Page 20 of Queen of Stars and Shadows

I’m marched back and forth through a maze of corridors, and I worry I’m going to forget how to get back here. I try to make note of landmarks in my mind. The wooden shield with the swan on one wall. A glimpse of a practice field for the warriors through an open archway. A row of iron suits of armor that don’t seem there just for display.

We move beneath a wooden portcullis and out into the night sky. Off in the distance, I see shimmering lights above a wall made of white stone. The moon illuminates the palace, only half risen meaning it is early still. The palace is made of the same white stone, making it glow like a diamond beneath the dark sky. All those years living in Eldare, and never once had I set eyes on this place.

Of course, now I have my very own white castle.IfI can ever reclaim it.

Within a few short minutes, we’ve passed through a side gate in the palace wall, clearly intended for the guard only, and then a few steps beyond we enter the palace itself. The guards we pass, of which there are many, shoot me curious looks. I can only imagine how I look—worn clothing, covered in blood and dirt. I look about opposite of any queen from the storybooks.

But those queens were not warriors, as I am. Those queens do not reign over a land of nightmares.

My heart begins to race as we move through the palace. It gleams, dripping in opulence and luxury. White marble walls, veined in gold. Painted ceilings. Enormous crystal vases filledwith exotic flowers. Huge chandeliers lighting each corridor with a crystalline glow. Even the air is decorated with a faint floral scent.

In all likelihood, the king and queen will laugh at me and throw me back in my cell. But I have to try to convince them that we chased off the nightmares and saved those who could be saved. The injustice of imprisoning us after everything we’d done… surely, they can be reasoned with.

And then, I am standing at the massive double doors of the throne room, each one etched with the gilded swan that is the emblem of Eldare. Across the vast room, two thrones rise, one gold and one silver. Marble pillars line both sides of the room, and a guard stands like a statue before each. My captors lean in and whisper to the guards standing on alert at the door, and one of them strides to a man wearing deep red and gold attire. The bejeweled-looking man turns to me, his eyes narrowing in suspicion, but then he steps forward into the center of the purple velvet runner that leads to the throne. His voice rings out loudly, echoing down the chamber.

“Your royal highnesses King Estavon and Queen Julina, I announce a visitor. The Queen of Valaron!”

The guards shove me forward, following behind me as I walk what seems a mile to the two shining thrones. It’s clear from the courtiers dotting the room that I’ve interrupted their evening revelry. As we approach, the king leans forward in his throne, eyes narrowed, thin mouth pinched in suspicion. The golden crown on his gray-haired head is so large I don’t know how he carries it without injuring himself. The queen, who looks about twenty years younger, bears a look of surprise. Her ebony hair is wound into a coil atop her head, emeralds pinned throughout it.

When I stop before them, the king speaks first, voice trembling in anger. “What is the meaning of this? Valaron was lost thousands of years ago. This is outrageous!”

“I assure you it is not outrageous,” I say, lacing power into my voice. I pin him with my golden gaze. “I am Sarielle Otreyas, Queen of Nightmares. My realm very much exists, and right now both of our realms are in danger. I helped destroy the nightmares that were plaguing your land and your people, only to be repaid by being thrown into a prison cell.”

The king opens and closes his mouth several times, as if undecided on what to say next, but the queen leans forward. “Continue,” she says softly.

But at that moment, a small door opens on the left side of the room behind the thrones, and a robed man walks forward. He stops next to the king and points a pale finger at me.

“This girl is no queen,” says the robed figure.

I stare into the eyes of the High Priest, the man I grew up with, the man who lied and manipulated everyone in Eldare.

Chapter Twelve

Sarielle

Those piercing blueeyes make a shiver run up my spine. This is the man I was raised to revere, to worship, to obey without question. The man who stole the magic from Eldare and manipulated generation upon generation of young women for his own power. The man who told us our magic could only be used in rituals of his design.

I haven’t looked him in the eyes since I discovered the truth. But even before I knew, something about him had always made me uncomfortable. The way he coveted my power when I was a little girl. After that, I’d shut the door on my magic for so long, afraid to let anyone see.

Looking at him, I know now that he is nothing but a trickster and a scared, pathetic man afraid of losing his place in the world.

And I don’t pity him one bit.

The High Priest points a finger at me. “This girl deserted her duties as priestess on the night of her initiation. She abandoned her fellowcoriataand her sacred mission to provide Eldare with magic.”

I lock my gaze with his to show him he can’t intimidate me anymore. “I did not abandon my sisters. I was taken to Valaron, where I was crowned queen, as the long lost descendent of House Otreyas. And now I am back, to protect my realmandthis one.”

A wave of his hand. “Clearly, the girl has mental instabilities, too. The guards should not have brought her here.” He makes a gesture to those standing behind me, and they step forward.

The nightmare crouched in my core surges upward, and a wave of darkness spins around me, tendrils of shadow spinning out across the room. The king and queen both gasp.

“I amnogirl.” I can feel the gold of my eyes start to turn, feel the darkness start bleeding across them. “I am a queen, and you are nothing but a liar. Why don’t you tell the king and queen what’sreallybeen suppressing the magic throughout Eldare? Or rather,whom?”

The king turns his head sharply to look at the High Priest. “Talnen? What does she mean?”

“She is clearly delusional, your highness… just look at the state of her—”

But the queen leans toward me. “You said you were imprisoned—why?”

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