Chapter 33 Auria #2
Bylur shook his chains, trying to rip them out of the post, but Ephaltes just bowed his head and took a spot at the front of the line of guards.
“Now, my dear,” the queen’s nasty sweet voice was back. “Instead of accepting your challenge, I’ve decided to give you a gift.” She gestured at Bylur. “If you can get to him, you can have him.”
A fiery path, maybe fifty feet long and two feet wide, with ten soldiers on each side stretched between us. I could do that. It might take four or five seconds, but I wouldn’t burn to death in that time.
But she would know that. My mouth went dry. “The soldiers,” I said. “They’re not there just to keep me on the fire.” I meant it as a question, but my voice came out flat.
“No,” she said, smiling widely. “They will run you through with their swords.” Swords. Most held one, some held two, already drawn and ready. “You might run past one or two, but there is no way you will get past twenty of them. And a good hit from Ephaltes. And a little fire.”
“And you?” I asked.
Her smile grew impossibly bigger. “I will throw daggers made of ice at you. I will form them from the moisture in the air as you run. It will be a delightful target practice.”
I bit my lip. I could not survive so many sharp blades, even for five seconds, not while I was running on a straight path that she’d marked. Unless—
My heart raced, and my breathing picked up. Bylur shook his head at me, as if he could save me from their blades. But I had Bylur’s magic. His shadows could be as solid as stone. He’d said it himself. I just needed them to work for me.
I would do it. I had to. But I couldn’t let the queen know I had a chance of surviving. I glanced over my shoulder, as if checking for an escape.
She cackled, and I faced her. “If I choose not to, will you let me leave?”
She tipped her head, as if contemplating it, and then smiled. “Of course not. I will have a soldier run you through while these two hold you. But I will enjoy watching Bylur’s expression when you decide not to attempt it.”
I didn’t have to pretend fear. I legitimately trembled. “But if I do it… if I survive your little gauntlet, and make it to him, you will free him?”
She clapped her hands gleefully. “Oh, yes, I will. And I will enjoy watching you die as you scramble to him infinitely more than I will any other option.”
“Swear it,” I panted. “If you’re going to get your entertainment out of my death, at least give me something certain to fight for.”
“Absolutely.” She looked far too happy about this. Was I overlooking something? She would never agree unless she was certain she would win.
Before I could back out, she dropped a hand on my shoulder. “I, Queen Daneira of Kerebos, will release Bylur to you if you can reach him before you die. It is an oath.”
That was actually incredibly optimistic. Even if I got stabbed twenty times, I wouldn’t bleed out in five seconds. Though it would take more than five seconds if I was getting stabbed—
“Are you ready then?” The queen was standing, looking down at me imperiously while my thoughts ran away from me. Would her oath be enough? Dedalus wanted me to get a tattooed bargain, but there was no way she would agree to that. And the oaths I’d seen other fae make had been pretty binding.
I nodded. I didn’t have any other options at this point.
“Wait.” She raised a hand in front of my face. “Take your boots off.”
Of course. My hands trembled as I tugged them off and dropped them behind me.
“And your stockings.”
I ripped them off too, though they stuck a little because I’d been wearing the same pair for three days.
“Now you’re ready,” the queen declared. “Unless you’ve changed your mind?”
I looked down the fire at Bylur. He looked more panicked than I felt—and I was so nervous my legs threatened to give out under me.
I needed to grip the key to steady my thoughts and convince Bylur’s magic to help me, but if the queen saw it before I started, she would surely take it away.
I’d have to take a hit first, and then pull the key out from under my bodice.
Sorry, I mouthed to Bylur. He shook his head again, but I stepped into the fire.
My feet burned instantly. I knew the pain was coming, but it was overwhelming.
And I knew what was next. I clenched my teeth and lifted my arms over my head, bracing for the impact from Ephaltes’s club.
It slammed into my shoulder. Any hopes I had of him going easy on me because we’d once been on good terms, vanished when the wood bit into my arm.
Between the heat from the flames and the pain in my shoulder, I almost collapsed. I hadn’t even made it a whole second.
“Auria!” Bylur yelled my name, snapping my thoughts back together. I staggered as Ephaltes’s club cracked across my back.
The impact pushed me into the flames. I closed my eyes against the heat and smoke and plunged my hand inside my bodice, gripping the key.
My heart and mind reached for Bylur and his magic, imagining how a wall of shadows would block another attack.
How I wanted Bylur and his magic in my life!
How they were precious and sweet and safe—even the shadows I’d once feared.
A new warmth, fresh and secure, filled my heart and wove through my body.
Bylur’s magic. Only a moment had passed since I’d fallen into the flames, and Bylur’s magic rushed through me, infusing me with the strength I needed to jump back on my feet.
Beautiful, black swirls of shadow churned around me.
The flames on my clothes snuffed out, as if they couldn’t exist while I held Bylur’s power.
A clanging sound, like two swords crashing together, rang just above my head. I looked up and saw a sword bounce away from my neck. I hadn’t felt a thing.
And then I realized it was the swirling shadows. They’d wrapped around me, like a thin stone wall, blocking swords and flames and…
I spun around as a series of clangs echoed at my back. Queen Daneira’s arm extended toward me, and she fired another set of ice daggers. They, too, hit my shadow shield and fell into the flaming ground.
“No!” she yelled. “Soldiers! Attack her!”
