Page 51 of Queen of Stars and Shadows

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Sarielle…”

She sighs. “I wish you would reconsider being crowned at my side. Valaron could use a queenanda king.”

“I am not king material.” I shake my head. “I am not worthy. You are more than enough to rule Valaron.”

“But youareworthy, Zyren.” She slides closer to me, intertwining her fingers with mine. “I wish you could see it.”

“Sarielle…” I close my eyes, trying to find the right words.

Agony suddenly washes over me. I fall sideways onto the floor, and the room spins. As if from a mile away, I hear Sarielle scream, see a flash of movement as she stands over me…

And then there is nothing.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Sarielle

Zyren is unconsciousfor nearly half an hour, still as a corpse, barely breathing. When he finally opens his eyes, I feel a rush of relief so intense, I feel lightheaded. He blinks his eyes. His gaze takes a while to focus, but finally settles on me.

“Sarielle,” he moans.

A sob makes my body shudder.

Zyren reaches up and wipes a track of tears along my cheek. “Please don’t cry.”

“I can’t…can’t lose you,” I get out between sobs. “Don’t you understand?”

“You’re not going to lose me.” He sits up slowly and pulls me into his arms.

“I’m the worst queen in the world,” I whisper against him,

“No, you’re not,” he says soothingly. “Why would you even say that?”

I turn my face to look up at him. “Because I would trade everything, I would abandon every duty, every responsibility, I would let this palace, all of Aureon, and everyone in it fall if it meant saving you.”

His eyes swim with emotion. “Sarielle, you don’t mean that…”

“I do.”

Zyren stands and pulls me with him. “I think you need some rest before the coronation.”

“Only if you rest, too,” I say.

He looks as if he’s going to argue, but then nods. “As my queen commands.”

We head to the stairwell and travel up, up, up, past the throne room to the very top floor.

“Do you know what’s up here?” I ask as we turn the final spiral of the staircase.

“I don’t,” he admits. “I never spent much time in the palace, since I was always traveling as a guardian.”

The sixth floor does not have a hallway that goes left and right with wings to each side like the lower floors. Only one large, round room. The stairwell comes out behind a narrow wall, along which sits a simple bed. No headboard or posts, just a frame for the mattress. The outer wall of the room has the same arched, open windows as the rest of the palace, but the view from this height is endless, nothing but mountains as far as the eye can see. Set between each archway is a bronze fire pit, and orange-blue flames rise from each. Overhead, a glass dome ceiling reveals clouds and the early morning sun.

“It’s perfect,” I say breathlessly. And I imagine, just for a moment, what it might be like to call this place home, if wesurvive everything that’s to come. The realm merge. Avonia’s army. And Isthsharyn.

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