Page 6 of Hearts Lost

More men file in past him, all of them hardened veterans of the Royal Guard, all with faces that twist into shock as they enter. It would be almost amusing to watch them stagger on the doorstep if I wasn’t so close to the damned knot of magic in the middle of the room. I’m close enough to feel cold air pouring out of it, like a mirror of the cold fear pouring off the princess.

Myrill finally recovers enough to speak.

“Y-Your Highness,” he stammers, bending his head to the princess who is clinging to my arm like I’m the only thing keeping her upright.

“Yes,” Elanerill replies. “I am your princess.”

Her voice is strong, although her body is trembling. It’s almost enough to make me respect her, despite the way her face mirrors her grandfather’s.

“This portal has opened for me,” she continues. “I will be leaving you now.”

Wait, what? Myrill’s face falls into yet another expression of surprise. It’s so far from his usual disapproving scowl that he’s almost unrecognizable.

“Your Highness?” I whisper.

It’s a question, although I don’t dare voice more than those two words. Shock and a strange, terrifying spark of hope twist together in my chest, making me feel like I’m about to explode. The Lands Below are home to monsters, to a terrifying army that slaughtered the Kingdom of the Summer. The frozen Lands Below are where the wicked Kingdom of the Fall was sent to die.

And yet. I turn toward the twisting, shimmering air, almost against my will.

That’s a way out.

Something tightens inside my gut, and I turn back toward the soldiers and guards cramming the doorway. They’ll bring the royal magicians next, I’d bet my life on it. They’ll bring the magicians, and with them, my sister.

It’s a way out. My sister, it’s a way out.

“No!”

A voice thunders through the crystal chamber, and fear turns my insides to ice. The soldiers melt away as King Grathgore steps through the doorway, his face twisted in anger, the long spikes on his golden crown almost spearing the doorframe.

“Nothing goes through that abomination!” the king declares.

His voice rolls through the room like a thunderclap. I feel the princess recoil, then pull herself up taller. Her mouth opens.

Someone screams. I turn to the guard beside the king, follow the track of his eyes toward the portal, and almost scream myself.

Because something is coming through.

Time freezes around me. The temperature in the crystal chamber plummets. The shimmering air in front of me bulges and swells, rippling in a way that hurts my mind. There’s something dark inside that shivering, incandescent mess, something tall and vaguely man-shaped. Something wrapped in midnight blue, with white trim. Golden accents come into focus, and then I can see arms. A chest. A head.

Oh, shit. My heart sinks even as fear keeps my muscles taut.

It’s Prince Folwynn.

One of his arms is in a sling, and he’s got a bandage over his nose, but there’s no mistaking that golden hair and arrogant sneer. The room fills with the sounds of weapons being drawn, with feet shuffling over stone as soldiers prepare to fight. My heartbeat throbs against the inside of my skull; a fresh wave of fear washes over me from the princess. But, why? It’s Prince Folwynn, for the stars’ sake. This is his kingdom.

Folwynn stumbles into the room, gasping like a fish yanked from a lake, and I pull back, expecting him to topple over. He doesn’t. I realize my mistake.

Because it’s not just Prince Folywnn who’s come through the portal. There’s a man standing next to him, a man holding Folwynn’s other arm in a posture that’s alarmingly similar to the way I’m supporting the princess. The stranger is wearing all black with a small, golden emblem on his cloak, and his skin is so pale he looks like a corpse. I glance from the man holding the prince’s arm to the guards and soldiers pointing their weapons at the portal and hold my breath.

Whoever this man is, he’s about to die.