We walked back in the direction from which we’d come, moving steadily but silently, Grayson sniffed the air while I tried to send out my grasping feelers. That was a no go. The energy was just too stagnant. No sound filled our ears as we went along. The guards must have either given up or gone another way. After quite some time picking our way around obstacles beneath the shady canopy, we happened upon the narrow black path that lead to and from the heart of the realm.
“Which way is the castle?” I asked in a low voice, shooting a sideways glance up at Grayson.
He looked one way, then the other, sniffing hard like his nose was running. He pointed to the left. “That way.”
I didn’t question how he knew. Shifters had excellent senses of smell and hearing. Unlike the act of shifting, those senses had nothing to do with magical ability. Grayson’s senses might have been slightly stunted by the lack of moving air, but, for the most part, they’d still operate the same way they would have in any other realm.
The path widened slightly the closer we got to the castle. The tall tower came into view as we crested the final hill and approached the tree line that stopped at the castle grounds. My eyes couldn’t help but drift upward. The ivory balcony where the Queen had stood to watch my execution was empty now. The grounds leading up to the leafy maze weren’t crawling with guards, but a few of them were on patrol. There was no way we were going to be able to run across the grass and into the maze without being detected.
“We need to wait until nightfall,” Grayson whispered.
The sun was slung low in the cerulean sky. It wouldn’t be long before darkness fell, maybe a few hours. We found a comfortable place off the black path and sat down, completely concealed by thick undergrowth. I reclined onto the trunk of a tree and dozed off within seconds, falling into that deep, stinking well that had opened up inside me the moment I allowed that dark magic to uncoil itself, moving from my hand to my core.
I startled awake at the feeling of hands on me, shaking.
“It’s just me,” Grayson whispered. We were someplace dark and pressed closely together. “We should go.” He stood and pulled me up with him, while I rubbed my eyes and tried to remember where the fuck I was. The knowledge came back to me all at once, and my stomach sank as the cuts on my right hand started to itch.
“Why’d you let me sleep so long?” I hissed.
“You looked like you needed it.”
We moved back to the path, going slowly in the pitch-black darkness. The top of the castle gleamed even brighter at night, but the grounds were bathed in shadows.
“There are fewer guards out here at night,” Grayson explained. “Let’s go.”
He took off before I was ready, pulling me along by the arm. I went after him, my legs moving without the assistance of my head, which was still struggling to come out of the dark nest of dreams it’d been encased in for however long I’d been snoozing. We made it to the rear entrance of the maze without being seen. Even as disoriented as the nap had made me, I was glad for the rest. It made it easier to run after Grayson, whose hardy limbs and lungs never seemed to tire. We passed through the open arena, keeping close to the high wall of bushes, so we stayed in the shadows and out of the view of anyone who might come out onto the empty balcony. The platform and stake were still there, but all the hay had burned away. My heart thudded a little harder in my chest, and the sick feeling in my stomach stretched out into the rest of my body. I’d almost died here.
We ran through the rest of the maze without encountering anyone or hearing a sound besides my own ragged breathing. We paused at the exit of the maze. The rear of the castle was less than ten feet away.
“Now what?” I whispered, eyes scanning the vacant grounds. Where the hell were all the guards? It’d be great if most of them were still in the woods looking for us, but I smacked my hopes down where they belonged, not wanting them to get too high.
“There’s a rear entrance to the castle that the guards use,” he whispered back. “It’s not monitored. We might be able to get in that way.”
I didn’t like how quiet it was, how much this felt like a trap. But I either resigned myself to running back to Madden’s clearing and staying there for the rest of my life or I took this chance. I refused to be trapped here forever. I’d rather die trying to get home than burrow away in some woodland hidey hole.
“Let’s do it,” I said.
Grayson glanced down at me, but it was too dark to see the look in his eyes. We took off together, the thick grass muffling our footfalls so we didn’t have to worry about how hard we ran. The rear entrance was miraculously—and suspiciously—clear. We slid into the castle without any trouble.
