Queen of Stardust Ashes (Queen of Blood and Stardust #3)

Chapter 1

LENNOX

The cool winter air stung my cheeks and my hair whipped around my face as I ran, my boots making tracks in the snow.

I glanced over my shoulder, but no one followed.

My heart raced as I crashed through the trees into Luka’s waiting arms.

“You made it back to me.” His voice was low as his hands roamed over my body, mine doing the same, testing to make sure he was really here in front of me—not a figment of my imagination.

“I made it back to you,” I echoed.

I closed my hands over his arms as I met his waiting gaze. Those blue eyes I had been dreaming of stared back at me.

“I love you,” I told him as he stroked a thumb across my cheek. I refused to wait another second to tell him how I felt.

His face shifted, his smile faltering. His hand dropped from my cheek as he took a step back.

“It’s too late.”

“What do you mean it’s too late?” I reached for him, but he took another step back—away from me.

“It’s too late, Lennox.”

Blood dripped down his neck like a blade had been sliced across it. “You had your chance, and you lost it.” Blood bubbled from his lips as he slumped to his knees.

“Luka!” His name tore from my throat.

He fell to his back in the snow as I screamed, his blood painting the snow crimson as I pulled him into my lap.

“You told me I had time, that you’d wait for me. I’m ready now. I love you.” I pushed my hands to his bleeding neck, but no magic came from my palms.

“Please, Luka. Don’t leave me. I love you.”

“You did this to me. You’re too late. You left me.” His eyes slid closed, the pulse under my hand no longer thrashing.

“Luka, no.”

I sobbed into his chest. This wasn’t happening. I wasn’t losing him. I had just gotten him back.

My palm tingled, I wiped the tears from my eyes to look at my mating mark.

The delicate golden lines were receding, the black marks fading into my skin.

“No. No. No. Why is this happening?”

“I told you, you might have less time than you anticipated.” Astria’s shimmering form appeared, her shape glimmering in the early evening light.

“How do I save him? Please, save him.”

“There is no saving him now, Queen of Blood and Stardust.”

I jolted awake—my heart hammering like a drum.

A dream.

It was only a dream, I repeated, but my pulse still ricocheted.

Sweat slicked my brow, my hair sticking to my face as I sat up on the thin mattress in my cell.

I rubbed my thumb across the mark marring the inside of my palm. The black luminescent line throbbed, the sensation tingling out into the black webbing and the gold vines snaking around it.

The mark was a constant thrum. A constant reminder of who it linked me to.

Of what my mission was.

Of my goal.

Get back to Luka.

Get back to my mate.

It pulsed like a drum, the sensation in my palm matching the palpitations of my heart.

Mate.

Mate.

Mate. It beat.

Luka.

Luka.

Luka. Like a cruel cosmic joke.

A constant reminder of where I was.

A captive to the Panateia.

A queen forced to bow to the wishes of another—to Adreona.

Although I would not bow willingly.

I had done this to myself. Given myself over to her to save my sister.

If I had known Luka was my mate before sacrificing myself, would I have gone so willingly?

Or would I have stayed with my mate and left my sister to suffer the consequences of my actions?

Found another way to get her back somehow?

Both options soured my stomach.

My pulsing mate mark made me think I might have been selfish—but my bleeding heart for my sister—I’d already lost my brother. I didn’t think I could bear to lose her too.

The door to my room creaked open. I didn’t bother looking up at the guard who entered. “The mistress says you start working today.” His footsteps were heavy on the concrete as he stepped further into my room. “She demands you bathe and get dressed. You shall be presentable or face consequences.”

There was a thud as he placed a package on the table. “I’ll be back for you within the hour.”

After her visit a few days ago where she revealed Luka was my mate, I hadn’t heard from her. The new compound must be fully set up now if she was requesting me.

I stood, retrieving the package from the counter and heading toward my bathing chamber.

I unweaved my hair from its braid, assessing myself in the mirror.

Besides the dark circles under my eyes, I still looked the same on the outside—it was on the inside where I was shattered.

My heart broken into a million shards that sliced at my skin with every breath I took, reminding me what I had given up. What, who, I had left behind.

But I’d use that pain, I’d use my pain as I always did, use it to make me stronger. I’d use it to fuel my revenge.

My escape.

I’d make it back to Luka and my friends and I’d take down Adreona and the entire fucking Panateia with me.

