Page 4 of Queen of Stars and Shadows

Zara and Asher exchange a long look, and then Zara nods. “We believe you, and we’ll help you find your husband and stop Avonia, if we can. But first, we need your help.”

I cock my head to the side. “Oh?”

“We came to this part of Eldare because a number of people have gone missing,” Asher says. “Something seems to be taking them in the middle of the night.”

My heart stops. Like the dream I’d had of my friend Lilette the night before. All the rooms in the Amethyst Palace empty, and signs of struggle, of people ripped from their beds.

“Of course.” I nod sharply. “We’ll help however we can.”

“It sounds like we have an accord,” Zara says. She steps forward, removes our bonds, and offers a hand for us to shake. “Allies.”

“Allies,” I repeat.

Chapter Three

Sarielle

“So, what’s ourplan, then?” I ask after Zara unbinds us. I rub my wrists to remove the marks they left.

“We need to see our friends and find out what exactly has been going on around here,” Asher says. “They’re the ones who sent for us.”

“They’re not far, only a few miles,” Zara adds. “We were almost there when we noticed that strange anomaly in the meadow.” She waves her hand toward it, a frown on her face.

Owyn shakes his head as he follows her gaze. “A strange coincidence.” Something in his tone makes me want to ask him to elaborate, but now is not the time.

No, right now, we need a healer, rest, and time to think.

As if reading my thought, Zara nods toward my arm, which is hanging limply at my side. “Do you need help with that?”

“I can help her,” Owyn says. “Now that we’re unbound.”

He pivots toward me, a hum of magic forming around him. I meet his blue eyes with my own. “You’re injured, too.” His nose and left eye are a mess from his run-in with Avonia’s guards.

A shrug. “It’s just bruised.”

Blue light swirls around my shoulder and arm, and a strange heat buzzes around me. A few moments later there’s a faint zing as my bone realigns, and my pain dissipates. A wave of relief moves through me. “Goddess, that’s so much better.” I rotate my shoulder, marveling at such a simple movement.

“Okay,” Asher says gruffly. “We need to make up time. Let’s move.”

I say farewell to Astherius, who issues a low growl of frustration but stands guard at the rift. Our new companions pick up a steady pace, alternating between walking and jogging through the rolling hills. In the distance, forests shadow the golden plains, and a row of purple-gray mountains rise behind them. The sun is beginning to fall, casting a pumpkin-hued glow across the land. It feels surreal to suddenly be back in Eldare.

But yet, I can feel in my bones, in my blood, that this place is no longer my home.

I grew up here, yet I never was part of it. I never stepped foot beyond the grounds of the Amethyst Palace, with the exception of my hidden valley behind the castle gardens. The secret I shared with Lilette. My heart flutters thinking of my best friend and the fate that’s befallen her. Can my dream really be connected to the strange happenings Zara and Asher came here to investigate? It seems so surreal. I’m not sure if I should say anything yet, not until I know more.

Darkness wraps around us as we enter the forest, which rises toward the distant mountain peaks. The ground here is covered in bright green moss, and ferns cluster around the roots of the trees. Huge trees, ancient trees, with enormous gnarly trunks like oaks, but topped with shimmering silvery leaves glowing faintly in the dim light. A faint chorus of crickets flows through the air, and somewhere in the distance I hear the gurgle of a brook.

At first it seems Zara and Asher are leading us at random through the trees, but then I realize we’re following a path. The moss in certain places gives off a faint effervescence, as do clusters of white mushrooms that line the way. It’s so subtle I don’t know how I even noticed it, but once I do, it’s clear it’s leading us to something. It’s so magical it fills me with wonder, at complete odds with the feeling of dread that fills me with every step.

Because every step I take leads me further from Zyren.

For now, I have to trust that he’ll be okay until I find him again. And hope beyond hope that, somehow, I can break the curse I brought down on us, and make him remember me again. Rememberus. I’d thought for so long that he didn’t care for me as I cared for him, and then, when I finally realized he loved me, too, it had all been ripped away. My chest tightens as the pain makes it hard to breathe again.

But I have to be strong. I don’t just have a love to save. I have a realm to save.

And that’s what queens do.

“We’re here,” Zara says, breaking through my thoughts.

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