Chapter 55 The Queen Comes Home
The Queen Comes Home
Idon’t understand what’s happening.
A moment ago, I’d been certain I was going to be torn limb from limb by these cold-faced humanoid monsters, and now they all bow before me like I’m... someone.
The black-eyed woman with curling horns is the first to rise. “Come,” she says, clapping her hands. The courtyard breaks into a flurry of movement and hushed conversation.
"I am Adena," she says, holding out a hand to me. Instead of nails, her white fingers elongate into long, straight talons that look as though they've been dipped in black oil. Uncertainty makes my insides slosh. Do I shake her hand? Do I kiss it? Something else entirely?
"Let Shadow go," I repeat instead. I stand straighter than before and hope she doesn't hear my voice shake. She blinks in an alien-like fashion, cocking her head to the side.
I point to Shadow, who is still a weakened slump in the electrified net. "Release him." I put as much imperious confidence in the words as I can.
It's just like playing the role of a black widow seductress, I tell myself. Except here, I have some kind of royal influence, and I plan to take advantage of it.
Adena's eyes flicker toward Shadow before softening with understanding. "Ah, you mean the Umbral."
Umbral? Is that Shadow's real name? Not the one I gave him? Or is that what he is?
I simply stare her down, waiting. That's what someone with real power would do. They wouldn't speak to just fill the empty space. No matter how much my tongue wants to flap to make myself comfortable or ask questions or explain myself. Which it is tense with the need to do all three, at once.
Her talons clack against each other in something that resembles a snap of the fingers. The Guard descends on Shadow like a pack of wild supernatural lions, obstructing him from my view. My heart jerks up into my throat, terrified she's decided to have them tear Shadow apart.
But when the Guard breaks away, Shadow is free.
There's only the briefest of moments where his eyes meet mine with burning red fire.
So much is communicated in that glare—his anger with me, his fear, but all his need to be with me, to protect me with a fierceness that still sends my heart into somersaulting fits.
Then he's there next to me, having moved faster than my eye could track.
Shadowy tendrils roil and snap around me with agitation, but I recognize it as a protective stance.
Gooseflesh prickles up along my arms and neck, as my body is both igniting and comforted by his proximity.
But I have to extinguish the spreading warmth in my chest with the cold hard facts.
He lied to me.
Then again, in this strange place, having him near feels like home and safety.
Shadow always feels like home.
But I can’t live there anymore.
Adena fans her talons in a gesture I take to follow her. She glides rather than walks inside the castle doors where we step onto black obsidian marble floors.
"The court must meet," Adena says, looking over her shoulder even as she leads the way. "And then we will celebrate your arrival."
"Whoa," I finally say, stopping in the middle of the room, forcing Adena to stop. There were too many monster people around before, but with just this woman I need to slow things down. "I don't understand what's happening. And I won't go anywhere until you explain it."
"We must return the Nexus to the human world," Shadow says, tendrils snapping with barely restrained violence.
Adena's expression turns sharp. A glint of red sparks in her black eyes.
Shadow's head snaps back as his body distorts and seems to pull apart, holes in his shadowy body appearing as he cries out in pain.
Oh God, he looks as if he's fragmenting and rearranging. Can that even happen?
"Stop, stop," I cry out, jumping in to put myself in between Adena and Shadow though I'm not sure it makes any difference of protection. Adena's attention turns back to me and Shadow slumps over and groans in relief and pain.
"Don't hurt him," I beg. I've lost all control over my royal facade, but I'm too scared for Shadow to do otherwise. I've never seen anyone hurt him so easily, so completely. It shakes me to my core.
Again, Adena cocks her head and blinks at me with that slow, impassive curiosity that could mean anything. "You are the Nexus."
Shadow slumps as Adena releases him from whatever supernatural hold she had over him.
"Yes," I grit the word out through clenched teeth. That's the one thing I have come to understand. “But I don't know what that means,” I push forward. “What it means to you. What it means to them." I gesture back the way we came.
Adena takes a few steps closer until I can see the sparkle of her skin is not the result of makeup.
There are countless little crystalline sparkles where any regular human would have pores that give her skin an icy, ethereal quality.
“The Nexus is the bridge between the world of humans and the Nightmare Realm.
Because of you, our world is able to thrive.
Grow. Because you live, the Nightmare Realm can feed from the energies of the human world.
We are honored to receive the greatly revered Nexus in our court.
" Then she bows so deeply, she practically kisses the floor.
I understand the words individually, but together? And how they relate to me? It doesn't penetrate. I'm unable to absorb what she's saying. So I try to put it into little bit size pieces.
I'm a bridge.
This is the Nightmare Realm.
The realm grows because I exist.
Nope. None of it is sinking in.
When I try to take a steadying breath my lungs catch on the rough, gritty air and I end up in a coughing fit again. Each cough wracks my ribcage with bone shaking violence as it tries to expel what I'm breathing in exchange for fresh air.
"Evie," Shadow says, hovering by me.
I hold up a hand to keep him back, needing space as my face turns hot and tears leak out the sides of my eyes. I gasp and choke a little longer before I manage to even out. My fingers find purchase on Shadow's chest, needing the physical support for a moment.
Just a moment. Maybe two.
When I’ve gotten hold of myself, I drop my hand from Shadow to wipe away the tears. "He says I'll die if I stay here." I address Adena.
"Your human lungs cannot effectively absorb the atmosphere here," she states matter-of-factly.
"So I should go back," I say quietly. My shoulders slump, as dread fills me from my toes up to my throat.
Go back to your shitty apartment.
Deal with the man with the toothpick.
The police who suspect you of the murders you've committed.
One of these worlds is a fever dream, but I'm not sure which.
But I do know I want to stay in the one I know less of. The one where they treat me with respect without even knowing me.
"We will celebrate the coming of the Nexus," Adena says, wrapping her long fingers around my shoulders. "And then we shall return you to the human world, where you shall continue to act as the bridge between our worlds."
"We must go back now," Shadow says to only me in a low voice.
But he's too late. Hope has already sparked inside me.
"I want to stay for the celebration and then go back.
" The way I say it leaves no room for argument, though we still lock in a death glare that lasts a good long time.
"If you want to go back on your own, you're more than welcome to," I offer with saccharine sweetness.
HIs shadows roil and ripple and I know I've won. I can't help the smug smile that spreads on my face as we follow Adena through the strange castle and to an ornate bedroom.
"You shall be supplied with a dress for your celebration. Until then, refresh yourself, Nexus," she says before closing the door behind her.
Shadow and I are left alone in the room.
We turn toward each other, a volatility cackling in the air that’s about to explode, and we might not survive it.