I darted forward, propelled by her shout. Swords bounced off me. Fae who charged too close were flung away from me by violent shadows rising to keep me safe. I was as untouchable as Bylur. No wonder so many thought he should be king.
I locked eyes with him and ran out of the maelstrom. I threw myself at his body, wrapping my arms around his waist and holding on with all my strength.
“I made it,” I panted into his tunic—the same one he’d worn to the ball. “I made it.”
A loud crack split the air and a blinding, bright light flashed around us.
I closed my eyes and buried my flame-sore face in Bylur’s clothes.
He wrapped his arms around me, lifting me up off the ground and crushing me to his chest. “You’re alive,” he breathed into my hair.
“Tell me I’m not dreaming again. I refuse to wake up ever again. ”
I laughed into his shoulder. “Never again. We get the dream forever now.”
“No!” The queen’s shout cut into our happiness like a soldier destroying a party. “You are mine!”
Bylur shifted me to his side and kept one arm around me as he raised his other hand to interrupt a blast of icy blue magic that the queen fired at him.
She attacked him, and he countered it immediately.
His shadows surrounded her blue magic and twisted it until it turned around and plunged back into the queen.
More shadows dove into her. She screamed, lifting her hands and shooting a few bursts of icy blue magic out of the darkness. More and more shadows collided with her, snuffing out any remaining ice magic and surrounding the queen in a black cloud we couldn’t see through.
Bylur fisted his free hand, and the black cloud erupted. Shadows exploded in every direction, followed by a burst of sparkling ice. As the black and blue settled, complete silence filled the dungeon. The queen was gone.
Bylur’s soft voice rumbled like a drum in a sea of silence. “Let me heal you, Auria.”
I nodded as he cradled my face with his hands and bent his forehead down to meet mine.
Cool, calm magic started at the top of my head and poured down through my face, throat, arms, chest, legs, and feet.
It soothed blisters and aches as it flowed.
My shoulder and back relaxed, and my face and legs felt as if they’d never been burnt.
I breathed out a long, slow sigh. It was over. All the pain and uncertainty and fear and curses. It was all done. “Thank you,” I whispered.
“Of course. Any time. Every time. There is never a reason for you to feel pain.” His voice caught. “Do you hear me, Auria. I am not a good enough reason for this.”
I opened my eyes. “I told you I’d break that curse. I promised.”
His voice lowered. “I know that. But I don’t want to see you hurt ever again.”
A corner of my mouth tipped up. “Then don’t get cursed ever again.”
He shook his head slowly, careful to keep his forehead pinned against mine. “I love you.”
I tipped my head up so I could kiss him, but first I spoke against his lips. “I love you too.”
We barely had time to start kissing when one of the soldiers cleared his throat. Loudly. I folded my arms and glared at him.
Bylur wrapped one of his arms around my shoulders and turned to face the soldier. “Do you need something?”
The soldier looked at the floor. “You just defeated Queen Daneira. You are the new ruler of Kerebos.” He knelt. “Hail, King Bylur.”
I felt Bylur’s internal grimace through the key, but instead of responding to the soldier, he turned back to me.
His terrible sense of loyalty made him feel responsible for these people, but he didn’t want that, and his council hadn’t taken over Kalshana yet.
It was nowhere near ready to take charge of two kingdoms.
I wrapped an arm around Bylur’s waist. “Bylur, I’d like to introduce you to someone.” I scanned the room until I found her investigating the explosion where her mother had been. I pointed at her. “This is Daneira’s daughter.”
Bylur’s brows raised so high they were in danger of jumping off his face.
“It’s a long story, but I think she might be the solution you’re looking for.”
Bylur crossed the room to her, keeping an arm around my back the entire time. She dropped into a curtsy. “You succeeded where I thought you would fail,” she said to me. “Congratulations. You have your husband now.”
“You are Daneira’s heir?” Bylur asked.
The princess maid huffed. “No. She refused to name me heir after my magic made me unpopular.” Her face hardened. “But I would be an excellent queen.”
“Then I will give you that opportunity,” Bylur said. “If you prove yourself capable, you will rule Kerebos.”
“What?” A dubious expression hijacked her mouth and brows.
“If Kerebos’s laws and traditions make me king, then I am assigning you to rule in my stead. I’ll check in on you from time to time. If you manage the kingdom such that it thrives, in ten years, I’ll abdicate and crown you queen myself.”
She picked her jaw up. “Why?”
Bylur smiled at me. “Because I don’t want it, and my wife thinks you’d do a good job.”
I smiled back. “She will, especially with you as an advisor.”
He rubbed my back with his thumb. “Shall we go home?”
I nodded. “Yes, please.”
“Wait!” Ephaltes rushed forward and dropped to his knees. “Will you take me to Kalshana too?”
Bylur’s smile disappeared. “No. You’re lucky I’m in the mood to leave with my wife now. Otherwise, I’d kill you for treason. You chose Kerebos. You can stay here.”
“But—” Ephaltes rocked back and forth. “What about my lands?”
Bylur faced me and his smile returned. “I will ask Auria to decide if we need a new ruler for House Fundan or if we should let one of the other houses absorb it.”
I smiled back. “That sounds fun.”
“But—” Ephaltes started, but Bylur cut him off.
“Ask your new queen for mercy. I’m taking my queen home.”