AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Damn him. I should have never allowed him to go in ahead of us. I understood the reasoning, but it grated on me now.
The emotion that the last kiss stirred in me defied all logic and reason.
Goddess of the Beyond, please protect Sahlyn Asher, for he needed to answer for that damn kiss.
We came upon three guards, and Argen whispered in my ear, “We’ll take care of these miscreants. You find Sahlyn.”
That’s all it took for me to give him a quick nod and slip past the dark guards. A shiver of fear raced down my spine as I watched my friends engage. I needed to find Sahlyn, and I knew they could handle themselves, but I was still terrified for them.
When I burst through the throne room door, my heart pounding, my eyes swept the room and immediately lit upon the guards who held Sahlyn’s arms where he kneeled. My gut wrenched when I saw the blood pooling beneath him and the bruises that marred his handsome face. My entire body tightened with anger and fear. But I masked it quickly as I surveyed the opulent chamber.
When my eyes met the cruel ones of the queen, my heart stuttered, and I balked. She was tall, regal, and terrifying. I felt her power shiver against my bones, just like the demon wolves had done. Dark magic filled Queen Amira. I could taste it on my tongue; sulfur and ash. I kept my sword sheathed for now. There was no point in showing her that I carried Cabro Lightfoot’s unique blade. Showing a villain all the cards up front was unwise. Not that I knew anything about fighting villains.
Queen Amira wore her crown of thorns, leather pants, a corset, and a long trailing cape with a high neck. Her waves of golden hair fell to her waist. She looked like an epic sorceress queen, and my stomach tightened further. There was no way I could defeat her. Power magnified her very essence. I was nothing but a weaponsmith’s daughter who was decent with a bow and blade.
I heard feet at my back and glanced over my shoulder to see Argen fighting off a guard at the door. I almost shouted for him to be careful, but I knew the dwarven warrior could hold his own even if his foe were double his size. I heard a healthy curse aboutbitchesand resisted the urge to grin.
Awareness of the dark magic tendrilled out at me, and I took in the guards who held an unconscious Sahlyn again. They, too, were dark magic, but I had no time to dwell on it as the regal, vile woman who held us all on puppet strings stared me down.
“What do we have here?” The queen's sensual smile spread as her loathsome voice quivered over me. My heart raced with fear. Not feeling fear at a time like this would be stupid, but I stood straighter instead of bowing to it. Then, hearing a large body thud to the floor, knowing that Argen was successful, swept strength through me and illuminated my hope and faith that we were enough to accomplish our goals.
We could do this; we just needed to be smarter than the queen.
I didn’t answer; I just sized up the others. The four guards by Sahlyn made no threatening moves; their presence was menacing enough. The queen surveyed me as I had done her but didn’t so much as twitch in my direction. She was beautiful. So unnaturally beautiful, it hurt to look at her. I could understand why she enamored so many. I felt magnetism tug in my middle. It did nothing for me, but I could see how it ensnared others. I think that by possessing magic myself, I was less susceptible. Maybe if I engaged her in conversation, I could trigger a weakness.
I resisted the urge to sweep my eyes over Sahlyn. I did not want her to discover exactly how deeplyhewas my weakness.
“Why, Amira?”
Her golden brows lifted. “Why, what, pure of heart?”
Amira could quickly kill my friends and me, yet she wanted something. She wanted to test, and so she and I would dance before either of us moved on to attack. I could feel it. She wanted me scared shitless and begging. But I would not beg for my life. Never. I was too proud for that.
“Why—” I fluttered my hands, but my tongue felt thick in her presence.Why allow the darkness in? Why let it fester and rot your soul?
Instead, I said, “You could have had everything without forcing it. You could have—”
“Everything wastakenfrom me, girl.”
“That’s when you rebuild. You use that as fue—”
“It is not that simple!”
When Argen had told me some of Amira’s story,I pitied her. I had seen things from her pointof view, even if I didn’t want to. It certainly didn’t give her the right to do the things she had, to dominate the way she did, and force others to do horrible things, but I did understand her spiral into darkness. The driving push behind it all. Everyone that allowed the darkness to consume them had a guiding force, along with those that took to the light. There was always an influence: loss, trauma, family, friends, or love. So many things push someone one way or another. Howweas individuals handled those emotions, those experiences, that trauma that made the light or darkness inside take root and spread. Amira had allowed her grievances to twist her, rot her from the inside.
Yes, she was at fault. Yes, she was evil. Yes, she needed to die. But, I had no idea how to accomplish that.
Keeping her talking might give me time to figure out something.
“I’m sorry for your losses, Amira. Have so few people told you that? How awful it must have been—”
“Enough! Don't act like you know anything about me, girl. You are nothing but a means to an end. The mirror said you were special, but I don’t see it.”
“I’m not special,” I placated. I had no desire to allow the queen to live. I knew that was not in the cards, but I needed to understand her more. I needed to see what made her tick or catch her off guard enough to plunge my blade through her stone heart—one of those things needed to happen quickly.
When I heard a moan, my eyes whipped to the guards who held Sahlyn. His eyes slowly fluttered open. They swept the room and instantly focused on me. He moaned my name, and every fiber in my being wanted to rush to his side, but I stayed rooted in place by sheer willpower.
Sahlyn tried to stand, to get to me. “Don’t—” He slung his arm, trying to yank it from the guard's grasp. But, even weakened, Sahlyn would fight to protect and help me. His voice rasped my name again, and my heart stuttered.
