Court of Bone and Amethyst: A Shadow Guardian Fantasy Romance (Dark Fae Guardian Book 2) by Aurora Grey

Author:Aurora Grey [Grey, Aurora]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

Sarielle

Ispin my horse to avoid the falling ice, and in the blink of an eye, Zyren is gone. Not only Zyren, but my horse, and the section of the forest I’d been standing in.

The place I now find myself is a small circular glen. Tall trees surround it like sentinels, too close together for anyone to get in or out. My boots slip, and I realize that it’s not frozen ground beneath me, it’s an iced-over pond. Snow still falls, but it’s less blinding than before. Far, far overhead, the sky is a distant disc of gray.

I’m afraid to speak, given what happened before.

Someone else speaks first.

“A queen of Valaron, it is,” the voice says. It seems to come from below the surface of the frozen pond. It sounds female, and ancient, and full of malice. A voice of broken stars, sharp enough to cut. “How very interesting.”

“Who—who are you?” I gasp. “What have you done with my companions?”

“Your lives were forfeit the moment you stepped into my forest. I have a reputation, do I not? If you are so careless with your lives, do not ask what I have done. I have done, and will do, whatever I wish.”

“We had no choice. We were being hunted.”

“It would have been better for the nightmares to find you.” There’s a terrifying sound that I realize a moment later is a laugh.

“How do you know about them? And about me?”

“Oh, I know a great many things. I can see into that weak little mind of yours as easily as looking into a mirror. A shame for Valaron to have such a pathetic queen.”

My heart is racing so fast I’m afraid I might pass out. I force myself to suck in air to calm my nerves. “I had barely set foot in Valaron before I was crowned queen. I’m doing the best I can.”

“Oh, yes. I know that, too, fool child. I know everything you know. I know your greatest hopes and your darkest fears. I know you let your guardian defile your body last night, even though the price you pay to be with him will cost you both everything. I know you abandoned your so-called best friend and left her to suffer your fate.”

The voice rages around me, taunting, relentless, echoing. It seems to come from everywhere and nowhere. Tears form in my eyes, burning in the icy air. But one thing stands out more than everything else.

“My best friend? You know of Lilette?”

The voice makes a sound of derision like a dry, hacking cough. “I see not only your wretched thoughts. I see all that there is. All that could be. All that will never be. Do you want to see what Lilette suffers because you left her all alone?”

And suddenly, the forest is gone, and I am standing in the cathedral at the Amethyst Palace. The change is shocking. It’s not just something I can see. I feel the hard marble floor beneath my boots. I smell the ever-cloying incense.

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