“He didn’t want to force you to become Queen for his sake.” Andryn said it as though it made any kind of sense. Why couldn’t he have just told me? We could have talked about it, could have figured out a way to make it all work.
“It wasn’t his decision to make. How could I make a decision without knowing all the facts?” I sobbed.
“Because he was protecting his Queen. Whether you sit on the throne or not, you’re all of our Queen. Even me.”
I gritted my teeth. I was not going to let this happen. I was not going to let Sebastian die for me. Or anyone else.
“Get out,” I said, my tone of voice no longer full of anger or sadness. “Sebastian is not going to die. Not like this. I may kill him when I find him, but Seraphina certainly isn’t going to.”
Andryn nodded and tried to close the door, but it hung at an odd angle after he broke into the hunt. As soon as the door was closed, I pulled on the linen dress that Sebastian had pulled off me last night. I didn’t know how I was going to find him or save him, but I was going to.
Then the sound of screaming rose above my anger. I reached out with my powers, touching the villagers. I felt their emotions and knew that Sebastian hadn’t left yet. If he’d gone through the portal, I wouldn’t have access to his empathy.
The first thought I had was that I still had a chance to catch him, but then I realized what the emotions of the villagers were. Fear. Pure and utter fear.
I stepped out of the hut and saw black cloaks fluttering in the moonlight that we lived in. The assassins had found us.
Chapter 33
Sebastian
The portal was nearly invisible here. Just a piece of tinsel wrapped around a rock. I stood next to it, looking at it with a set jaw. This was it. Go through the portal, break the portal, shadow walk to the Court of Light, and tell Seraphina that Rose was dead, that I’d finished the task.
She wouldn’t believe me, but it would make it harder for her to have me killed. I’d be imprisoned undoubtedly. She’d starve me, torture me, and maybe eventually, she’d have me put to death in front of the Dark Court to show that even the Prince of the Shadows was fallible and subject to the law.
Regardless, she wouldn’t know if she were right or not. As long as I didn’t break from the torture. I took a deep breath. Rose was worth it. She was worth every last ounce of pain, every bit of molten iron that Seraphina would pour over my body, permanently scarring my body so that I would never have willing prey again.
I should already be gone. The dream was only meant to last until twilight when the first moon would shine its silver light across the land.
I bent down toward the rock, but I was interrupted by a voice. A voice I remembered clearly. One that should be dead.
“Prince Sebastian, why are you here?”
I turned around and saw the old Queen of the Light, Aurora. The one that Seraphina had taken the throne from. There was only one way to unwillingly lose the throne as a Queen: death.
Dressed in a simple silver dress, she stood just as tall as she ever had. Barefoot, she walked across the field towards me. Sadness filled her face. She’d always been a kind Queen. The kind of Queen that I’d hoped that Rose would be.
“You should be in the void, Aurora. Seraphina killed you.” The woman smiled, but sadness tinged her lips.
“She believes this to be true, but she is not as clever as she thinks she is. It does not matter, though. The Princess of Shadows needs you, Prince. For many reasons, but this night holds many dangers. You would let your future Queen stand against Seraphina without you?”
Her eyes were daggers as she questioned me. The intensity that her eyes burned told me that her powers were not gone. She was no spirit.
“I have to do this, Aurora. Seraphina will hunt me until I’m found. She will never forgive this grudge.”
“How do you know that she has not already found her quarry?” A shiver ran through me.
“They’re here?” I stepped towards Aurora, rage and fear filling me with the need to move.
“A battle has already begun, Prince of Shadows. A Queen holds the forces at bay, but she is young still. She needs your blade beside her own.”
I blinked, letting the words fill me. Rose was as good a warrior as any in a spar. In place with no real repercussions for failure. She was good when she knew the wounds would heal and no tears would be shed. When no lives hung in the balance.
I took off at a sprint, burning through my power as I enhanced my speed. No. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I was supposed to keep her safe. No matter what, she had to be safe.
What had I done?
Chapter 34
Rose
Black cloaks fluttered as the assassin’s ran from the forest edge. Fear filled my body, but my training with Sebastian reminded me that fear had no place on a battlefield.
Kasia ran by me, spear and shield in her hands, and I leaped onto her back as she passed, my wings carrying me towards her. “Get me to the front,” I hissed at her as I prepared myself.
There were too many for me to fight alone. Cara stood next to the fire that always burned. Her eyes had turned sorrowful. She was remembering the day that she had saved those children while her village burned.
“To battle, Cara,” I commanded. “Andryn,” I yelled
