Where Shadows Lie

by Kim Stokely

  I couldn’t help but smile as the words to the Declaration of Independence popped into my head. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

  I didn’t realize I’d spoken the words aloud until Quinn answered, “Yes, Your Majesty. That is what I see if your marriage to Kyran can be arranged.”

  Lord Donagh stood. “The Mystics will accept no one but my legitimate son, Lord Braedon. To reject him is to openly call for war.”

  My father’s face betrayed no emotion. “I have been chastised enough this evening for my opinions. I would speak to the full Elder Council before I offered you advice.” Oded nodded at his side.

  I rested my hands on the table. “We can’t decide anything tonight.” I glared at Donagh. “Even you can’t gather troops for war so quickly.” I searched the eyes of every man at the table. “Each of you, call your Councils together and advise them of what we’ve talked about.” I glanced back at Donagh. “You know I don’t want to marry Braedon, but maybe there’s another Mystic Lord you could offer in his stead. I am open to any suggestions that would keep you from declaring war when I’ve just become Queen.”

  I stood up straight. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m tired. You all can enjoy my coronation party but I’m going to my rooms. We reconvene here in two days’ time to learn your answers.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Braedon’s Revenge

  Kennis waited outside the library for me. I couldn’t meet her eyes. I didn’t want to know what she really thought about the contract.

  I tried not to run, but by the time I got to the stairwell, I couldn’t stop myself. I took them two at a time, my high-heeled boots clacking harshly on the marble steps. I picked up the skirt of my gown and flew down the next hall to my new private rooms. I slowed when I caught sight of the guards outside the door.

  I nodded at them and entered my room, shutting the door behind me. I leaned against it and slid down to the floor. One of the new maids, Tamra, entered from a door to my right.

  “Your Majesty?” She hurried to my side. “Is everything well?”

  A sharp rapping on the door reverberated through my back.

  “Alystrine?” It was Kennis. “Alystrine, we have to talk.”

  I went to run my fingers through my hair but caught the crown instead. Growling, I yanked it off my head and threw it toward the couch. It bounced twice then fell to the floor with a heavy clank.

  “Alystrine?” My mother pushed against the door. I held my hand out and Tamra helped me up. Kennis burst into my chambers.

  I walked over to the fireplace along the wall to my left. “I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t know what else to do. I couldn’t let him torture Tegan. Not after they’d tried to break me. I knew what they’d show him.” The wood crackled and popped as the flames hungrily consumed it. “The Black Guards would have tortured his little brother. He would have seen his mother–” My breath caught in my throat. “He would have seen her raped. Her skin peeled from her body–”

  Kennis came up behind me and touched my arm.

  My body trembled. The images from my own breaking invaded my brain. I leaned my hand against the brick of the fireplace and tried to banish the visions.

  “Alystrine, you mustn’t do this to yourself.”

  My fist pounded on a brick. The resulting pain helped to clear my mind, at least a little bit. “Tegan was the one good thing I’d found here. I couldn’t let them take that from me.”

  She pulled me into an embrace. “It will be all right.” Her hands rubbed my back, trying to stop my shaking.

  When I’d calmed down a little more, she led me over to the couch. “I have to admit, when I first heard the words out of Braedon’s mouth, I wanted to kill you both.” She groaned. “The thought that you’d agreed to it. I couldn’t imagine why.” I started to explain again but she stopped me, “Hush, now.”

  I jumped when someone rapped on the door. Tamra looked to me for approval before hurrying to answer it. She spoke briefly with someone then closed it. She crossed the floor and held out a folded piece of parchment.

  “Please, Your Majesty.” The tall girl gave me a small curtsy. “A messenger said to give you this.”

  My hand shook as I took the note. A chill settled over the room. I broke the unmarked wax seal.

  Come was the only word written inside.

  But the nearly illegible scrawl and the dark crimson splatter below it were the real message. The note fluttered to the floor. I clasped my hand to my mouth to stop the scream in my gut from escaping.

  “Alystrine?” Kennis stooped to pick up the parchment. “What is it?”

  I stood on trembling legs. “It’s Noam. Braedon’s done something to him.”

  Kennis puzzled over the note. “Do you know where he is? Maybe he’s just been hurt.”

