53. Gwyneira

53

GWYNEIRA

I n clothes frantically conjured by Clay, we ran from the grotto tunnel. At the entrance, Ruhl waited, already on his feet with tendrils of black smoke rising from his fur. From the far end of the chamber, Ignatius raced toward us, Brock and a collection of giants on his heels.

The scholar skidded to a stop. “The wall?—”

“We know,” Dex said shortly.

Brock bowed briefly to Niko. “My wife is leading the children and those too sick or weak or scared to fight to a more secure location within the temple. The rest of us are yours to command.”

Behind him, the other giants made noises of agreement.

Niko nodded gratefully. “Thank you.”

From the quick way they glanced at one another and drew themselves a little straighter, I wondered how often any of them had been thanked for anything in the past.

Another gong-like sound reverberated through the air, prompting a few muttered curses. Ruhl’s head whipped from one side to the other, his green eyes sweeping the walls. His fangs peeked past his lips as he hovered on the edge of a growl.

Ignatius’s hands splayed briefly, his gaze darting across the walls too like he could read something from the stones. “Syloria will hold,” he said like he was willing the temple to obey. “But we must go.” He nodded to the decorative wall that had already swung shut behind us, concealing the tunnel to the grotto. “If I may, Highness?”

To his credit, Niko barely blinked before nodding his approval and stepping aside.

Ignatius hurried past him, lifting his arms and already whispering spells under his breath. Byron and Casimir followed him.

Staying close to my men, I walked after them. Apprehension tangled in my stomach as my scholar and vampire nodded to Ignatius and then began the spell.

This had to work. Had to be a good idea.

Gods, please let us all survive it.

A shiver rolled over my skin as Byron and Casimir’s powers called upon the gateway spell. The magical link between us thrummed, sending them my power and, through me, the strength of the others as well.

The decorative wall suddenly blurred, the stone carvings swallowed by shadows that hadn’t been there a moment before. Deepening quickly, the darkness took on a sense of extending so much farther back than it possibly could go. Farther than merely the length of the temple, or even of Erenelle itself.

Maybe even deeper than the world.

And for a few moments, the darkness seemed empty. Vast and containing nothing at all. But then nervous awareness prickled over my skin.

A shiver quivered through my middle. This must have been how ancient humans felt on moonless nights when they could just tell a predator was watching them from beyond their campfires. Because while I couldn’t see anything, every instinct I had screamed something was there.

And its eyes were on me.

A low, hungry chuckle came from the darkness. Ah, little doomed one. We meet again.

When I tensed, Dex cast a quick glance at me. “Is it here?”

I nodded. I didn’t bother asking why he couldn’t hear it and I could. Making sure this massive, invisible predator wouldn’t eat us was a more pressing issue.

“We need your help,” I said, determinedly holding my voice steady. ”We need to reach the apothecary district in Lumilia. Can you take us there?”

The gateway demon made a considering noise. From the edges of the gateway’s darkness, distant laughter echoed, cackling and somehow sounding smaller than the other creature to whom I spoke.

Ooh, the Nine, came a taunting voice. Aren’t they shiny with all those little links between them?

My heart sank. The other gateway demons were here too. The ones who did seem smaller, but who liked to threaten to eat us.

“Please,” I said, trying to focus on the so-called big one. “You told me to call when the time came.” I braced myself. “I’m calling now.”

Noises of sarcastic surprise came from the smaller demons. But the larger one was silent.

From the corners of my eyes, I could see my men glancing warily at each other and at me.

A deep, wry chuckle rumbled from the gateway, like I’d amused the creature somehow.

Oh gods, please don’t let this be a mistake…

Very well, the larger gateway demon said. But only if you can get past the barrier of magic the dead king made. To cross it is… itchy.

And annoying, a smaller demon chimed in .

And it might kill you! another added gleefully.

A breath left me. “We can. Thank you.”

I could hear the larger creature’s smile in its voice, even if I couldn’t see a damn thing. Never thank a demon, little doomed one.

The smaller demons cackled, but ahead of me, the darkness stabilized.

Clay gave us all a wary look. “I take it we’re good, then?”

I shrugged. “I guess.”

