Stone Queen by Michelle M. Pillow

Author:Michelle M. Pillow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2009-03-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

For once, Juliana did not hope that Merrick called her back to be with him. She missed him, missed his touch, but the Black Palace was becoming too dangerous. The spirits that haunted the stone halls grew in number and with each passing second they became bolder, reaching for her from their dark shadows with their rotting corpse hands. Their cruel hisses lifted over the hall, louder until they practically howled.

“Unwanted. Unloved.”

“Forgotten bride.”

“Death to the queen.”

“He doesn’t want you. Never wanted you. Join us.”

“Death is the only escape.”

Thinking of it made her walk faster through the stone forest. Her side ached, but at least the baby rested within her belly. The clack of her feet on the hard ground sounded over the silence, punctuated only by the occasional leaves breaking as she brushed against them. They fell hard to the ground.

Behind her was the palace, and towering above that the mountains. The gray and charcoal landscape sparkled in the silvery moonlight. She was used to darkness following her almost anywhere she went, but there were strange periods of dawn and sunset that seemed to break the darkness, though the sun never shone as bright as it had over her childhood home.

She hesitated, unsure if she should try to find Lord Kalen in the mountains where he lived, not that she knew where that was, or if she should wander the forest in search of the battlefront. With his psychic powers, he was the only one she knew of that could help her now. If Kalen couldn’t hear her, then she might really be trapped.

Though doubt did plague her, Juliana tried not to succumb. Merrick would not have let her and their child slide into a dangerous world. Mayhap this was all her fault. Mayhap his witch, with his droplets of blood, could not be trusted.

Above her, frozen in the sky, a flock of birds was suspended, their light blue a strange contrast to the normal gray. A squirrel sat unmoving in a tree, looking to eternally chew on a nut. Every detail of his small hands was carved to perfection, even the fur sticking up from his back. Suddenly, one of the boulders on the other side of the path began to move. A boulder next to a tree was suspiciously like a hiding chubby woodland gnome. Next to the rock sat a squat little man with round red cheeks, tiny features, a hat, jacket and a beard long enough to touch the ground.

“Your mother is a fool, little one,” she whispered, rubbing her stomach. “I was so overwhelmed with the unblessed magic, I acted in what methought to be the only way. Instead, I should have talked to your father, pleaded with him, denied him, whatever it took to end the war. I should have been stronger. I’m sorry if I failed us. I wanted nothing more than to see you born, to see your face, to see you happy and safe.”

A giggle sounded. Juliana tensed, looking up into the stone forest.

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