Suddenly, we are all hugging each other, a situation I never thought would be possible. Fae hugging Fell, protecting each other.
Everyone holds their breath.
Running feet race along the corridor beyond us as I think dark thoughts, wishing for my light to extinguish and not betray us.
The sound of running feet finally disappears into the distance and then there’s silence.
Some of the weight lifts off me as Evander peels himself away from our hug first. Through a gap between his body and Serena’s, I can just see Evander tilt his head to check the corridor. “They’re gone.”
Evander tugs on his arm, which is caught between Nathaniel’s back and Serena’s chest as he awkwardly attempts to extricate himself from our hug.
Serena blinks her eyes rapidly, slowly slipping away from Nathaniel and releasing Evander’s arm.
Her gaze runs intently across Nathaniel’s face and shoulders. “Dear stars, you smell good.”
Nathaniel gives her a blank stare as he straightens, pulling me with him while he rises to his full height. He towers over Serena with a coldly disinterested glare.
She shakes herself, a fierce blush filling her cheeks before she clears her throat and backs away. She may have changed her allegiance, but I guess she can’t fight her inner nature so easily. Fae are open about their appreciation of beautiful things and Nathaniel is more than beautiful, he is fiercely powerful.
He is also beyond me now.
I turn away before he can see the pain in my eyes. I have a job to do: Free my father and retrieve Nathaniel’s weapon.
“The way is clear,” Evander says with a stern glance at Serena that tells her to behave. She shrugs in response before she leads the way into the corridor.
“I’ll try not to burn anything down,” she whispers with a smug wink as she prowls ahead of us.
We stay on alert as we approach the entrance room and enter the Inner Sanctuary. Nathaniel matches my careful stride, always in tune with my pace.
The Inner Sanctuary is empty. As we suspected, the south wall is open and the room is exposed to the elements. The chill night air rushes through it, whistling along the far corridors.
The fountain in the center of the room is silent and still. The flowers that normally fill the room are gone, except for a few golden roses sitting in a discarded basket on the floor. I used to believe that the Queen filled the flowers in her Inner Sanctuary with the essence of her power, that when she gave a flower to a fae, she was sharing her power with those who needed light in their lives. Now I believe that the flowers are receptacles of dark magic—like the poisonous violet rose she sent to Crispin—ready to use if she needs them. She also gave flowers to Nadina and Serena to allow them to use their firelight at night.
Serena bends and picks up one of the discarded golden roses. A smile spreads across her face. She quickly pins the rose to her armor before she extends her hands. Flames burst into life around her fingers. But her expression quickly falls as she gestures around the room. “The Queen has harvested all of her flowers tonight. Each of her guards will receive one. They will defy the night to use their power.”
Evander sighs. “I don’t suppose there’s Frost power in one of those roses?”
Serena shakes her head. All four discarded flowers are golden. “I’m sorry, no. But I will take one for Calida.”
In the distance, a squadron of thunderbirds, including the Queen’s crimson bird, soars away in the direction of the border. As we watch, another squadron appears high above us, following closely behind the Queen. It won’t be the only one. If she’s called all of her guards, then hundreds of thunderbirds will soon swarm toward the border. Cyrian may have a hundred hunters, but they will never match the ferocity and sheer numbers of the fae warriors.
“We need to move quickly,” Evander says. “Imatra’s orders could change at any time. We can’t assume we’re in the clear.”
“I’ll stay up here and keep watch,” Serena says, taking up position in the opening leading down to the Spinning Lake.
“This way,” Evander says to me, leading Nathaniel and me to the back of the Sanctuary. Once there, my brother runs his hands across the wall, seeking the hidden door. “Talsa said it was around the middle of the wall, but I can’t—”
“Here,” Nathaniel says, pressing his palm to a portion of the wall with a cluster of pastel roses painted on it. He tests a section of the wall on his right before a click sounds and the passage opens up.
Evander looks surprised, but I’m not. Nathaniel identified the concealed door between my room and Imatra’s before I told him it existed. It could be because of the starlight he absorbed into his body for all of those years or simply because he’s perceptive.
Evander doesn’t waste time asking questions. He strides along the dark corridor situated immediately in front of us while we follow closely behind until we reach a set of stairs. A light glows below us, but it’s coming from the right, as if the stairs spiral around before they reach the bottom.
Evander gestures quietly, indicating that he’s going to descend. I stay close behind him, reaching for Nathaniel’s hand, checking that he remains close to me. No matter what happens, I need to make sure he stays alive.
Our steps are light. Silent.
My skin crawls the moment I set foot on the top step behind Evander. An icy chill runs through me. A cold burn.
My eyes widen as I recognize the malice of dark magic in the steps beneath my feet. It’s in the air I’m breathing. I glance at Evander, but he keeps moving. He doesn’t seem to sense it.
“Evander, stop!”
My shout is drowned in the explosion of fire that cuts across the staircase, billowing across my brother’s body and knocking him down.
Chapter 19
My starlight bursts outward, released from its constraints, forming a shield of glowing starlight that envelops Evander, me, and Nathaniel. Pushing back the fire, my magic hums like the glitter field, soft where it touches us but sharp at its edges.
The flames shriek away from us, leaping away from the edges of my power before the fire forms the shape of daggers—hundreds of them—that stab at my starlight.
I brace, but the flames don’t pierce my shield. They sizzle and die, vanishing into the air.
With a groan, Evander slumps to the steps. I reach for him, but Nathaniel is already at his side, catching my brother before he tumbles down the staircase.
“He’s alive.” Nathaniel grips Evander’s shoulders. “His armor protected his body, but his face and hands are burned.” Nathaniel’s lips press together with worry. “He’s not in good shape, Aura.”
The shield of my magic fades as I kneel beside Evander. My magic flickers hard inside my chest as I take in all of the damage to his face. “Brother, can you hear me?”
When he doesn’t respond, I place my palms in the air on either side of his head, careful not to make contact with his burned skin. Calming warmth spreads through my fingertips and glows across his temples. It will keep him pain-free for now.
Tears trickle down my cheeks, but rage rises with them. “That was a trap set for Evander, triggered by his Frost power. I felt the chill before it struck.”
Angry regret fills me. I should have been using my power to shield us, starting from the moment we stepped through the door. I’m still discovering the extent of my power, but a shield like the one I produced when the fire struck would have protected Evander.