Page 30 of Crowned By the Shadow
I looked down at the pendant glowing softly in my palm. “I think I know how,” I breathed. “The pendant doesn’t just show me visions, it can create passages between realms.” I met Thorn’s gaze before looking over at Ronan and forcing my emotions down. “When we were in the capital, I created one. I can do it again.”
“To cross directly into the fortress?” Ronan asked, disbelief coloring his voice.
“Yes,” I answered, certainty growing within me. “But I need to be closer, and I’ll need both of you to guard me while I concentrate.”
“We should wait for true night,” Thorn said as he thought over my vague idea that somewhat resembled a plan.
I nodded in agreement before adding, “Let me try to find Van and Volker first. We need to know if they’re already inside or if they’re waiting for us somewhere.”
With a weariness that I couldn’t put into words, I settled back against the cold stone wall, cradling the Veilshard between my palms. The familiar weight centered me as I closed my eyes, focusing on the memory of Van’s face, his sardonic smile, the way his eyes crinkled when he was plotting something particularly devious. The way he talked about music as though it was a living, breathing entity. Each song it’s own person and each person having their own melody.
“Be careful,” Thorn whispered, his hand squeezing my shoulder briefly before he stepped back.
I breathed deeply, pulling magic into my lungs with each inhale. The pendant warmed against my skin as I directed my thoughts outward, seeking the connection to Van.
Nothing happened.
I frowned, concentrating harder. Usually, the pendant responded immediately, creating that distinctive tug behind my navel before launching my consciousness across distances. This time, it merely pulsed with heat, as if struggling against some unseen barrier.
“Something’s wrong,” I murmured, eyes still closed. “I can’t reach him.”
I shifted my focus to Volker instead, picturing his stoic features and quiet strength. Again, the pendant only warmed without establishing a connection. I caught glimpses of inside the keep, but that wasn’t what I was interested in at the moment.
Frustration built inside me as I poured more power into the attempt. The pendant suddenly flared hot, painfully so, and my consciousness was violently wrenched sideways.
Darkness. Endless darkness. Stars burning cold and distant.
I floated in a void unlike anything I’d experienced before. This wasn’t a vision of a person or place, this was... nothingness. Yet within that nothingness, I sensed a presence so vast and ancient it defied comprehension.
A voice like the death of stars whispered across the emptiness.
“Eclipse Child... how delightful.”
Terror froze my thoughts. This wasn’t Van or Volker. This was something else entirely, something I hated with every fiber of my being.
Two enormous eyes opened in the darkness—swirling vortices of collapsing galaxies framed by lashes made from darkness itself. The Void Dragon Empress gazed directly at me across the boundaries of reality.
“Your friends cannot help you. They are... elsewhere.”
I tried to break the connection, to pull away, but found myself paralyzed.
“Such power in such a small vessel. The last of your kind was... disappointing.”
Images flashed through my mind, Fiona’s last battle, her light extinguished by overwhelming darkness.
“Will you fare better, I wonder?”
With tremendous effort, I wrenched myself free, gasping as my consciousness slammed back into my body. The pendant fell from my trembling hands, skittering across the cave floor.
“Senara!” Thorn was kneeling beside me, his face tight with concern.
“She saw me,” I whispered, cold sweat beading on my forehead. “The Empress. She…she saw me through the pendant.”
Ronan cursed under his breath, backing away slightly as if the pendant might bite.
“But I saw something else too,” I continued, the images already fading like a dream. “Inside the fortress, I caught glimpses as I was trying to connect with Volker and again when I was pulled back.”
I closed my eyes, trying to hold on to the fleeting images. “There are dragonkin within those walls. Not corrupted ones, but true dragonkin, at least I think that’s what you would call them.”
