Forbidden Queen Complete Series: Books 1-4

by Dyan Chick

  “What you are suggesting is treason,” the queen said.

  “I - I -” Amala’s mouth opened and closed, but she couldn’t finish her sentence.

  “Sit down,” Jaya said.

  Silently Amala took her seat.

  “As I was saying,” Jaya said. “The second trial will determine the next queen. We will begin after breakfast. More instructions will be given at the entrance to the maze.”

  Jaya returned to her seat.

  The few bites of food I’d eaten felt like rocks in my stomach. I glanced over at Lilian. She’d picked at her plate, but she hadn’t eaten much either.

  “Whoever has been sabotaging the trials is still out there,” I said in a whisper. “Be careful today. I still intend to play fair.”

  “Don’t go easy on me,” Lilian said. “When I win, I want to know you gave it your best shot.”

  “You know I’m not going easy on you,” I said.

  “Be smart out there. One of us is the next queen,” she said.

  The entrance to the palace maze wasn’t what I expected. Much like anything in Faerie, it was even scarier. Instead of a hedge maze, the maze for the trials was carved into stone through a series of tunnels cut into the rocky hills a short walk from the stables.

  We stood outside a cave, waiting for the trial to begin. This time, it was only the candidates with Jaya. They permitted nobody else.

  “You’ll have as much time as you need to find your way out,” Jaya said. “Whoever reaches the end first is queen.”

  “Does it end when that happens?” I asked.

  “Yes, for the winner. The loser still has to find her way out,” Jaya said.

  “Where does it end?” Lilian asked.

  “There’s a tunnel that leads to the throne room. Find the throne, win the crown.”

  I wondered if it always ended in the throne room or if our unusual circumstances made it the most appropriate choice.

  Jaya handed each of us a small bundle. “Here is a little food for each of you. I noticed you hardly touched your breakfasts.”

  I took the bundle she handed to me and Lilian took hers.

  “I know this hasn’t been the best situation,” she said. “I want you two to know that I’m proud of both of you. Faerie will be in excellent hands under either of your rule.”

  Jaya stepped away from the entrance, sweeping her arms forward toward the cave. “Now, go. There will be a celebration waiting for you when you return.”

  Hesitantly, I stepped inside. Lilian was silent next to me as the two of us walked forward into the darkened space. Ahead, I saw three paths. Three choices for how to travel.

  I stopped walking and so did Lilian.

  “I guess this is goodbye,” she said.

  “I suppose we’ll see each other when it’s over,” I said, not wanting to think about the unknown shifter.

  Lilian nodded, then took the tunnel on the right.

  I stood there for a moment, trying to decide which path was best. Even with my magic in use, I couldn’t feel anything from any of the options. Swallowing hard, I turned toward the left tunnel and started walking.

  The light behind me started to fade as I worked my way deeper into the cave. I wished I had learned more basic magic. I could really use one of those glowing orbs to light my way right now. Stretching my hands out in front of me, I felt the walls of the cave. They were damp and rough, the air smelled stale and musty. I hated using some of my magic already, but I needed to find light and the only thing I knew had to do was call forth a small flame, unstable as it might be. Quicker this time, I conjured fire and looked around as I moved deeper into the tunnel.

  With any luck, I’d find a torch or something else that I could create light, whatever had been here in the past. Somewhere in the distance, water dripped, but other than that it was silent. I continued walking, starting to get nervous that I had chosen the wrong tunnel. Was Lilian encountering anything different on her route? What if she had already won? What if like last time, the prize was laid out right before her? I had no way of knowing who was responsible for all the things that had happened and no way of knowing when they would strike again. My chest tightened the thought of how vulnerable I was right now. Alone, in a dark tunnel, cut off from everyone. If someone wanted to harm me, this would be a very good time.

  Shaking the negative thoughts from my head, I continued forward, looking for any signs of turns or changes in the cave. The ground was uneven, and more than once, I nearly rolled my ankle on a well-hidden rock. Finally, I came to a crossroads.

  There were two options this time, I could continue the path I was using, or veer to the left on the new one. I looked down both, hoping for some sign or some flicker of recognition as to which way I should go. Once again, there was nothing. Deciding I had enough of the unknown route I was on, I figured a change couldn't hurt. I turned, taking the new path, hoping it would lead me closer to the palace and to the end of this trial.

  More dripping sounds, more uneven ground, more damp musty air. So far, this tunnel was having the same outlook as the last one. Then, I stepped into a wide cavern that was lit from above. I extinguished the flame in my hands, saving my magic for next time I might need it. I looked up and squinted at the oculus at the top of the cave. Sunlight poured in, showing the large space I was standing in. I came from a narrow tunnel into this large, open room and on the other end were three more narrow tunnels to choose from.

  Moving to the center of the room, I took a few deep breaths, relishing the scent of fresh air coming from the hole in the ceiling.

  Suddenly, the ground shook, nearly knocking me over. I braced myself as the whole cave began to crumble around me.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Rocks fell from the walls, landing around me and shattering into shards as they hit the ground. I covered my head with my arms, bracing for impact. More rocks fell around me making it sound like I was stuck in a hailstorm. A small rock bounced up from the ground hitting my leg. I risked a glance skyward and realized that the oculus above me was helping keep me safe. The rocks were hitting in a circle around me, mostly avoiding me. The rumble slowed enough for me to regain my footing.

