Page 61 of Queen of Stars and Shadows

“This is it,” she whispers. “The end of everything.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

Sarielle

Icling to Zyrenas the earth begins to rumble beneath our feet. The air has mostly cleared, a breeze carrying the dust away over the mountains to the south. Nightmares swirl in the sky above us, shrieking and calling to each other.

“I mean it,” I say. “I always knew there was a slim chance I would survive this. But to know that you remember our time together, all of it, the whole history of us…” My words cut off, choked by tears.

“I never forgot you,” Zyren replies, rubbing his thumb across my cheek. “Not truly. My heart and my soul knew you. My body knew you. You were always mine.”

“And you mine,” I whisper, pressing my forehead to his.

He kisses me, and I can feel eternity in that kiss. We will exist in this place, long after the world crumbles. Our love will survive.

Overhead, the nightmares begin to shriek more loudly, in anger and agitation. I pull away from Zyren and look out across the courtyard, then further, into the street leading up to the gates. Something moves in the darkness there, and as I watch, two figures emerge from the shadows.

Owyn and Lilette.

Horror spikes through my chest. I turn from Zyren and run down the steps toward them. I can feel him right on my heels. I reach them at the gate of the courtyard.

“You shouldn’t have come,” I say with a sob. “Valaron is dying. There isn’t much time left.”

“There’s a rift not far from here,” Zyren says. “If you hurry…”

“No,” Owyn says. “The rift collapsed shortly after we traveled through it.”

I pull Lilette against me, shuddering against her as tears spill from my cheeks. “I wanted to save you,” I whisper. “And now I’ve doomed you.”

“You did save me,” she says. “And now it’s my turn. I brought something for you.”

She steps back. My eyes travel to the object she’s holding in her hand. A book. Not just any book, but the book of House Otreyas. My family’s history and spell book.

“How did you…” I gasp, eyes wide.

“Remember, you’re not the only one who possesses magic, my queen,” Owyn says. “We knew you’d need this. Well, Lilette did.”

I shake my head. “Merging the realms is the only thing that can save Valaron, and our sorcerer, Xinius, is dead. I don’t know how to perform the spell.”

“But your family does,” Lilette says. She presses the book into my hands. “Let them guide you.”

The faintest spark of hope blossoms in my heart. Could she be right?

With trembling hands, I begin to turn the pages of the book. No sooner have I touched the old, ocher-hued paper lined with black ink than I remember the spell I’m looking for. I flip to around the middle of the book, and I find it.

Spell to Cross Between Worlds

A source of great power is needed; death magic, a celestial event, or a great sacrifice

Imbue a dagger with this power

Cut the sky until you find the path

Mental focus is key, or you may cross into the wrong world

The way will only stay open for fifty heartbeats

Zyren is watching over my shoulder. “But that’s a spell to create a new rift between realms.”

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