climb beneath the covers of the small bed, illuminated by a pool of moonlight coming in the lone window, I beg for sleep to take me. Because for years now, my guardian has been with me each night, either in my dreams or by my side. He may not remember me now, but I have power over my dreams, and I will find him, as he found me night after night. As he watched over me countless times.

Sleep claims me quickly, but it seems ages later, searching mist-shrouded landscapes and shadowy terrain, that I finally catch sight of him.

Zyren stands a few yards away, silvery clouds clinging to his tall form, rippling his black cloak about his ankles. He’s facing away from me, and when I call to him, he spins, surprised. His pewter-colored eyes narrow, and he stiffens. But he doesn’t run. He just watches me, a wary expression on his face.

The relief I feel seeing him, even if only in dreams, is overwhelming.

The fog swirling around us parts slightly, moving around a circle of small boulders with runes carved on the top. My heart leaps—I know where he is now, I’d seen it on the map earlier. A set of old ruins to the north. An abandoned castle said to be occupied once by the fae, something I thought as a child was only a myth until I found out that I myself am fae. If we can getstarted early enough in the morning, maybe we can catch up to him…

As I watch him, hope flaring, Zyren lifts an arm toward me, as if beckoning…

But his eyes are cold and distant, and I realize he’s fading, he’s shutting me out of his dreamscape.

“Zyren!” I cry, my voice echoing through the darkness. It feels like a knife in my gut, an emptiness so vast, I can’t draw breath.

My guardian—my husband—turns, and he walks away from me, leaving me alone in my dreams for the first time in as long as I can remember.

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