Page 16 of Queen of Stars and Shadows

“I know everything, Sarielle,” I say in a low growl. “They told me what you did. Your lies won’t work anymore. Just come quietly.”

The look on her face holds so much betrayal and rage that it feels like a physical slap. “I willnotcome quietly, and if you remembered anything, you’d certainly know that.”

Avonia makes a gesture of impatience with her hand and turns, striding back the way she’d come, Jonavus right behind her. I reach out before Sarielle can argue further and pick her up, hoisting her over my shoulder.

“Zyren!” she screams. “Don’t do this, I’m begging you!”

I ignore her shrieks, and when she starts pounding on my back with her fists, I ignore that, too. Off across the courtyard of the castle ruins, I see a nightmare flee skyward as Sarielle’s companions take out the last of their attackers. But they’re not the ones we came for, they mean nothing to our mission. I care not whether they survive or fall, as long as they don’t get in our way.

My recent memories are still lost to me, but as soon as I’d seen my brother in the forest, I’d known who he was. It was just the two of us after our younger brother died, and our parents a few years after that. He was all I had left by way of family, and family meant everything. Blood meant everything. So of course I’d agreed to help him on his mission, along with his companion.

“You have to believe me,” Sarielle sobs quietly, her body shivering against mine. “He’s not your brother anymore…”

“Quiet!” I snap.

“If you would just listen to me… hear me out…”

“I have no interest in anything you have to say.” She’s so convincing, the heartbreak in her voice so real. The crazy partis, even with everything my brother told me, part of me believes her. I don’t know why, but I do.

Which is why I have to stay strong. Drown out whatever lies she tries to tell me.

“Zyren—”

Whatever Sarielle is about to say is cut short by the blast of trumpets and the sound of galloping hoofbeats. My head whips toward the sound.

There, illuminated by moonlight, a battalion of riders gallops down the valley toward the castle.

Chapter Ten

Sarielle

My thoughts spinin a tangled mess. Zyren is here—hesavedme—but apparently only so he could deliver me to the enemy. The woman who slaughtered my family. The woman who killed his brother and brought him back to life to be her slave. The woman who stole my throne and my realm, and is intent on stealing this one, too.

Rage blacker than the deepest, darkest night rushes through my veins, and the nightmare within me surges to the surface.

But I can’t let her free, or else Zyren might get caught in the crossfire. As furious as I am, I know this isn’t his fault. He’d lost all recent memories. It’s only natural that he’s sided with his brother, as much as it breaks my heart. He has no idea the thingsJonavus threatened to do to me back at the Court of Nightmares. The twisted, jealous thing he’d become when he found out that Zyren and I had fallen for each other.

The worst part is, if Avonia is here, that means she found her way through one of the other rifts. And it means she can bring an army through with her, if she hasn’t already.

All of this flashes through my head in the matter of a few moments, but before I can think on it further, a high, sharp sound echoes through the valley. Trumpets. Dozens of them. An army approaches.Dark goddess,it’s too late.

Avonia’s reinforcements are here, and Eldare will fall next, just as Valaron did.

But Zyren’s steps falter and he spins in the direction of the sound, his body tensing. Then he turns and travels back the way we’d come, picking up a jog. My ribcage bounces against his hard, muscular shoulder, the air in my lungs shoved out with each step. I want to ask what he sees, but I can’t catch my breath to draw words.

Zyren takes us down a set of stone steps on the other side of the parapet, back into the courtyard. The sound of galloping hooves and the yells of warriors fills the night. We rush toward the gap in the wall I’d entered before, but Zyren passes it, heading to the south side of the ruins. Somewhere ahead of us, I hear a yell. The blood rushes to my head and I only catch fractured images from my vantage point. Grass, stone, the mangled body of a nightmare.

Then we’re ducking through another hole in the perimeter wall. I can tell because the air warms noticeably, and the siren song of nightmare magic falls away abruptly. But we don’t make it twenty strides before the sound of galloping hooves surrounds us, so many that the ground shakes. And then, riders on horseback come up on either side of us, cutting off our escape.

Have I been saved, or is this some new enemy?

Zyren hoists me unceremoniously off his shoulder onto the ground. My visions spins as my blood redistributes through my body, and I suck in lungfuls of night air to keep from vomiting. For a few moments, I close my eyes as the sound of hoofbeats, clanging weapons, and stern voices assault my senses. Then, several sets of booted footsteps move quickly toward us.

“Don’t resist!” growls a man on the left. “Or we will separate your head from your body.”

I open my eyes. So, not saved after all.

“Get down on the ground!” shouts another warrior.

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