But it was too late.
The Guards came from his left side, clamping a manacle onto his wrist. The glow of his sword vanished, as did the wall of fire in front of them.
Draven did not yield, slinging his arm out of the Guard’s reach and spearing the other with his blade. Two more Guards crowded him, blocking her view, and her heart pounded out of her chest.
Another roar, and then silence.
Astraia stopped breathing. She almost shouted for the Guards to move, but then they stepped aside, and she saw Draven on his knees, alive. His hands were behind his back, chained with manacles. His face was bloody, his eyebrow split open, as he strained his neck to look for her.
Once again, she was falling into amber pools. Only this time, he was no longer the hunter, yet she remained the prey. She stared back at him, trying to pour every word she meant to say into her gaze. He kept struggling against the manacles and the Guards holding him down.
“Traia!” he shouted, fury and panic on his face.
“It’s okay, Draven,” she whispered, watching his eyes widen.
Then the world went black.
Chapter 39
But what is light without the dark? It is nothing. For what then can it cast away? Nothing. Light cannot be without the dark. But not so of the dark. For what is dark without the light but deeper, richer, heavier? For dark does not cast away. It invites.
Starless Night
DEATH SMELLED LIKE IRON AND dirt.
That was the first thought Astraia had once the blackness took her. Her body jerked, pain searing into her arms. She bit back a scream, puzzled as to why she had pain after death. Then a rumbling sound and men shouting jerked her awake.
Her eyes flew open only to realize it was still dark. They throbbed with a headache that threatened to split open her skull. Taking a deep breath, she steadied her nerves and tried to gain her bearings.
She was lying on her side against a hard metal floor. She attempted to stretch out her legs only to find her confinement was not as long as she was. Reaching for her bonds, she felt nothing, not a flicker of Power or Sacrifice. Her mind was still, no waves or ripples across the surface. The golden thread of hertether was also missing, though she could faintly make out the Stars in the horizon of her mind, just out of reach.
Moving her arms, she felt the manacles slip around her wrists, the cool metal grating against her skin. The memory of Draven kneeling in the dirt, aching for her and the Celestial Guards ambushing them came flooding back.
Draven…where was he?
“Draven!” she croaked, her voice hoarse and throat dry.
But no one answered.
Her face knocked against the metal floor again as her body jostled inside the cage. She was moving. The cage was moving. She shivered on the floor, noticing her cloak was gone, as was her dagger and bow. She was totally defenseless.
Angling her face upward, she could see a small slit in one side of the rolling cage, light flickering through. She just needed to sit upright, and she could see through the crack. Rolling onto her stomach, she pulled her knees in, sliding them across the metal floor until they were under her. Using her core, she managed to sit back on her feet, lowering her head so it did not hit the low ceiling. With one last grunt, she bent her legs to the side and finally was upright, sitting on her rear. She gasped from the effort, biting on her cheek against the pain lancing her broken arm.
Leaning forward, she pressed her eyes up to the slit in the metal box, blinking to clear her vision. A man near the cage shouted, and the box jerked to a halt.
Astraia nearly fell over from the sudden stop. Cursing, she readjusted herself and tried to peer through the opening again, but the side of the box in front of her was yanked open.
Blinding light struck her, and she closed her eyes, looking down at the ground instead.
A hand grabbed her good arm and dragged her out of the box, forcing her onto her feet. Her legs wobbled, but she found her balance as she tried once more to open her eyes.
“Move!” a rough voice commanded, pushing her from behind.
Absently, she walked forward, letting her eyesight adjust to the stone walkway below her first before raising her gaze ahead. A massive set of ornate double wooden doors were closed in front of her, two Celestial Guards flanking either side. One of them nodded to the Guard behind her, then the doors were being pulled open.
The doors opened up to a colossal room with arched ceilings adorned with crystal chandeliers. The walls and floors were made of glistening black marble, inlaid with stardust, giving it the illusion of a starlit portal to another realm. Firelit sconces along the walls illuminated the floor with dancing firelight, and at the far end of the room were floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Aetherdeep Sea. The waves in the distance crashed, unforgiving as they lapped the shore.
But it was not the waves that caught her attention, nor the ebony room before her.