Grayson pointed ahead of him, touched his chest, and then pointed at me. I took that to mean the dungeon was that way, that he planned to lead and I’d follow him. I nodded to show my understanding. I could hear noises in here. Footsteps. Low, growling voices. A door closing. An echoing moan followed by guttural laughter.
Grayson moved with a silent, easy grace that reminded me of Madden, his footsteps not making a sound. I tried to do the same, but it sounded like I was clomping along after him. We turned a corner and started down a quiet corridor lit by flickering sconces on the wall. Even without windows and the doors sealed the same way they’d been during the day; the shadows were thicker than they’d been before. We crept down a maze of hallways, ducking into dark corners and holding our breaths each time it sounded as if a guard’s footsteps drew closer.
It felt like hours had passed when we finally reached the staircase that led to the underground prison. We ducked into shadowy landing at the top of the stairs. Grayson cocked his head and I mimicked him, straining to hear any telltale noises coming from below. The last thing I wanted to do was rush downstairs and run right into a bunch of those skin walker assholes. Grayson was strong, but there was no way we could fight off more than one of them, two if we were extremely lucky.
“I don’t hear anything,” he said, words so low I almost didn’t catch them.
I couldn’t tell where any of the noises I heard were coming from—footsteps and echoing voices—so I had no choice, but to trust Grayson’s sharper ears.
We descended the stairs side by side, not making a sound. There were more candles burning on the walls down here. When I looked over at Grayson, I concern darkened his light eyes. All the doors to the cells were shut. A sharp ache stabbed my injured palm, and I grimaced. That darkness was waking up inside me, its tentacles uncoiling slowly. It knew I was getting closer to the Queen, and that was just what it wanted. I could feel it. I swallowed back a moan and focused on the task at hand.
“How do we get the doors open?” I asked.
Grayson gave a sunny grin that was completely out of place down here and pointed to a keyring hanging in the shadows right above where I’d hidden when I escaped the dungeon after stabbing the guard.
“With the keys.”
I smiled too, but the uneasiness didn’t leave my skin. “Does this feel too simple to you?”
He held my gaze for a second, the smile sliding from his handsome face, before taking the keyring from the wall. “It’s too late to worry about that now. Let’s just unlock these doors and figure out the next step.”
Grayson went to the first door and unlocked it. He went on to the next one, while I opened the door and beckoned to the sad creature inside that was huddled into the corner and shivering.
“We’re here to set you free,” I said in a gentle tone. “We need your help to defeat the Queen.”
“I don’t have my magic anymore,” he said in a wavering voice that seemed ashamed.
“I know. None of us do. That’s why we have to take a stand together.”
He stood and scurried out of the cell. Dressed in dirty clothing, he looked as though someone had laid one hell of a beating on him. He looked up at me, the bruises around his eyes cranking up the intensity of his stare.
“What are you?” he asked.
&nb
sp; “A white witch.”
He nodded once, his lips rising into the weary ghost of a smile. “I’m a mage.”
We didn’t need to exchange another word. At this point, our accord was complete. We went to the next cell, coaxing out a young woman who could stand but refused to talk. By the time all the doors were unlocked and those chained were freed from the walls of their cells, we were fifteen strong, all of us supernaturals except Grayson, the lone shifter holdout. They turned their hooded eyes to me, their faces weary, but determined. I kept my tingling right hand folded closed, so they wouldn’t see the telltale blackness spreading outwards from the cuts on my palm.
“We need to fight,” I said in an urgent whisper. “The Queen has stolen our powers and locked the portal, trapping us in this world. We can stand against her together. We just need to destroy the broken heart amulet she wears around her neck.”
The faery woman with the thick blonde hair that I’d seen before gave me a trembling smile, a flicker of hope shining in her light eyes. “I’ll stand with you. I’d rather die than be locked away again.”
