Chapter 99
CHAPTER 99
Keldarion
I sit with my arms draped over my knees, head hanging low. How long has it been since we arrived in this chamber? Hours? Minutes? I guard the entrance, though there’s been no sound or sign of anyone else. Why should they have patrols? No one could make it to the heart of the labyrinth.
No one without a tie connecting them to the Queen.
George and Anya whisper to each other, savoring what little time they have remaining. Was it a cruel thing to call Rosalina here, knowing we cannot take Anya home with us? Perhaps. But if this is her last chance to see her mother, I know she would want it.
Pain grips my heart. I’ve been away from my mate too long. Never again, I vow to myself. Once I have her back in my arms, I won’t let her go.
And that means I must return to the surface. I touch the small seed Caspian gave us that will create a temporary portal back to Castletree. Hating myself for having to do so, I stand and walk over to George. “This prison could break any minute. If Anya won’t come back with us, we shouldn’t be here when it happens. It will only put us at risk.”
“He’s right. You should go now,” Anya says.
George looks between the two of us. “N-no, not yet. There’s still time …”
She smiles at her husband. “The sight of you has given my heart hope it has not had in years.” She flicks her gaze up at me. “Both of you.”
I bow low. “I will find a way to break our bargains. I swear it.”
“We can’t just leave,” George exclaims. “There’s still time—”
A sharp, piercing sound shatters through the chamber. There’s the high-pitched clang of metal meeting metal, followed by an explosive pop that sends me barreling forward, knocking George to the ground and covering his body with mine.
The giant green crystals explode. Shards scatter through the air. A shockwave tremors through the ground.
Pieces of crystal skitter over my body, some embedding in my skin like needles. Then a haunting silence fills the chamber, the only sound the soft tinkle of the final pieces of crystal falling to the ground. I blink rapidly. The chamber is so dark, the green glow gone.
The only light comes from …
The Queen.
She stands in the middle of the room, radiating like she was born a part of the night sky.
They did it. Caspian and Farron fucking did it.
“Annie?” George struggles to his feet, pushing me off him. He blinks at his wife. “Annie!”
“George.”
He runs to her, engulfing her in his arms. She curls into him. It’s a strange thing; the Queen always seemed like an immense, otherworldly entity in my mind, but she appears small in George’s embrace.
He kisses her, a man kept in darkness who has finally found the light. Their love emanates all around. Sparks fly from Anya, a tiny star shower illuminating even the darkest pit of the Below.
Every nerve in my body is alight. An ice dagger appears in both my hands. “George, I’m so sorry. We have to go now, or it will be too late.”
George pulls away from Anya, frantically pushing her hair back from her face. “I can’t. I won’t. If you’re not coming with us, then I’m not going either. I’ll stay with you.” He turns to me. “Kel, you’re a good man. I trust you and after our time together, I love you as a son. Take care of our daughter. Tell her I love her—”
Anya smacks George on the side of his head. “Don’t be a fool! You’re not staying here. Go. Sira will have felt this destruction across every corner of the Below, and I’ll be the first thing she secures. Leave now, while you still have the chance!”
“There is nothing that can tear me away from your side again,” he says.
I hop from foot to foot, swinging my daggers in my hands. “George, come on.”
“You’re going,” Anya snarls.
“I’m not!”
I feel it before I see it. A creeping, slithering sensation at my back. I whip around and swing my ice dagger. A ghastly cry erupts out as it connects; the shine of my dagger illuminates a twisting creature, a shadowy wraith with hollow eyes and a gaping mouth.
“We’re not alone!” I call. That didn’t take long. Sira’s already sent her servants.
“Run, George!” Anya pushes on his chest.
Another shiver trembles at my left side, and I spin, dagger flying. Another wraith cries out, crumbling beneath my blade. How many are there? I can barely see. This whole place could be crawling with them.
He grabs her tight to him, pinning her arms to her sides. “I’m staying with you. Nothing can change my mind.”
“We have another daughter!” Anya screams.
George lets her go. Staggers back. Quickly, I run and skid along the floor, dragging my daggers through a wraith hovering at George’s back. My mind can only concentrate on detecting the shivers and the slight bits of movements in Anya’s light, indicating a wraith. But did she say … another daughter?
Rosalina has a sister?
“What … what do you mean?” George whispers
Anya’s chest heaves. She looks down at her arms, glowing with light, then shoves her hand to the left. A huge beam of light illuminates the quadrant. Three shadowy wraiths screech and wither. But more erupt up from the ground, taking their place. “I was pregnant,” she growls, “when Sira took me to the Below. I didn’t know! I didn’t know, George!”
Another cluster of wraiths spin into being. My daggers cut one, two, three, but a fourth emerges at my side. I don’t have time to cut it down before it wraps two shadowy tendrils around my body. I gasp, everything in me goes ice cold. A sense of hopelessness washes over me, every happy memory drained from my mind.
Anya cries out and a javelin of light shoots forward, stabbing through the monster. I collapse to the ground, freed, clutching my chest. She turns back to George. “I had to birth the baby in this prison. And then … and then Sira invoked the bargain again.”
I try to make sense of it as I stagger back up to my feet, daggers at the ready. She once again loved someone more than George: a mother’s love for her second child.
“She took the baby,” Anya breathes. “I had nothing left to trade. Our second daughter belongs to her now.”
George stumbles back again, eyes unblinking.
“I couldn’t tell you before,” she whispers. “I couldn’t break your heart again.”
Instinctual terror cuts through me as I look around. It doesn’t matter how many of these wraiths I destroy. More and more sprout from the ground, an endless wave of horror. “George, it’s now or never.”
“This is my fate, love,” Anya breathes. “But you can still save her. Find a way to save our daughter. I named her for the birds we used to love. Wrenley. Isn’t that beautiful?”
George closes his eyes, a look of pure agony on his face. He collapses to his knees. “I can’t—”
“You will. The longer you stay in the Vale, the more your memories will return. Treasure them, George.” The Queen of the Vale kisses her mortal husband and steps back. She closes her eyes and raises her hands slowly into the air. Huge, golden briars erupt from the ground. They wrap around George’s waist, then tangle up my legs and chest.
The Queen looks at me, and her eyes flash with power. “Keldarion, you are the Protector of the Realms. Our people are in your hands now. Help Rosalina lead. Together, do better than I did.”
Then she turns to George. Her face softens, looking … human. “Goodbye, love. Protect our daughters.”
The last thing I see are the wraiths leaping upon her, swallowing her up in their darkness, before her briars whip us into the earth and up toward the surface.