  “I know where he is.” I ran for the door. How could I have been so stupid? To think Braedon wouldn’t know about Noam’s notes and the hedges?

  “Ally, wait!” Kennis came to my side. “Whatever this is, you should not face it alone. Let me call your father and Maris.”

  “You get them,” I ordered Tamra. “Tell them we’ll be in the hedge maze.” I looked at Kennis. “I have to go to him.”

  She took my hands as the maid fled the room. “It would be safer to wait for the others.”

  I shook my head. “I can’t.”

  I ran down the stairs and through the hallways until I got to the heavy wooden door to the East Garden. My hand lay immobile against it, dread filling my muscles with lead so that I couldn’t move. Kennis’ footsteps pounding on the flagstone behind me propelled me forward.

  I stepped out into the frigid afternoon. The sun sat low on the horizon, casting the sky in brilliant scarlet and orange hues. Tall shadows from the bushes bled out onto the white ground. To either side of the door, the snow lay pristine and undisturbed except for the random tracks left by a bird. The snow leading to the hedge maze, however, had been trampled.

  I followed the tell-tale path through the now familiar twists of the maze until it turned into the clearing where I had met Noam so often before. A strange smell hung in the air. Instead of pine needles, copper. An acrid scent. I hesitated to go further. Kennis ran past me.

  She fell to her knees. “By Ruahk.”

  She grabbed my dress as I stepped forward. “Baby, no. Don’t look.” She struggled to her feet and pushed me back. Tears streaked her pale cheeks. “Don’t look.”

  I peeled her hands off my arms and went inside the clearing.

  His mouth lay open in a silent scream through bloated lips. His face, a mass of blue and purple bruises. The only things untouched were his eyes. I knew they’d been left so I would recognize him. So I would know he looked for me as he died.

  Josh.

  His arms had been stretched above his head and bound to one of the stone legs of the bench. His legs were bound to the other. His chest had been cut open, the ragged wound left uncovered for all to see.

  His heart lay at my feet.

  From the amount of blood spattered across the white snow, I knew it had been ripped from him while it still beat.

  I crossed to Josh’s tortured body. My fingers, numbed from the cold, fumbled to untie the rope from his wrists. I cried out in frustration as they slipped on the frozen knot. Finally loosened, I pulled his hands free and cradled his body to my chest. I rocked him like a baby.

  I couldn’t breathe in.

  I couldn’t breathe out.

  Instead, I knelt in the snow with Josh’s torn body pressed against me and raged silently to the sky. My head pounded, trying to force my lungs to expand, but they wouldn’t.

  Not until my mother knelt beside me. Then, like a geyser, my anguish poured out of my soul. The snow softened my wail, cocooning it as I sought to shelter Josh.

  I screamed again.

&
nbsp; And again.

  Until there was nothing left.

  Muffled voices drifted through the hedges as dusk settled. As they drew closer I clutched Josh even tighter to my chest. They would try to take him from me. I knew they would.

  Kennis got to her feet as the others came into the clearing.

  For a moment they must have stood, trying to understand the scene.

  “Is it Noam?” Geran asked.

  “No,” my mother’s voice cracked. “Josh.”

  “It can’t be,” Quinn said. “He and Nitza were well out of the city when I left them.”

  My ears roared with the sound of my blood pounding. I lowered Josh to the bench then flung myself on Quinn. “You left him? You left him?” My fingers tore at his face. He grabbed my wrists to keep me from tearing his eyes out. “You were supposed to take him back home. You promised to take him back home!”

  “Even with Chrysaline I could not carry him far without the aid of a passage.”

  I struggled against him. “You took Kennis through. And Tegan.”

  “Yes, but there was a passage from this side. The stone circles to help control the energy.”

  “You lied to me! You said you could help him.” I freed a hand and pummeled his chest with my fist. “You said you could take him home.”

  Geran pulled me off of Quinn. I twisted until he released me. I stood panting, the bodice of my dress sticky with Josh’s congealed blood. “I hate you.”

  Quinn reached toward me.

  I batted his hand away. “Don’t touch me.”

  His eyes clouded. “Alystrine–”

  “Don’t call me that. Only people I trust can call me that.”