The rest of the supernaturals mumbled their agreement, drawing themselves up now that they could feed off one another. Even I felt stronger around my own kind. Not being able to use our magic was a hindrance, but the strength of our fellowship was real.
“Someone’s coming,” Grayson whispered.
We didn’t have time to close all the cell doors or hide before a stream of guards came down the stairs and flooded the dungeon corridor. Some were skin walkers, but most were the humanoid animal hybrids with sharp canine faces and gleaming eyes.
We fell back a step in a clump, not turning our backs, just watching as the guards got into formation. I waited for them to strike, my muscles tense as that dark well of corrupted power opened a little more at my core. My head ached, and my stomach was an empty hole, but I was ready to fight to the death as soon as they came for us.
CHAPTER 16
~
“RETURN TO YOUR CELLS,” THE lead guard said in a gravelly voice that ground into my ears. He was holding a blunt club in one hand that had been hanging from his belt, his shaggy face as calm as the grave. “Or die where you stand.” The guard directly behind him bared a set of gleaming fangs. The next one over was a skin walker, who grinned showing off jagged yellow teeth.
“Now what?” I mumbled to Grayson, not taking my eyes off the creatures standing between us and the stairs.
“We fight,” he replied in a tight, controlled voice. “That should create enough of a distraction for you to sneak out of here and find the Queen.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
The guards were creeping closer, some grinning, others snarling as they bared their long, pointy teeth. None of them were in any particular hurry. They knew we were trapped, deprived of our magic, and demoralized by captivity and lack of food.
“If you don’t find a way to stop the Queen, nothing else matters,” he whispered. “We can’t leave the realm without free access to the portal.”
I couldn’t argue with him there, but that didn’t mean I had to like it. “Come with me.”
He glanced down at me. A small smile on his curved lips but it didn’t reach his wide, blue eyes. “They need me down here. I’ll see you soon, Alicia. You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
The guards were closing in, their flashing teeth drawing my attention. Before I could respond to Grayson, he let loose a bloodcurdling roar that shook the walls around us.
He launched into battle, careening into the first dog faced guard shoulder first and knocked him to the ground. The supernaturals behind me let out a rallying cry and ran to join him—some hobbling more than running. A few had chains that they swung at the guards, others simply fought with their fists and clawed fingers, raking them over faces. It was fifteen to about ten, and my side wasn’t doing half bad.
I ran around the melee, taking full advantage of the opening Grayson and the supernaturals were giving me. Not sparing a glance behind me, I plunged up the stairs, lifting my knees to take them two at a time. I didn’t want to leave them, but this might be my only shot of getting to the Queen. I’d have to find her in this maze of dim corridors, and I only had a general idea of where I’d been dragged the other day. I knew for certain that we’d gone right at the top of the stairs, but that was about it.
I plunged down empty hallways, my running footsteps echoing up to the high ceilings. After a few turns, I had no idea where I was going, but I kept moving, only stopping if I heard footsteps echoing ahead of me, using the dark feeling at my core as a guide. I didn’t exactly trust it, but it was getting clearer the more I ran, and it tingled to let me know which way to go at the end of every corridor. I just barely ducked into the shadows behind a row of potted plants as two guards came around the corner ahead of me. They mumbled to each other in low, growling voices. I only caught the tail-end of the conversation.
“Her Majesty wants them found, especially the witch,” the first one said.
“We’re combing the woods. What else can we do?” the second one asked.
I didn’t hear anything else because they turned the corner, leaving me holding my breath behind the giant, leafy plant. I crept off in the opposite direction, taking off at a dead run as soon as I judged them far enough behind me not to hear my footsteps. I recognized the décor in this part of the castle. The dripping wallpaper hadn’t changed, but the corridors widened as I approached the throne room. I remembered that from my only visit. The shadows were thicker here, swallowing up all but the middle of the hallway where I stood stock-still, listening hard. I couldn’t hear much of anything now. I’d seen several guards on patrol right after leaving the dungeon, but now the halls were completely empty of all sound. An uneasy feeling fell over me again, and I couldn’t shake the troubling suspicion that this was one extremely well-laid trap meant to draw me in this exact direction. But what choice did I have? Grayson and the supernaturals could be dead by now. It was up to me to find the Queen and end this.