  I dropped my arms and looked around to assess the damage. Where there had been dirt on the ground before, it was now covered in a layer of rocks. One of the tunnels was buried, the entrance completely collapsed. Had I gone that route, I might be dead right now.

  The other two tunnels were still holding but after the rumble I was feeling less confident in my ability to make it out of this alive. What if that happened again?

  Coughing to clear the dust from my lungs, I took a careful step toward the two remaining options. Suddenly, the ground shook again, and I hurried back to the position under the opening.

  Behind me, I heard something snap, almost like a large tree branch being broken off a tree. Still keeping my arms over my head, I turned toward the sound.

  My heart fell into the pit of my stomach. A glowing line had appeared on the rocks. It sizzled and sparked as it expanded, growing longer as if being torn from the very rock it was cut into.

  The cave rumbled harder as the crevice widened until it formed a gaping black void of a hole. I swallowed hard, knowing all too well where that led.

  I looked back toward the tunnels. The middle tunnel was now full of rocks. The only ways out of here were through the remaining tunnel or back the way I came.

  If I’d learned anything about the Under it was that the tears didn’t arrive on accident. They were brought in with a purpose. Something was about to come out of there and it would hunt me. I wasn’t choosing an escape route; I was choosing a place to make my last stand.

  For a second, I wondered if this was an illusion, part of the Trail’s promised obstacles. So far, I’d encountered nothing. Was this a setup to see how I’d handle it?

  The ground stopped moving and the glowing void in front of me seemed to pulse with anxious energy. I inched toward the remaining tunnel and look
ed in while keeping my attention focused as much as possible on the tear.

  The tunnel was narrow and looked like it got smaller as it receded into nothing in the darkness. I could be trapped. Knowing that wasn’t an option, I considered going back but if I did, I would lose the whole thing.

  “Cassia!” a familiar female voice called.

  I turned, my heart racing at the sound. I knew that voice, but I couldn’t quite place it. It was like a memory from long ago.

  “Cassia!”

  The sound was coming from the tear.

  “Cassia, please help me!”

  A chill ran through me as recognition dawned. It was a memory. That voice belonged to my sister, the human sister I’d been raised with.

  My mind replayed the warning from Lucinda. She’d said something about Rose in the second trials. What if they were talking about my sister, Rose, the human I’d grown up with?

  I thought about Lilian and Rose’s books about humans and the way the Fae seemed to consider human lives as disposable. It couldn’t be, could it?

  I took a few steps closer to the tear. “Who’s there?”

  “Cassia? Is that you? Please, I’m scared.” Rose’s voice drifted into the cave from beyond the tear. From the Under itself.

  “Who is this?” I called, needing to hear it for myself.

  “It’s Rose, how could you forget me so quickly?” she called. “Please they say you have the key. I’m scared.”

  “Where are you?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. It’s dark. And cold. And there are noises. So many noises.”

  Something hummed nearby and I turned to see the remaining tunnel alight with blue and gold. My brow furrowed as I stared at it. What was going on?

  I should be grateful that there weren’t any monsters but the fact that the tear was just sitting here with the bait of my sister inside it made me doubt its authenticity. What if it was a test? What if I walked in and it trapped me until Lilian won?

  If it was real, and I went after my sister, I could equally be trapped. I’d never heard of anyone going into the Under except for Cormac’s sister. And she hadn’t survived.

  “Cassia? It’s so cold…” Rose’s voice sounded far away now, as if she was pulled away from the opening.

  “Decisions are difficult,” another voice filled the cavern.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a figure and turned to see Amala in the opening of the glowing tunnel.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “I’m giving you a choice,” she said. “Save your sister or become the next queen of Faerie. One is yours for the taking.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “It was you.”

  “Of course it was me. I never made my dislike of you a secret.”

  “Lilian will not be any better,” I said.

  “Lilian’s trapped in a cavern right now. She’ll never get out on time. You, on the other hand, have the path that leads right to the throne room in front of you.” She swept her arms behind her, toward the glowing tunnel.

  “The tear,” I said.

  “Isn’t your concern,” she said.

  “Why am I hearing my sister?” I asked.

  “The human?” Amala cackled. “She knows too much. She tried to find you and gained entry to Faeire a few days ago. She must be eliminated.”

  “You can’t do that,” I said.

  “Like I said, you have a choice. You save the human or you take the crown.”

  “I don’t understand why you’re doing this,” I said.

  “You’re running out of time,” Amala said.

  “Cassia,” Rose called, sounded even farther away.

  “She’ll be sucked into the void of the Under any minute now.”

  I looked past Amala at the tunnel behind her. There was no way of knowing if she was tricking me. The tunnel very well could lead to the throne room, but it could be blocked. Or she could flood it or do any number of awful things. Jaw set, I realized that didn’t matter anyway. I couldn’t let Rose die in the Under. If I had a chance of saving her, I’d try for it. Whatever Amala was planning, I had to have faith that the others could defeat her.

