I knew powerful magical wards sealed the palace from intruders, so they had to have been let in. But who would put the whole palace at risk?
Another smaller shadow walked out of the darkness, her hair shining in the candlelight in golden hues.
Leticia!
“Hello, Princess Aurora.” A cold, cruel sneer curled her lips.
“You!” I said, my voice cracking. “You are the one who betrayed me.”
“In order to betray you, we would first have to be friends,” said Leticia with a hateful smile, “and that was not possible with you having your beady little eyes on my prince. Take her away.” She gestured haughtily, as if she were already queen.
“But how did you remove the magical wards protecting the palace?” I asked, in the midst of my panic. “You have no magic.”
“I have friends,” she snapped.
Another shadow dislocated itself from the darkness. Damien!
I glared at him. “You were the one who let them in.”
Damien grinned evilly at me. He seemed completely healed. “Bind her wrists,” he said to the Shadow Guard. “Don’t let her take off her amulet, it is what suppresses her powers.”
I gathered my magic and shot a stun strike at a Shadow Guard, but he easily put up a shield to deflect it. Another guard caught me from behind and bound my hands. There was nothing I could do; I was trapped.
“You will not get away with this, Leticia.” I sounded more confident than I felt.
“Oh, I think I already did,” said Leticia as the Shadow Guard bound and gagged me.
“I told you I would get back at you,” snarled Damien, finally amassing the courage to come closer to me once my hands were bound. I always knew he was a coward. “My uncle, the archmage, will be so proud of me once he knows I am the one who delivered you to his queen.”
Behind Damien, a dark shadow descended on the room. I turned toward the window to see a monstrous shape with obsidian-black wings and razor-sharp claws perched on the windowsill. A gorgoth. I had heard of them but had never seen one before. My eyes widened in fright and I tried to cry out, but the gag stopped me, cutting the sides of my mouth.
Were they going to feed me to that thing? Its face was a contorted mix of man and bat, and its red eyes glowed like hot coals.
“Queen Morgana is waiting for you, Princess,” rasped the guard who held me. “She wants to deal with you personally this time.”
Two guards clasped my arms and pulled me toward the window. I kicked and screamed but to no avail.
The gorgoth caught me in its razor-sharp claws and lifted me up like a leaf. Its great leathery wings beat the air as it pounced off the window ledge, holding me roughly in its talons. It flew me swiftly up into the darkening sky, toward Morgana and my impending doom.
Morgana
I lay on the cold stone floor of the dungeons at the ruins of Tinerea Castle. I had heard the guards talking and discovered that we were up in the hills, far away from the city of Neris. The gorgoth was gone. It had dropped me in the ruins, and the Shadow Guard were there to capture me again.
I sat up and looked around me. It was a dark and horrific place with chains and manacles fastened to the walls. Dust and cobwebs hadn’t been disturbed for years, and above all else, there was an eerie silence. I had an inkling that I was the only prisoner here.
I had learned in my ancient history class that, according to legend, this castle was haunted, so no one ever came here. It had been destroyed, along with a mage who had turned to dark magic.
I couldn’t believe I had come full circle—back in the dungeons, tied, trapped, and waiting to be taken to Morgana.
My blood boiled when I thought of Leticia and her sly attempt to get me out of the way. I should have known she would do something like this; she’d made it very clear she hated me. It was clever of her to go to Damien for help; she must have known how much he hated me too.
I heard a click at the door and a chill scuttled down my spine. Had they come to get me? Had Morgana arrived? The guards opened the door, and another prisoner was roughly shoved inside. The door banged shut, and I could only roughly make out the figure that stood before me.
But then, in the darkness, I heard a familiar voice. “Sorry I took so long, Princess.”
“Kalen!” I whispered. “How did you get caught? Why did you come here?”
“I followed you, and I was looking for a way in when the Shadow Guard caught me,” said Kalen, smiling and looking very pleased with himself. “They brought me straight to you.”
Was Kalen mad, risking his life like this?
“Morgana is on her way here. She will kill you if she finds you here. You must go, please.”
“I’m not leaving without you,” he said plainly.
“How did you get here so fast?” I asked, trying to think of a way to get him out of here. I had resigned myself to the fact that, this time, there was no hope of escape. The Shadow Guard were everywhere, and they had said that Morgana was on her way herself.
“Snow,” he explained. “I was in the stables, and Snow suddenly started going mad, banging on her stall and trying to get out. I got onto her somehow; she was so distressed that she didn’t seem to mind. I freed her, and she flew me here.”
“Snow is here?” Hope rose in my heart.
Kalen nodded. “I also alerted your granduncle, and hopefully he is on his way. I flew on ahead. I need to get you out of these ruins
