Page 8 of Of Nine So Bold

And me.

“Niko, yes,” Dex said. “If Lord Thomas’s orders could give us any help we might need, then…”

Valeria’s eyes narrowed. “I say again, whatexactlyare you asking?”

“He’s been taken by Aneiran soldiers. Queen’s orders. Ourguesthere says they’re likely headed for the mines, and that they took this road toward Lumilia.” Dex nodded back at the soldier wrapped in ropes under Ozias’s watchful eye. “We’re trying to intercept them before they make it that far, for reasons that I’m sure need no explanation.”

The woman was silent for a moment. “Do they know the princess is with you? Will they be watching for her?”

Dex made a neutral sound. “Possibly.”

Valeria frowned for a moment. “Then the princess is still in danger, and so our mission isn’t done. What do you need us to do?”

4

NIKO

Pain jolted me awake.

I was on something cold. Something hard. My left side throbbed as if I’d slammed down onto it.

This wasn’t right. I’d been in a cart and?—

Irritated screeches came from above, followed by the sound of wings flapping.

Panic shot through me. I knew that cry. Harpies. Winged creatures who harbored Voidborn inside them. They had bodies like women but claws and beaks like birds, and they’d attacked us in Lord Thomas’s city.

But that… that wasdaysago.

My eyes burned when I opened them. A white blur lay before me. After a moment, it resolved into a long stretch of striated marble tile severed by a red carpet like a straight and bloody river. And beyond it…

Horror shuddered in my veins. Towering pillars and walls of white stone stood around me, all of them cast in gray by the thick curtains pulled over every tall window. Only thin streaks of sunlight managed to make it past the dense fabric, and when the harpies slipped by them and disappeared outside, the curtains muffled every trace of sound beyond this room. Marble stepswaited at the end of the red carpet, leading up to a throne of glinting gold inlaid with rubies. Two smaller thrones flanked it, each crafted in silver, and the one to the right bore the jewel-encrusted shape of an apple at its peak, placed so that it would rise just above the head of whoever claimed that seat.

But both the smaller thrones were empty. Only the gold one at the center held an occupant. And not justanyoccupant…

Oh hell.

I’d never seen the queen of Aneira. When the others would watch through the magic mirror at our cabin, I would go to tend my plants instead. But I’d heard descriptions of her long and golden hair, her icy blue eyes, and her skin so pale, it was as if death’s hand had caressed her like a lover. That she was cruel and heartless was also a given, considering what she’d done to my treluria and my nation.

None of that had prepared me for seeing her in the flesh.

“Do you fear me, boy?” she asked, her quiet voice nevertheless carrying through the silent throne room. The sound was as sultry and sinuous as smoke, and as poisonous too. It brought to mind images of a snake idly twisting through tall grass, knowing it had all the time in the world to devour its cornered prey.

I fought back a shiver as I pushed myself to my feet, struggling past the way my legs wanted to give out beneath me. “Should I?”

She chuckled.

Doing my best to ignore how the sound made my skin crawl, I reached for my own magic again, seeking anything that would help me. When I was captured, the Aneirans had somehow managed to hide themselves from my sense of nature, and their net had suppressed my ability to ask any of the plants or trees around me for help.

But that was then. Now?—

A biting, burning sensation on my left wrist made me flinch.

“You wouldn’t be trying toattackme, would you?”

Ignoring the queen’s jibe, I tugged my sleeve back. A thick band of dark metal and brass wrapped my wrist, unfamiliar symbols and odd black stones glinting on its side. It was nearly skin-tight, giving me no way to work my fingers under it or pry it loose, and it had no latch or lock.

What in the world?

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