  Before I could talk myself out of it, I ran for the tear and leaped inside. I felt like I’d jumped into a frozen lake. The shock of the cold stole my breath and made my skin feel like it was on fire. My lungs protested the lack of air and I opened my mouth, letting out a soundless scream. Just as I thought I would burst from the inside, I landed hard on the ground and gasped, taking a deep breath of stale air.

  The cave had been dark and musty. The Under felt still. Like the air never moved. All around me, I saw darkness. No outlines of shapes or objects. It was as if my eyes were closed but I was blinking. I knew they were open but there was nothing to see. Just darkness. My heart thudded in my ears and I worked to slow my breathing. The emptiness of the Under was suffocating, and I felt like the world was closing in around me.

  “Rose?” I called into the void. “Are you here?”

  Light surged through the room as a channel of fire lit a walkway out of nowhere. Instead of being in complete darkness, fire suddenly surrounded me on both sides. The fire spread in a straight line for several seconds until it hit an invisible wall and it spread to form a circle. In the circle, I saw a dais with a throne on top of it.

  The rest of the space was slowly coming into focus as my eyes adjusted to the burst of firelight. The light caught the surrounding stone, making the room sparkle. Everything around me shimmered as if the walls were filled with hundreds of tiny diamonds. It reminded me of the stone inside the temple. It was probably the same material. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but it sent a chill through me. The thought of connecting Faerie to the monsters that thrived in the Under was unsettling.

  Footsteps sounded, and I turned back to the throne as a creature settled into the chair. She wore a magnificent gown of black and gold that sparkled like the stone all around us. Her blue skin a stark contrast to the orange flames encircling her. She wore gold hoops in her long, blue pointed ears and gold jewelry around her throat that flickered in the firelight.

  I swallowed hard and nervous beads of sweat formed on my forehead.

  Yellow eyes locked onto me and she smiled, showing long, pointed teeth. She looked the way Fae were expected to look in most human tales. Nothing like the images Nani had created for me in the stories she told. This Fae was the way Rose imagined. Horrifying and bloodthirsty.

  “Welcome, princess,” the creature said.

  “Who are you?” I asked, doing my best to keep my voice steady.

  She stood and stepped forward, walking through the circle of fire without pause until she was standing right in front of me. “Cassia, I thought you were smarter than that.”

  “Amala?” I asked, not believing the voice coming from this creature.

  She smiled. “Perhaps there’s hope for you yet.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said. “How are you here?”

  “This is my home, my kingdom,” she said. “Welcome.”

  “If you’re the ruler here, why come to Faerie? Why play at priestess?”

  “I have to admit, it was a gamble, and you nearly snuck through despite my pushing through the changeling laws.”

  My brow furrowed. She wasn’t making sense. If she’d helped change the laws about changelings, she’d been serving on the council since before I was born. “How long were you there?”

  “Too long. Almost not long enough. I was sure I had prevented the prophecy, but your mother hid her child in the human world.”

  “What are you talking about?” I was getting frustrated.

  “I will rule both Faerie and the Under. The Dark Fae have been in hiding too long. Not even the prophecy about a changeling child preventing it will stop me. I worried you were the one to break me, but you can’t even resist the pull of your human family. It makes you weak. You’re no threat to me.”

  “If that’s true, let me go.
Give me Rose and let me leave,” I said.

  “Oh, I can’t risk it, just in case,” she said. “And sadly, the prophecy forbade me from killing any changelings. So, while you search for her, I’ll be taking over Faerie.”

  Growling filled the room as dozens of monsters crept out of the darkness. I took a step back, involuntarily moving away from them.

  Amala laughed. “I can’t believe I thought you might stop me.”

  “Tiana was working with you,” I said. “You were pulling the strings.”

  “Of course, I was,” Amala said. “You can’t think she did all that alone?”

  I balled my hands into fists. I couldn’t let her win, but I also couldn’t leave without Rose. “Where is Rose?”

  “The human is here. In the Under.”

  The monsters took a few steps closer, their growls growing louder as they neared. Amala turned and looked at them. “Almost, my pets.” She turned back to me. “Even if you find her, you’ll never cross back through. You might survive but going through a tear will kill a human.”

  Suddenly, the fire went out, and I was back in the inky void I’d arrived in. Panting breaths and the sound of claws on stone echoed through the room for a minute, then everything went silent.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Quickly, I ignited fire in my hands and moved over to where the fire had been. I set my hand down into the channel that was cut into the stone and it caught, spreading down the indent along the walkway until it once again encircled the dais.

  Now, I had some light. There wasn’t time to think. I had to act. I had to find Rose and figure out a way to get out of here. There wasn’t time to worry about Amala’s threats. Nothing was impossible. And she wasn’t counting on someone with all four courts of magic.

  Her attacks and her abduction of Rose made me want the crown even more. I didn’t know her plan, but I knew she had Lilian trapped somewhere and Rose held in the Under. Cursing to myself, I walked down the path as I started exploring the room. Not only did I need to rescue Rose, I had to get Lilian rescued too.