  Behind me, Kennis gasped, but Quinn only nodded. “Of course.” He paused as if waiting to see if I would let him continue. I couldn’t find the energy to fight him anymore. “Your Majesty,” Quinn said again. “When I left them, Nitza and Josh were on fast mounts on their way to the Elders. I was to meet them there tomorrow.”

  “Why tomorrow?”

  “The Chrysaline needed to remain here until your coronation was complete. If I used it before then, the Ovates would have found their way to it and kept it for themselves.”

  I stared at him, unable to truly comprehend what he tried to explain. Unable to gather enough strength to attack him again. I needed Josh.

  I turned back to his body but Kennis stopped me. “There is nothing more you can do. Nothing more.”

  I let her embrace me because I knew it helped her. But her hug provided no comfort. It only served as a reminder that Josh would never hold me again and make everything all right.

  Sometime later, after Kennis and Maris dragged me from the hedge maze and brought me back to my rooms; after Tamra forced me to soak in a tub to warm my numb body; after Reesa gently combed out the tangles in my hair, dressed me in a nightgown and put me into bed; after everyone had gone and I got out of the bed and walked out to my sitting room; after I’d stared into the flames of the fire for hours. Sometime after that, I sank to my knees.

  “I don’t understand you,” I whispered to the air. “If you’re so powerful, why couldn’t you have kept him alive?”

  Silence answered me.

  “Can you only speak in holy places? Magical glades and sacred tents?” My voice grew louder. “Are you that limited?”

  The glowing embers sizzled.

  “I hate this place. I hate these people.” I stared up at the ceiling. “I hate you.”

  Do you not think I grieve?

  I gasped as the voice shot through me.

  Do you not think I hate the evil that causes such heartache?

  “Then why do you allow it?”

  I don’t.

  That is why I brought you here.

  So you could end it.

  I reached out to the table for support. “Me?”

  You are the instrument I have chosen.

  Do not forget the lessons of your Seclusion.

  I struggled to recall what I’d experienced only that morning. So much had changed since then, including me.

  Hold on to the truth, Alystrine. Hold on to me.

  Then Josh’s death will not have been in vain.

  Strange, although I hadn’t seen anyone with me, I felt a presence leave the room, and its absence left me feeling cold. The stones in front of the hearth radiated warmth. I stretched out on them, wishing I could go back in time, just a day. Just to the moment when Josh had begged me to let him stay. I wish I had told him yes. Then maybe he’d still be alive.

  A spark flew up from the remains of the fire. It danced for a moment above the dying flames then floated on a current of air until it spun in the space in front of me. It flickered, like the light of a firefly.

  My thoughts traveled back to the meadow in Guilford. My first night back in the Other World after discovering Ayden and the role I had to play in it. Fireflies had danced then, too. Josh laid by my side while I cried. “Whatever it is,” he’d told me, “it will get better.”

  The only way I knew for things to get better was for Braedon and his followers to be defeated.

  The spark hovered for a moment more before drifting upward to the ceiling. It twirled again, then disappeared.

  I picked myself up from the floor and rested my hands on the mantle.

  I wouldn’t wait for the Joint Assembly to meet in two days. In the morning, I would declare war against the Mystic Council and any that fought with them.

  War.

  I knew what I would face.

  A horde of demons, thousands strong. Maybe tens of thousands in number.

  But I’d been promised victory, if I could only learn to believe in a power greater than myself.

  Here ends Book Two of the Portals of Ayden

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Mother of two grown children and three fur babies, Kim hates talking about herself in the third person. It’s weird.

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  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Gotta thank Annie Weir, for her patience and hard work in both story editing and proofreading this novel. Also for her constant encouragement. You rock!

  Kayleen Meckle and Bryan “Eagle Eyes” Hankins for being my awesome Beta Readers and helping me to tweak my story.

  Linda Hankins, Laura Horak, Julie Sweet, Linda Dunlap, Sonja Velasquez, Shannon Smile, Rebecca Holt, Vicky Grous, Lorraine Grant, Pat Stokely and countless others for their support and encouragement. Writing is a solitary profession, but you guys make me feel like I’m not screaming into the void.

  And of course, my husband, John. For all you do, every day, to let me know that I am loved, flaws and all. I love you.