Page 228 of Of Nine So Bold

I strained for the distant traces of my connection to the nexus, desperate to pull us back into our world. But the vines had nearly drained it all, and void didn’t want to let us go.

“Anyone got a great plan for getting us out of here?” Clay prompted.

“Draw on our power, princess,” Dex said. “Use it to reach the nexus and bring us back.”

“I’mtrying.I can’t seem to…” I trailed off, my eyes still riveted on darkness, seeking thethingcoming our way.

“I suspect the issue is a bit more complicated,” Casimir said.

Hunching around the wounds on his chest, the demon made a wary sound. “Why is that, vampire?”

“Because,” Byron filled in, “with what the queen has done, I’m not sure anything remains to go back to.”

A growl left Ozias, displeasure in the sound.

“But—” Niko made a desperate noise.

My head shook. “I can feel it. Just… just a bit. But?—”

This isn’t the way,a gentle and loving voice whispered so softly, it was as if the speaker was right beside my ear.

The glittering light of our failing protections suddenly swept around us like snowflakes in the night. It washed away the void, taking the slithering beast and any fear too.

Suddenly, we were somewhere else entirely.

Old and familiar stones vibrated gently beneath my feet as if welcoming me. Each of my men still surrounded me. Together, we stood atop a high parapet, a crenelated wall of dark granite lining its edges. Sparks of silver glittered within the rocky surface like it held a million flecks of light. Moss grew in thespaces between each stone—and for a moment, the sight filled me with fear.

But this wasn’t my stepmother’s rot or decay. The little green curls glinted like they were made of emerald crystal, shimmering with life.

“What happened?” Niko whispered, his dark eyes wide.

I shook my head, speechless.

Clay glanced back and forth like he was checking something. “Are… are wedead?”

“This is an unexpected afterlife, if so,” Byron replied skeptically.

My mouth moved, searching for words. “It’s my home.”

The others went silent.

I stepped forward, staring beyond us, overcome with awe. The sky danced with colors and light, like the brilliant glows I’d sometimes see in the northern sky, but without end. Amid it all, a sea of stars shone like diamonds, each of them brushed with shifting colors by the lights and glittering with endless majesty.

Yet the castle wasn’t diminished by the infinite beauty above. Age radiated from everything around me, like the moss knew of a time before time began and the stones remembered when they were mountains. What they were now was only a flickering moment in the journey of all they’d been—and all they’d someday be.

The heart of a mountain. The wall protecting us and keeping us from falling.

The dust at the center of a newborn star.

Endless. Infinite. Never beginning or ending. Simply… being.

“Welcome, my precious ones.”

I turned. A woman stood beyond us, a dress of stars drifting around her. Misty light rose from her long black hair and drifted in wisps into the brilliant night sky. Her red lips curled when she smiled, and her eyes were so knowing and calm, they instantlyeased something inside me that had never known it had been in pain.

I’d only seen her in paintings. None had done her justice.

“Mother?” I whispered.

---