Page 44 of Fae Crown

ELOWYN

The darkness, as all-consuming as it had appeared, fell away the moment I was through the doorway as if it had been merely a wrapper hiding … well, I wasn’t sure exactly what I was looking at, only that I very much fucking wished I hadn’t walked through this damned door. Let any of the eager females come through first, see if they’d survive it.

I’d entered a space so unlike any I’d ever encountered that I instantly understood the test the queen had devised for me wasn’t like any of the others. It couldn’t be. This was …something else, when all the queen ever seemed to show her courtiers was what they expected to see: a cutthroat, vicious queen and the expression of her every twisted, ruthless desire.

My surroundings were the exact opposite of what I’d expected: everything was so bright I couldn’t make out walls, or even lines to lend exact shape tothings. All I could discern—when I almost wished I couldn’t—was a pulsing, writhing,hungrymass of what I guessed were animals. Beasts, more likely.Monsters, really.

I suspected the queen had finally found another loophole through the protections of the trials’ magic. My chest clenched with the sudden certainty that I’d never see Rush again—or Saffron or Xeno or Pru or Reed or any of the others—Roan, I wanted to see the dwarf again. I’d never free the dragons as I’d promised. I’d abandon the goblins and so many other magical creatures to the queen’s cruel dominion forever.

Worse even than all of that, I wouldn’t live to see recognition on Rush’s face again. He wouldn’t look at me and see his mate. My last memory of him would be of how he’d been too ashamed to meet my stare, how he’d thought me little different from the Natanias and Malinas, who saw him barely as more than a stepping stone, a means to their ends—their satisfaction.

This entire test appeared designed to eat me alive.

Quite literally.

Too fucking literally.

The animals stretched, reaching for me, held back by … something—only just for now, I was sure.

My gut squeezed as a hissing and chittering reminiscent of the umbracs erupted all at once, merging with snarls and growls, the gnashing and snapping of teeth, and low, menacing grumbles so vicious they alone set the hair across my arms on end.

And that was before the first of the bellows arrived tosteal away my breath, leaving me to pull in a shaky, insufficient inhale.

As if the scene were illuminated by a hundred suns, in the brightness I could scarcely make out the claws and teeth, the tentacles and arms, the lashing tails and whipping wings. Regardless, they lunged at me, fighting with each other to reach their prize first.

I stumbled backward, forgetting too many of Zako’s lessons. His lilting voice, usually a comfort or encouragement, was silent.

A growl roared behind me so loud, so foul, that my eyes watered. Clutching my dagger, I whirled to face this new threat, but when I turned, pulsing, grabbing predators pressed closer from above and below too. I didn’t actually seem to be standing on anything beyond that too-bright, too-stark light that blinded me to details. This was possibly a blessing. I had no doubt, I was in mortal danger. As bad as things were, I expected they were worse than they seemed.

The beasts snapped at me from all directions. My blade was woefully insufficient, but?—

But. I could handle this. I could figure it out. This was what I’d trained for.

I snorted at the emptiness of my own pep-talk.Thiswas certainlynotwhat I’d trained for.

I had, however, trained to hone every strength at my disposal. And Ihadlearned not to give up. Not ever.

Hadn’t I grown up amid dragons?Dragons, forfuck’s sake. There was no creature in this world as powerful as a dragon.

Something terrible chose that moment to unleash a roar so potent I felt my teeth, eyeballs, and bones rattle. I swallowed, trying to lean back into the bravado I’d been building … but…

…no one was coming into this … place … wherever the dragonfire I was, to save me.

You’ve got this, Elowyn. Of course you fucking do. You always do.

Teeth snapped so close to my ear that I shrieked, scampered forward, and felt claws rake my arm from the front.

“Fuck,” I hissed at the sting while ignoring my instinct to examine the cuts.

I already knew: they were deep gashes that would become a real problem if I didn’t get out of here soon.

Another slash raked across my skirts, tearing them and slicing into my calf.

I sucked in a sharp wheeze, my eyes watering from the pain. Sticky gore dripped down my arm and leg. I was bleeding freely. In the middle of a swarm of monsters,dammit. They probably freaking loved the scent of fresh blood.

Surely enough, a frenetic yipping ensued.

A deep rumble of communal snarling and whimpering, yearning.

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