Page 175 of Tale of the Heart Queen

Herric’s amused expression didn’t waver.

“Is that right?”

“Yes,” Rion said, once again hoisting the girl on his shoulder. It was screaming now, his entire back aching, pain radiating down through his hips and thighs. But he refused to let her go, clinging to this last hand he had to play. “You’ll release Rachel to me, and then I will send someone down to deliver it.”

Herric narrowed his eyes. “You will leave the girl here.”

Rion’s jaw clenched, wishing he could defy the order, but he heaved her up and set her on the ground. She lay at his feet, her eyes closed and her skin pale, her lips gently parted. Rion remembered the girl he’d tormented. The sound of her screams. That scar over her eye that he had been responsible for. He tried to drag up some sympathy for what he’d done, but the heirs of Heart had never meant anything to him. They had always been a means to an end.

“There,” Rion said, looking up.

“There,” Herric repeated as his eyes lit with a feral shine.

Before Rion could say anything else, he was consumed by a wall of black smoke. He hacked and coughed as it filled his lungs, choking off his air. His eyes watered, and he clutched at his throat, sure this was the end.

When the smoke cleared a minute later, he found himself in a black iron cage dangling next to Herric’s throne. Across from him was a second cage with the girl’s unconscious form crumpled at the bottom. Rion clutched the bars as it lurched from side to side.

“Let me out!” he cried as the entire room burst into vicious, taunting laughter.

Rion’s gaze rolled over the room, searching for Rachel, who remained kneeling on the floor with her head down.

“Rachel!” he called, but she stayed inert as Herric rose from his throne and bounded down the dais. A cape of black smoke formed over his shoulders, and then, from his hand, he produced the ark of Heart, holding it high over his head.

Rion felt in his back pocket but already knew it was gone.

“Rachel!” Rion screamed, gripping the bars.

Herric threw his head back and laughed again, the dark sound filtering into the fissuring cracks snaking through his bones. Herric grabbed Rachel by the hair and dragged her up. She didn’t react, even when it was apparent she was hanging by nothing but her roots. She was like a hollow porcelain doll.

“You fool,” Herric said with a snarl. “You thought you could trick me? Come into my kingdom with conditions?”

He shoved Rachel, and she tumbled down the stairs, rolling over until she landed on the floor in a limp heap, her arms and legs settling at awkward, unnatural angles. Rion screamed as he lunged for her, but he was trapped.

“This is my domain, king of The Aurora,” Herric said with a wicked grin as he threw the ark into the air and then snatched it in a fist.

“Welcome to hell.”

CHAPTER 61

NADIR

UNDER THE BELTZA MOUNTAINS

After what feels like a century, the magic pinning me down finally dissipates. “Lor!” I shout down the tunnel, but it’s been at least twenty minutes, and I’m sure my father is long gone.

Willow’s restraints disappear as she slumps against me. Though she’s unconscious, she appears unharmed, her chest moving steadily up and down. Morana and Khione’s restraints also melt away, and they pace back and forth, snarling into the darkness that swallowed my father and Lor.

I look up the tunnel at the way we came, and I have to make a decision. I need to go after Lor, but I also know she would be furious if I left her sister lying here alone and helpless.

After scrambling to my feet, I heave Willow into my arms and start running up the path the way we came.

“Help!” I roar at the top of my lungs. “Help!”

Gods, someone else has to be close.

Finally, I see two figures moving in the dark and nearly collapse in relief when Mael and Tristan emerge from the shadows.

“What happened?” Tristan demands as I transfer Willow into his arms. I explain as quickly as I can.