Page 7 of Queen of Stars and Shadows

Chapter Four

Sarielle

Ichase Zyren forthe rest of the night, but I never find him again. Finally, a couple of hours before dawn, I shift my focus to finding Lilette, but I can’t find her, either. Is it because I’ve worn myself out trying to find Zyren, or because something terrible has happened?

I awaken, my cheeks tracked with tears, my pillow damp from them. Sorrow and guilt wrap around my heart like an iron lock. The two people I love most in the world, both in trouble because of me. One I had abandoned, and one I had let get too close to me. How can I ever atone for all the things I’ve done so horribly wrong?

I get up and get dressed in my pants, tunic, and cloak from the day before. Restless, I leave my room, the door creaking slightlyas I open it. I tiptoe through the dark lodge, making my way to the front of the house, and out into the night air beyond. When I step through the front door, I take several deep lungfuls of air, trying to calm the racing of my heart. The fractured pieces left of it, at least.

I nearly jump out of my skin when a shadow to my left moves, and Zara materializes from the darkness.

“You can’t sleep either, I see.” Her voice is soft and velvety like the night.

I shake my head.

“The night calls to me too strongly,” she says. She leans back against the stone wall behind her, tilting her head up to look at the sky. “I rarely sleep all the way through.”

As I watch her, she seems almost to sink into the night, her dusky skin blending with the shadows, her black hair nearly invisible. Only her eyes hold a faint glow, deep purple like some sort of exotic flower.

“I heard tales of your city as a child. The City of Night.”

She snorts. “Yes. Stealers of magic. Everyone’s most-hated foe for two centuries.”

“Well… I suppose. But did you mean to trap the magic?”

“No. It was a terrible accident, one we were finally able to rectify.” She glances over at me. “Except here. In Eldare. It seems the magic is sparse, and only a handful are blessed with it. Those who grew up with you, in the Amethyst Palace.” A shrug. “Asher and I can still use our magic, since we came from another realm, and so much of magic stems from its source, its origin. But it’s definitely weaker here.”

A shudder moves through me. I know what she means about the source of magic. My magic in Eldare always felt so different than my magic in Valaron. “I used to think there was something wrong with the magic here. Because that’s what he told everyone. The High Priest.”

Zara tenses. “So, what is the cause, then?”

“Zyren was the one who told me the truth, after he took me to Valaron. He says the High Priest is somehow siphoning it. Keeping it from everyone so he can control Eldare.”

The look on Zara’s face turns rageful. “After everything we did to return the magic to all of Aureon…”

Something in the way she says it, the anger evident in her entire body… “Wait… you don’t mean that you, personally, freed the magic from the City of Night?”

Zara winces slightly, ducking her head as if blushing. “Not just me. Asher as well.”

“You…” I can feel my eyes widen. “You two were the ones who rebalanced the magic?”

“Some call us villains for trapping it, some say we’re heroes for righting the wrong… depends on who you ask.”

“Maybe when we’ve rescued the missing people, and found Zyren, you can help us figure out how the High Priest is controlling the magic here.”

She nods. “If we had known, we would have done something about it sooner.” The way she says it, with a ripple of power moving across her thin frame, makes me very glad that she is not my enemy.

We fall into silence for several long moments, the only sounds that of the crickets and a night breeze tickling the tree branches above.

“I know where Zyren is.” I look over at her. “I saw him in my dreams. He’s north of here. Not far at all…” I trail off.

Zara shakes her head. “Your husband is clearly capable of taking care of himself, based on what he did today. Don’t worry, he’ll be okay until we find the missing people and can shift our focus.”

She’s right, of course. I can’t leave Lilette to some horrible fate. She’s in the most imminent danger now, her and whoeverelse is missing. After we find them, then I’ll have the trust of two powerful allies to help us with Zyren and the rest of our impossible mission.

But logic doesn’t make my heart feel any less torn.

Zara turns to look at me, her brow furrowed. “And did you get a location for your friend?”

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