1
Emma
Iawake to cold, hard darkness. Everything hurts. My mind splits as if under enormous pressure, and I scream, the sound foreign and jarring. I can’t stop the cries, the pain bursting from me in peals of agony as I curl in on myself, trying to give the hurt no place to stick to me. It has to leave, to get out, to flow away. If I can make myself small enough, it can’t touch me. So I press my forehead to my knees and try to breathe, try to stop, try to settle.
Something flutters behind me, but I’m too weak to get away from it. Whatever it is, it’s close, brushing against my back, terrifying touches in the absolute blackness.
“Stop,” I whisper hoarsely. My voice is loud, so loud that I wince away from it. It hurts almost as much as my screams. I’m freezing but drenched in sweat. Am I dying?
Why is it so dark? The Daylands palace doesn’t have a room like this, at least not one I’ve ever been in. In the realm of the day king, sunlight sneaks through even the narrowest of cracks, penetrating the rooms and tinging the air with a golden glow. But not here. Not in this dank prison.
I turn my head, but the movement sends another wave of claws ripping through me, my neck burning and tearing as I struggle to breathe.
“The pain will fade.” A cold voice, one that slithers under my skin. “I’m surprised you survived, changeling. I suspect there may be some witch blood in your line, perhaps something else.”
I plaster my hands over my ears to try and keep the sound away, to keep the voice as far from me as possible.
It laughs, low and hard, like rock slamming into metal. “You can’t escape me, little pet. You’re part of me now. My bite marks you as mine, just as the day king’s bite marks you as his. I suppose you serve two masters, but you’ll soon find that I’m the better match for you.”
With dawning horror, I realize the voice is in my head. I can’t keep it out. Everything comes rushing back to me—Solano claiming me as his, then … I gasp. Dark wings, venomous fangs, and a flight through the Daylands and back to the night. Far away from Solano, I was bitten by a seeker. Not just any seeker.
Eraldon. His name ricochets through my mind.
“Prince Eraldon, but now that I’ve tasted you, you can call me by my given name.”
“Let me go.” I shudder as that faint caress runs along my back again.
“Go? Go where?” Dark eyes flash through my vision, but my eyes are closed. “You can’t return to the day. Your ward won’t allow you to pass into the light. Grimelda’s spell was for a changeling. Not a seeker.”
“Solano!” I scream. I yell his name despite the pain, and I keep crying for him until I’m hoarse and shivering.
“That was lovely.” Those dark eyes capture me again. “Don’t look away. Don’t cry for the one who wanted to keep you captive to the sun.”
He moves closer, his image becoming clearer in my mind. Tall, pale skin, black hair, built like a predator with hunger and death in his eyes.
I flinch back. “Let me go.”
“I’ve only just won you, Emma.” His ghostly fingers stroke my cheek. “The day queen a servant to the night. Have you ever heard a more beautiful story?”
“Solano will come for me.” I curl into myself as tightly as I can.
“And start a war with my father?” He tsks. “Not even for you, little nightling. You’re mine now. Body and what’s left of your soul—all of you.”
The pain rises inside me right along with the fear.
“You’ll recover soon. My poison is still spreading through your veins. Making you more than you ever could’ve been as a pathetic mortal.”
I feel cold fingers running along my naked skin. But is it real? I don’t know. And that thought alone is frightening. All is dark. All is cold. And I’ll never see the sun, or the sun king, again.
“Rest, my pet.” Something wraps around me, uncomfortable and hard as rock. “Sleep. And when you wake.” A cold kiss on my feverish forehead. “You will see the gift I’ve given you.”
I close my eyes—almost as if I can’t refuse him. My thoughts remain with Solano, my heart as well, as I fade into a misery of nightmare and terror.
2
Solano
“Imust find her.” I strap my sword to my side and yank my blades from my weapons rack. Eraldon may be immune to my power, but a slice of silver will end his life perfectly well.