I went on, plunging through the quiet corridor as silently as I could—my ragged breathing so goddamned loud inside my head. When I turned another corner, the throne room came into view. It was so bright, even at night. And, inside, I could hear the Queen, her voice as sharp as nails on a chalkboard.
I hung back in the shadows, waiting for my breathing to even out and my racing heart to stop creeping up the back of my throat. That sick power at my core uncoiled a little more. It wanted me to go closer. Without the use of my magic, I was more vulnerable than I had ever been in my life. Even that unstable corruption tingling inside me, hadn’t been able to protect me from the Queen when I’d ordered it to. I was a fool to go any closer to the throne room. But I needed to hear what she was saying, and I needed to seize the first opportunity I saw to attack. She’d seen me coming from ten miles away in the arena. This time, I meant to catch her completely off-guard.
I swallowed my thundering heart, sending it back down to batter my ribcage. I breathed in deeply, centering myself, and then I crept closer to the throne room to make what could very well be my final stand.
CHAPTER 17
~
THE QUEEN SPOKE IN A low, furious tone that become clearer the closer I got. Tiptoeing through the shadows, I stopped just short of the entrance. My furiously beating heart filled my ears with the sound of swishing blood, but I had no trouble hearing her.
“I want that witch brought back to this castle now!” she hissed in a deadly whisper that echoed up into the high ceilings. “Why is this taking so long?”
Another much deeper voice answered. “Your Majesty, we have men searching the forest and the grounds. They won’t get far.”
“They’ve already gone far, you idiot. It’s been hours since she escaped. They could be anywhere by now.” It sounded like she was pacing the floor, her tapping footsteps as urgent as her words. “I want them found! Bring the girl directly to me. Kill the guard who dared to betray me.
I want his head on a pike.”
I swallowed hard, thinking of Grayson in the dungeon, fighting what was most likely a losing battle. If they overpowered him, he was dead. But if I failed at this, we would all die anyway. I had to stay focused and be ready to go when my chance came.
“Leave me,” she ordered, sounding furious and completely sickened by the sight of whoever was in there with her.
I sank back into the considerable shadows, holding my breath as a guard with a shaggy face and glowing amber eyes left the room at a quick pace, running by the time he reached the end of the corridor and went to the right. The Queen mumbled angrily to herself as she paced in the throne room, her steps getting urgently closer, only to move away from where I stood pressed against the wall just outside of the entrance.
I couldn’t wait any longer. As soon as word got out about the fight being waged in the dungeon, this castle would go on high alert and be swarming with guards. I might not get another chance to act.
I waited for the Queen’s clomping footsteps to start across the room away from me. Then I pounced off the wall and moved into the room on the tips of my booted toes, closing the distance before the Queen could turn her long, narrow back clad in a bulky, full-skirted dress with a checkerboard pattern that matched the floors in here. I was halfway to her, my hands clenched into trembling, painful fists, when she spun to face me, a haughty, knowing smirk on her blood red lips and her eyes flashing black. She’d known I was here all along, and had been waiting for me.
I skidded to a stop a few feet away from her, that dark power blossoming inside me like a poisonous flower. The energy in here buzzed all over my skin. Being this close to the Queen felt like standing in the middle of an electrical storm—a hush at the center where she stood, but dangerous as I moved outward. I didn’t want to be this close to her, but that pulsing poison inside of me did. It whispered its dreadful promises—lifting the hair on my arms and legs, telling me how I could use it to take over this realm All I needed to do was strike down the Queen before she could kill me first.
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