I was ready by the time the guard came to fetch me.

Despite my urge to disobey Adreona’s instructions, I bathed. The water was frigid without my magic to heat it. It made me miss the power that sizzled in my veins even more.

The water in the basin turned red, the blood staining my body from the fight in the compound in the Abode Mountains finally coming clean. The reminder of what we had suffered flaking off into the tub.

Had it only been a few days since I left them? Since I sacrificed myself to save them?

The look on Luka’s face flashed before my eyes. I recoiled, shuddering and closing my eyes in an attempt to banish the memory.

I had never seen such pain in his eyes. Etched onto his face.

Pain I had caused him.

If I made it back to him—I feared he’d never forgive me for hurting him. I chose to leave him. Exactly like his mother had.

But unlike her, I’d make it back to him. I’d right my wrongs.

I stepped from the tub, quickly wrapping myself in one of the towels left in a stack in the small bathing chamber.

It was nothing special, but it was better than nothing, I supposed.

Like my cell, it was made of all concrete, allowing the cold from the raging winter outside to seep into every crack and crevice.

I quickly dressed in the red leathers the guard had provided, such a ridiculous color for fighting leathers. I’d either fit right in with the Panateia or stick out like a beacon.

Fucking perfect.

A brush had been left on the small vanity in the bathing chamber; I used it to work through the knots in my hair before braiding the sopping strands. Not having my magic was fucking inconvenient.

I looked at my reflection once more in the clouded glass above the vanity.

A captive. That’s what I was, a captive.

The High Queen of Lethenia was being held as a captive.

How had I let this happen? My people needed me—now more than ever—and here I was, locked up at the disposal of the people I was trying to protect Lethenia from.

And I had no one to blame but myself.

I jumped at the sharp knock on the door. “Let’s go!” the guard barked as the door creaked open.

I followed the male down the hallway, tracking every turn we took. It would take time, but I’d memorize every inch of this compound. The magic-enhanced shackles were back around my wrists. I didn’t understand why the cuffs were back on now; my magic was kept at bay without them in my cell.

Their weight was heavy on my wrists, a constant reminder of where I was.

What I was.

A prisoner.

I felt their presence with every step I took. Their rattling echoed with the pounding of my boots and the distant screams and growls of the Dhampirs.

I still couldn’t believe they were creating those abominations.

Those Goddess-forsaken beasts had once been fae. Had been my people—now turned into abominations.

We stopped at a room at the end of a long hallway, this one devoid of any cages lining it, the cries of the Dhampirs left behind.

The guard ushered me inside with a firm push between my shoulder blades.

Adreona was perched behind a worn wooden desk; papers and books spread in front of her.

A cruel smile grew on her pale face as her eyes landed on me.

“You made it.”

“I didn’t have much choice, did I?” I muttered.

The guard pushed me, causing me to lurch forward, catching myself on the chair on the other side of her desk with my bound hands.

“Bastard,” I growled.

“Back down, Elon,” Adreona demanded at the guard as he reached for me. “We need her unharmed.” Her gaze slid to me. “Unless she fails to cooperate.”

“Yes, mistress,” the guard, Elon, said, standing back at attention.

I wished he would come at me. Even with my hands bound, I knew I could cause him pain, and I’d delight in it.

Adreona dipped her chin at the guard, her chin length, onyx hair shifting with the movement. “Lennox, please, have a seat.”

“I prefer to stand.”

The gold ring in Adreona’s nose twitched. “I told you to sit. You’ll learn quickly, following my directions is the easiest path to your freedom.” She gestured her hand to the chair. “Now, I said sit.”

I sat. I had no reason to believe she’d be giving me my freedom anytime soon, but there would be plenty more battles of wills for us to wage. I’d have to choose which battles to fight for now.

“As I’m sure you’ve already guessed, your work for me starts today.”

I said nothing, squaring my shoulders as I held her dark gaze. “I am in need of a witch, a witch with great power.” She drew lines with her pointed, black nails on the desk. “A witch who knows how to control their power.”

She let her gaze settle on mine for a beat before continuing. “My last witch was not so powerful; they did not have control over their powers. They proved useless to me. An utter disappointment,” she sneered. “I do hope you will be more useful.”

I wondered how she had come in possession of a witch. And where was that witch now? Were they killed for their uselessness? Did they give themselves over to her willingly, or was she being forced as I was?