“Ah, Bellicent Denare.” Her voice went razor sharp. “The woman Oberon killed when she refused his proposal. The humans told her something that scared the living moonlight out of her, according to her letters. Something about mist and shadow.” She took a step closer, and the scent of wine drifted from her lips. “And death.”
She didn’t know the truth about Bellicent, then.
The ground suddenly shook, but the queen hardly seemed to notice as she continued her speech. “Bellicent mentioned the prophecy in a few letters. Whatever the mortals told her, I think it led her to suspect I harbored secrets myself. Me as well as Oberon. I believe she intended to visit me after her trip to Albyria. But she never returned. I wonder, what did she learn there? What was Oberon hiding?”
“You know what he was hiding,” I said around the lump of nausea lodged in my throat. “Andromeda.”
“Anything else?” she asked in a whisper, her bright eyes eager.
I glanced behind me at the rumbling stone sarcophaguses and toward the tunnel entrance where the others waited. There was no time for stories, but there was a desperation in her voice, a plea. As if she had wondered all her life what Oberon had been doing, and she feared she’d have to die without ever knowing the answer.
And so I said the only thing I could. “He was in a lot of pain, and he couldn’t endure it. So he used the god’s power to save the only woman he ever loved. I think you know who that was.”
The queen’s eyes widened in understanding, and then she clutched my arm. “Thank you. It explains so much. Now go.”
I gave Queen Tatiana one last look, taking in her emerald eyes and her pale brown hair and the defiant set of her jaw. I committed every single part of her to memory, and I swore to myself and to everything I was that the world would one day know her sacrifice. If we survived whatever came next, I would make certain there were songs written about this queen. I would make certain that her name was not forgotten—that she would be written into the stars.
As if reading my thoughts, her grip tightened on my arm, and she hissed her final words. “For Aesir, for the land of magic and fae, I will face these creatures. The first thing they see when they wake will be me and my great power. I will make them understand they have made a grave mistake in targeting this world again. May the realm never break.”
“May the realm never break,” I murmured back to her.
And then I joined the others and ran.
Twenty-Eight
Tessa
The floor’s violent shaking told me we did not have much time, and there was no stopping it now. Toryn led the way back through the tunnels and into his mother’s chambers, his jaw clenching as he took one last look around the rooms filled with so much life. Soon, all these plants, which had clearly been lovingly cared for, would be crushed beneath the rubble.
And so would his mother.
The pain etched into his face was evident. I could even see it in the way he breathed, as if his lungs struggled to find the air he needed in order to keep moving.
“Toryn.” Kalen clapped his hand on the storm fae’s shoulder. “We’re all here. You don’t have to do this alone.”
He met Kalen’s eyes with an unflinching gaze. “I know. But I have to play the role of prince now, which means I have to be the one to take charge. The only way we’re going to get the storm fae to leave this city is if I order them to do it. It’s their home, the only place most of them have ever known.”
With my heart wrenching at the pain in his eyes, I reached out to him, but then let my hand drop to my side. “Trust me, they’ll be all right when they realize you’ve saved them from this.”
“Where will you take them?” Nellie asked. “Is there another city nearby?”
Toryn steadied himself against the wall as the floor jolted beneath us once again. Once it ceased, he went to the stash of gemstones that Queen Tatiana had left out in several large sacks—like she’d expected someone to need them this day.
“The closest city is Dubnos, but the storm fae won’t want to go into enemy territory,” Toryn said, hauling one of the sacks from the floor.
“I am the enemy, and I’m standing right here,” Kalen argued. “Surely they’ve seen that we’re allies now. There’s no reason for them to fear the shadow fae.”
“It’s not the fae they fear,” Nellie said softly. “I heard them talking earlier at the feast. It’s the mist. It terrifies them. They think it’s full of monsters.”
“To be fair, itisfull of monsters,” I had to admit.
“Either way, most of them won’t want to go.” With a heavy sigh, Toryn ran a hand down his tired face and grabbed the next sack. “The only way to be certain of everyone’s safety is to take them somewhere else. Otherwise, some will insist on staying. And they will die here.”
“Where to, then?” Kalen asked as he passed me a sack of gemstones and then grabbed another. “Malroch?”
Toryn grimaced. “It’s the closest storm fae city, and their walls are impenetrable.” But then he sighed. “It’s a two-week journey traveling by horse. To get everyone there, we’ll need wagons and supplies. Some will have to walk. At that rate, plus finding shelter to stay safe during any oncoming storm…it could take upward of a month or longer if the weather works against us.”
Kalen clenched his jaw. “The gods will be awake by then.”