“We must go,” Ignatius said. “The witches and Dathan will be waiting for us.” Another reverberating gong rang from the walls, making him scowl briefly. “And this must end.”

The scholar stepped into the gateway. Brock and the other giants bowed to Niko before doing the same.

“See you on the other side, my friends,” Casimir said, the corners of his lips curling with a hint of a confident smile. But his expression turned solemn when he met my eyes. “Be safe, my queen.”

He disappeared into the gateway.

One by one, my men did the same, until only Roan and Ozias remained with me.

“Deep breath, little mate,” Ozias said. “See you soon.”

I stepped into the gateway. Darkness swallowed me instantly. I couldn’t even gasp. The momentum crushed air from my chest as my body rushed forward, making my stomach pitch and roll.

As fast as the darkness came, it vanished again. Ignatius and the other giants were ahead of me, and my men were on either side. We stood on a rocky hillside beneath an overcast sky, yellowed grass and frozen dirt crunching beneath our boots.

But directly ahead, the shimmering soap bubble of the wall sparked with light. The Erenlian side was unharmed, but the Aneiran side was another matter entirely. Cracks tore the earth on that side for as far as my eyes could see, with twisted apple trees growing and spreading from them like nightmarish rot. Around the base of the barrier, fallen apples steamed in the cold air as they decayed into blobs of putrescent flesh. The branches clawed at the surface of the wall, and where they struck, crackles like lightning radiated across the magical barrier like they were trying to tear straight through it.

“Fuck,” Roan swore when he emerged from the gateway, his eyes on the destroyed terrain of my home nation.

I could only nod, dumbstruck.

“Those stones should be good for a gateway.” Ignatius pointed to a collection of boulders just beyond the barrier. “If we can reach them.”

Dex nodded, scanning the terrain like he was mapping out a strategy at lightning speed.

“The minute we get beyond this wall,” Clay warned, “you know that crooning lullaby shit is going to start up again.”

“Then we move fast,” Dex replied. He started for a section of barrier where there were fewer trees and cracks in the earth. “Come on.”

The rest of us hurried after him. The air buzzed with energy the closer we came, and sparks flew from the far side of the wall in crackles and pops, making me flinch. Whispering cries rose and fell in my mind like distant waves, carried on my invisible bond to the others.

But Niko heard more. His teeth gritted, he pressed his hands to his ears. “It’s screaming. The… the spell sustaining the wall. It—” He winced. “ Gods …”

Worry flashed over the faces of several of my men, but Dex simply pulled Niko around, his expression like stone. “Can you do this?” He sounded like a general assessing the battle hardiness of his soldiers.

“I… fuck…” Taking a sharp breath, Niko nodded. “Yes.”

Dex nodded back. “Get ready,” he ordered the others.

Niko stretched out a hand, his face twisting in a grimace. With his eyes on the sparks flying from the wall, he whispered a count under his breath, as if timing the impacts.

And then he pressed his hand to the magical barrier.

A gap opened in the wall. Crooning sounds rose like a blanket of sodden, icy wool trying to engulf our minds.

“Go!” Dex ordered.

The energy of the wall crackled around us, making the hairs on my arms rise. But the cracks in the earth were already diverting our way before we even passed the barrier.

The trees thrashed. Globs of poisonous apple hurled through the air at us.

Roan shifted fast, and fire roared out from the demon, burning the rotting fruits into ash. “Lars!” the demon called.

“Got it!” Hands outstretched as he ran, Lars split the streams of flame in midair, sending them after more trees and apples.

The crooning sounds fell back, growing quieter as the trees nearest to us burned.

“Hurry!” Dex shouted at Ignatius.

Nodding, the scholar skidded to a stop before the boulders. My connection to Byron and Casimir vibrated as their magic surged up to join his in crafting the gateway at high speed.

A shout came from my left. I whirled to see a giant stumble. A tree branch skewered his side, continuing to grow even as he tried to hack at it and escape.

“Move!” Brock yelled, swinging a sword larger than I was.

The blade crashed through the branch, splintering it into kindling. But the giant staggered, the wood embedded in his side still growing. His body thrashed for a moment, and then he screamed as a new tree suddenly burst through his skin.

I choked in horror.

“Fucking hell! ” Clay exclaimed. “Demon!”

