Page 2 of Queen of Stars and Shadows

When I regain consciousness, the light around me is blinding after the darkness. I blink, and it feels like blades in my eyes. I try to move my arm to shield my eyes, but I can’t. Panic races through me. Why can’t I move?

“Quit struggling,” says a gruff voice. Zara, the woman, I think.

My eyes finally adjust enough for me to look around. I’m bound at the wrists and waist by strange glowing ropes. Next to me, Owyn is bound the same way. He’s just coming to as well.

“What in the dark goddess?” I growl, staring up at both Zara and Asher, who tower over me. Zara’s purple eyes burn into me, her bronze-hued arms crossed over her chest.

“You brought a monster into our realm, and until we figure out whose side you’re on, you’re too dangerous to be free,” Asher says. “We are the protectors of Aureon, and right now, you’re a huge risk.”

Zara nods in agreement, her hand on her sword in case I want to argue. I turn my head, and my shoulder, which I think is broken or dislocated from escaping the Court of Memory, burns with agony. Dots of light spin across my vision.

Astherius is gone.

“It escaped,” Zara says in a bitter tone. “As did your supposed husband. Now they’re both running free in Aureon, doing goddess knows what.”

My heart comes to a stop in my chest.

Zyren doesn’t remember me. Doesn’t rememberanything.

And now he’s gone.

Chapter Two

Sarielle

Iclose my eyesfor a moment, trying to focus. My thoughts spin like broken bits of glass inside a kaleidoscope. How could I have been so naïve, to think everything would work out?

No, things are even worse now.

Merla is dead.

Avonia has turned my one ally, the Court of Memory, against me, moving me even further from reclaiming my throne.

I’m locked into a bargain with a demon I don’t know how I’m possibly going to get out of.

And now the thing I feared most has happened. As my family book had warned, Zyren has gone mad. Because of the nightmare blood we both possess, and the love we share, whichwas never meant to be. Horror and guilt and heartbreak war within me so violently it causes physical pain, as if my chest is collapsing in on itself.

But through the crush of emotions raging inside me, I abruptly realize something else. I canfeelAstherius. As if some sort of tether connects us, a connection between her and my inner nightmare, which stirs slightly in my core.

“Sarielle, are you okay?” Owyn asks, his voice laced with worry.

I open my eyes to find three pairs staring back at me. “No. There are so many things wrong that I don’t know how I can possibly fix them all.” I take in a deep breath and let it back out again. “But I do know where to find Astherius.”

Zara and Asher shoot me puzzled looks.

“The monster,” I explain. “Nightmare, rather.”

They exchange a glance, contemplating.

“I’ll prove myself trustworthy, because I need your help,” I say. “I need all the help I can get. Let me get Astherius back here, and—”

There’s a high-pitched shriek and then a half-dozen nightmares pour through the rift.

I watch in horror as they spin in the sky, taking in their surroundings before diving for me and the others. Avonia clearly sent them after us—the rift over the Court of Memory was too high in the sky for anyone else to follow, but winged nightmares certainly could.

They range in size from a large dog to a horse, all shades of night from black to brown to purple. They’re not as big as Astherius, but they all have rows of deadly-sharp teeth and claws like daggers, and most of them have barbed tails, too. Their glowing eyes lock onto me with hatred as they drop from the sky with murderous intent.

Zara and Asher don’t hesitate. They pull their weapons and face the enemy with no sign of fear. Zara whirls back and forth, her body emitting wisps of shadow like Zyren’s when he fights. She seems unnaturally fast, becoming a mere blur at times, slicing wings and limbs as she moves. Asher stands still, one hand raised, his sword at his side, and as the first nightmare approaches him, his magic flares and the thing falls dead. A glow separates from its corpse and moves into his body, and I realize with a shudder that he devoured its life force.

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