Page 178 of Fallen Nocturne

My gaze passes over the others. Rainer kneels beside Shade, his grief hidden behind the stoic mask he has worn for centuries. The wolf—Lucien remains close to them. Garrett stands among the broken remains of the throne room. Landon watches me with sad, understanding eyes.

“I’m sorry,” I say to him. “I’m sorry for—for everything.”

“Don’t be,” he replies softly. “You love him. That’s not something to apologize for.”

“But you’re my—” I stop to correct myself. “You were supposed to be my mate.”

“I know.” He smiles and it’s genuine despite the pain in his eyes. “But some things aren’t meant to be. Even when Fate itself tries to force them.”

Movement flickers behind one of the pillars. Blight peers around the stone, hiding most of herself from view.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers.

I turn back to Svenn and I make a decision. I rest my forehead against his chest one more time, feeling the terrible stillness where his heartbeat should be.

He’s gone.

My fingers are still shaking as I reach for one of the discarded weapons on the floor. Shade’s blade is sharp enough.

I press the blade against my palm and pull.

The pain is clean and bright. Blood wells up, dark red and alive. It drips onto the stone, steaming faintly in the cold air.

“Elven Queen, you are bleeding,” Bas whispers, alarm in his voice.

I begin to draw.

My blood is my ink and the floor is my canvas. The rune comes easily, flowing from my memory. It’s just like the ones I’ve drawn before.

“What are you summoning?” Shade asks warily.

The first line of the rune drinks the light around it. A tremor reverberates through the shattered throne room at the second rune. By the third, every flame gutters low, and a silence deeper than the Hollow settles over us.

Shade inhales sharply. He recognizes what I am drawing.

“Rhianelle,” he warns.

I do not stop.

The shadows in the corners of the room deepen. Frost spreads across the floor as the rune becomes more complex. I finish the last line and place my bloody palm in the center of the rune.

The blood beneath my hand turns black. A pulse travels through the circle like the beat of a heart buried beneath the world.

Every shadow bends toward me. The air grows heavy, pressing against my lungs as something ancient turns its attention upon the throne room.

I summon one of the Un.

Death.

Chapter 24 Rhianelle

Idon’t know how long I’ve been walking.

Hours? Days? Years?

The realm of the dead is not what I expected.

I thought there would be darkness. But instead the sun beats down mercilessly from a colorless sky. Beneath my feet, sand stretches endlessly. It’s different from the sand of beaches or deserts I’ve known. It’s gray and ashen here, like the remnants of something burned long ago and never swept away.