Page 64 of Blackwarden
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Gripping Rosalin’s hand, I pulled her into the hallway behind me. We needed to get to the portal. We had precious seconds, and I wasn’t even sure if I’d be able to get us both through.
The curse was broken!
She’d remembered my name. It wasn’t just my name.She’d said she loved me.Somewhere hidden in her words had been the key to releasing me from five hundred years of misery, and I refused to fail to get her safely back home.
I’d just used my magic against Bevgyah for the first time in centuries. It had felt so deviously good. But I knew it was likely only because she hadn’t expected it. Bevgyah was far more powerful than I had ever been.
“Wait, wait.” Rosalin yanked her hand from mine, pulling the silk robe closed around her. “Where are we going?”
As much as I loved them, we didn’t have time for her questions. I had to get her out of the Unseelie Court before Bevgyah killed one or both of us. We didn’t have time for anything else, otherwise I might have grabbed my Blackwarden pendant, orher book of fairy tales. None of that mattered. They were things. Our lives couldn’t be replaced, and I had a very renewed interest in living.
“I don’t understand. How did I...How did you...?” She was shaking so violently, her voice trembled.
I took her face between my hands, hoping to reassure her. “You’ll remember everything once I get us through the portal, but we have to go now.” I took her hand, pulling her toward the stairs down to the main hall, thankful she didn’t resist me. “A dagger to the heart won’t stop a Hag for very long.”
A blood curdling shriek echoed through the halls of the palace, and Rosalin flinched before entwining her fingers with mine. Her terror was so potent as it washed over me it made my knees weak.
I yanked her into my arms and jumped from the top step. I hadn’t flown in ages, but it wasn’t something one forgot how to do, especially not when an angry Hag was barreling through her palace after you. The halls were much narrower than the open stairs, and I was forced to drop to my feet as I rounded into the main hall.
“Stop him! Stop that fucking traitor!” Bevgyah shrieked, her voice shredding through the palace, burrowing into my courage like a maggot. I’d been cowed by this female for so long, it took all my strength to disobey her now.
Six guards ran toward us from the throne room and skidded to a halt when they saw us. I set Rosalin on her feet as gently as I could. I needed my hands for this. I would have transported us directly to the portal, but it had been so long since I’d attempted it with two people that I wasn’t willing to take the risk. Not yet anyway.
I yanked at the shadows, feeling the full strength of them for the first time in entirely too long. They pooled at my feet waiting patiently to be commanded. The guards swayed with anticipation, polearms and swords at the ready. A soft hand on my bicep drewmy attention. Rosalin’s green eyes glittered in the light of the braziers. She held my gaze, fear swimming between us until I felt her emotions shift into powerful conviction.
Without a word, I nodded then turned back to the guards, sending my shadows across the space between. They were systematically yanked down into the darkness, one by one, as they screamed in agony. They’d live. My shadows couldn’t kill; they could only terrify. They would face their greatest fears before being dropped into a heap somewhere on one of the lower levels of the palace. It was easy magic, not like transportation exactly. I didn’t get to choose where they landed, and frankly, I didn't care.
By the sixth guard, I swayed on my feet. I’d used too much. It had been so long since I’d been able to do this, I’d forgotten my limits and as my vision blurred, I worried I’d used everything up. Rosalin took my arm, tucking hers against my chest to steady me. Blessed creature. I still wasn’t sure I deserved her after all my failings.
“I’ll fucking destroy you, Blackwarden!” Bevgyah’s wicked voice sliced through the air, so much closer than I liked.
I shook off my moment of weakness. We needed to keep moving. I pulled Rosalin behind me as I stumbled into the portal room, not wasting any time as we approached the massive mirror. I summoned every last shred of my shadows. I didn’t need to be alive on the other side; I just needed to get Rosalin through. We had seconds left, and I wasn’t sure I could summon my magic fast enough.
Shadows oozed across the ground like heavy smoke, wicking into the mirror and turning it a brilliant shade of blue. The silver surface shimmered and twisted as I pressed the last remnants of my shadows into it, my vision doubling before straightening back out. I turned in time to see Bevgyah round the corner.
I might not have recognized her if I hadn’t been expecting the Hag that stood before me. Her face was little more than a skull,with withered, sagging flesh clinging to the bone like melting wax. All the beauty she’d cultivated was gone, leaving nothing but her true face. It was startling after I’d known her mask for centuries. She’d needed to use every scrap of her own magic to heal herself after I’d put a dagger in her heart.
“You...” She pointed a long bony finger in my direction. “You vile monster! I should have known exactly what you were when I met you.”
Four more guards flooded into the room behind her, but they were immediately confused. The withered old Hag between us wasn’t the queen they’d come to know.
“Get him,” she yelled.
But the guards didn’t move. They hesitated, looking from her to me. My face was recognizable, but she was a stranger.
“I said, get the Blackwarden,” she shrieked.
One of the guards took a step closer to Rosalin, drawing his sword. I refused to take any chances. Not with Rosalin. I wrapped a protective arm around her waist, pulling her to my side and lifting my wings behind me.
“The curse is broken, Hag. I’m not your pet any longer.” I took a few steps back toward the portal as the guards edged closer. “Let me go. Let me take her home, and I’ll continue to be your Gatekeeper,” I said, keeping my voice as calm as I could manage.
In truth, I was terrified I hadn’t pressed enough of my magic into the portal. Terrified that at any second, the guards would lunge, and I wouldn’t be fast enough to push Rosalin and myself through. Terrified that after everything—after she’d endured Bevgyah’s hands, suffered the agony of being siphoned, remembered my name, and broken the curse—I would still fail to protect her. One final time.
After all she’d been through because of me, I couldn’t fail her. I swallowed my fear, letting her words wash over me.“I love you, Keres.”How could I tell her I loved her more than life itself, thather love had given me a second chance I didn’t deserve, if I failed her now? How could Ishow herif I let her die?
“You’re a fucking disgusting beast,” the Hag spat. “You deserve worse than death, and I shall give it to you.” She sprang past her guards, fingers curled into claws.