Flame hit the tree surrounded by the giant’s remains, turning it to ash.

A thumping sensation went through the air. I spun to see the darkness of a gateway swirl to life behind us.

“Go!” Dex yelled. “Now!”

We ran. Darkness swallowed us, yanking away the forest of nightmarish trees and sending me hurtling forward. I couldn’t hear my gasping breaths or feel the horror still gripping me.

But this would work. The apothecary district was ahead, and the witches would help us. We only needed to get to?—

The darkness began to shudder.

Oh, gods.

I twisted frantically, searching for my stepmother. Magic tangled in my veins, still connecting me to the others even here. But I couldn’t find?—

The shaking grew stronger. Cracks split in the darkness around me, but light didn’t pour through.

I’d thought this was as dark as anything could be.

I was a fool.

The darkness around me poured into the cracks like smoke being sucked out of a room. And everything was going with it. The gateway. The whisper of noise around me. All of it fell into an emptiness more profound than even this magic could survive.

Hurry, little doomed one , urged the large gateway demon.

Something whipped me to the side, sparing me from colliding with a crack of oblivion directly ahead of me.

She… the…

The gateway demon’s voice came in fits and starts, like something was cutting into the sound, swallowing it with silence.

Your realm is dying. Its deep voice was suddenly much closer, as if the creature was right beside my ear. We cannot cross that which no longer exists.

The shaking around me grew worse. Screams came from the darkness. It sounded like the smaller gateway demons.

It sounded like my men.

Desperately, I strained to reach them in the darkness. But everything was fracturing, and I couldn’t find a single place to hold on to as I tumbled faster and faster toward cracks that were dragging everything into?—

Light flared ahead of me and something shoved me from behind. I hurtled through the blur of light like I’d been pushed from a cliff.

Gravity caught me. Reversed. Slammed me down onto my back atop something rough and scratchy.

Air rushed from my chest, and I gasped. Overhead, the gateway hung in the air, split through by a fissure so much more horrifying than the gateway itself.

Pure emptiness . A space my eyes couldn’t make sense of, because nothing was there. Not even air. Not the sky beyond it.

Just nothingness that had never heard of such a thing as darkness or light.

The empty realms.

Holy gods, what had my stepmother done?

In an instant, the tear in reality started to eat into the gateway. A shudder went through the spell.

Like a great force was ripping it safely away from my world, the gateway opening vanished, leaving only blue sky.

And the fissure, which was spreading wider with every passing second.

Scrambling to my feet, I backed away from the gash in the sky and looked around frantically.

I wasn’t where I should have been. This wasn’t the apothecary district of Lumilia. Instead, I stood all alone in the northern garden of my castle. The hardy winter plants were withered and dying in their beds. The castle wall was ahead of me, obscuring any view of the city or the countryside. Meanwhile, the air to the west felt strange. Tingly like what I’d felt among the witches of the Jeweled Coven, which hopefully meant that they’d made it here.

But as for my men…

My heart in my throat, I stretched out in my mind, searching.

Relief hit me a moment later. Somewhere deep in the earth beneath my feet, Ozias was moving fast, heading toward the castle. A vague sense of presence told me Niko was there too. The rest were behind me, but not close.

I turned.

And froze.

The castle that had been my childhood home looked like something out of a fever-fueled nightmare. The walls were crawling with black fungus-like vines. Gray, gnarled branches stabbed out from between the stones of the walls, like the poisonous apple trees were growing from within the walls themselves. Dried and blackened leaves encrusted with yellowed pustules of rot hung half-dead from their ends.

My heart ached. I’d been away for so long, and this felt like returning only to find everything I loved had been destroyed.

Or almost .

I pushed down the pain as best I could. There had to be a way to stop this. Reverse it. Something.

We just needed to find it.

And each other.

I started toward where I could feel Ozias.

A door banged against the wall on the far side of the garden. Hulking figures with green skin and tusks strode through the opening. Their eyes glowed, and when they saw me, they growled like hungry predators.

Oh gods.

One of them pointed. When he spoke his voice held a strange hissing-clicking quality, like it wasn’t just his voice but something else speaking as well. “There she is.” He grinned. “Get her.”

I ran for my life.