I barely had a moment to register how cool his lips were before the light swelled, glaring through my closed eyes, then vanishing as though it had never been. The glowing shape of the prince’s face burnt into my retinas, but his mouth jerked away from mine, and I scrambled back, opening my eyes in time to see him sprawled in the depths of his tomb, all traces of magic gone.
But his eyes. His eyes were open, and they flickered over me as he pushed himself up, before fixing on my own disbelieving stare.
“What have you done?” he hissed.
What? I opened my mouth with absolutely no idea of what I was about to say, but muffled yells and thumps filled the chamber. Shit. The other prince, still trapped in his tomb.
I made to move, but the prince moved faster. He leapt from his tomb with an ease I couldn’t have managed, and I hadn’t even been trapped under a curse for hundreds of years. In seconds, he was at his brother’s resting place, shoving the lid aside with another groan and crash. A second male, identical to the first but for his long hair, rose from the tomb. The brothers clasped arms as the second clambered to freedom before finally looking at me. He fell still, his eyes widening.
“You,” he breathed. “You’re the Human Queen.”
“Oh.” I gave an awkward huff of laughter, my skin heating at their piercing attention. “I don’t know about that.”
The long-haired prince took a few steps closer, lifting his hand, but stopped short, as though he’d thought better of touching me. “You broke the curse. You saved us.”
Oh, but he was gorgeous, with eyes of pale green, and strands of dark hair hanging around his face.
“I suppose I did.”
I did. I did.
The princes were awake! The curse was broken. The rifts were open. I’d done it. I’d achieved what countless women before me had tried and failed to do. I was going home. Everything was going to be okay. I laughed again, half disbelief, half delirious elation.
“Prince Anwir, at your service.” He flattened a hand to his chest and bowed. A prince, a future king, bowing to me.
“We need to leave,” the first prince snapped, throwing me a scathing look, as though I’d wanted the attention. “Now.”
He had to be Idris, the younger of the two. He wasn’t wrong. Just because the curse was broken, it didn’t mean this nightmare was over. He prowled around his empty tomb, examining it with an expression of distaste. When he reached the fallen lid, he stooped, and I followed his gaze. His long fingers brushed the carving of the swords, and at once, the stone crumbled away, revealing real weapons in their place. My breath hitched at the gleam of champagne coloured metal, but the prince snatched up the swords, deftly sheathing them across his broad shoulders.
I glanced away before he saw me looking, but my eyes only landed on his twin, who followed his lead, revealing a single but much longer sword hidden in the lid of his own tomb. His blade was an ordinary silver colour, but ornate and beautiful. My daggers, hidden in their sheaths, seemed uglier than ever, not to mention small. Still, they’d gotten me this far.
Now all they had to do was get me back through the tunnels. “The witches are waiting to warp us to Nairsgarth castle. Come on, it’s this way.”
I wasn’t keen on leading the expedition, but the company of two tall and hulking fae males was a definite improvement on my lonely journey through the tower.
“Witches?” Anwir hurried to my side as I led the way back into the passage lined with dark archways. To my relief, no tortured voices called out to me.
“They’ve been helping me. I—”
Whatever words I’d been about to say died in my mouth. A sharp crack split the air, and the stone at my feet opened, a dark, jagged split bolting between my feet. The floor rumbled, the walls shook, and dust streaked down from the ceiling. The tower…
“Run!” Anwir snatched my hand and dragged me forward.
I stumbled after him, ignoring the stab of pain in my ankle, twisting to be sure Idris was following. The three of us hurtled down the winding stairs, dodging and leaping the cracks that hunted us. No matter how fast we ran, the cracks kept pace, appearing beneath us, sometimes darting ahead, or veering off to split the wall. Anwir’s grip on my hand was painfully tight, but I clung to him as though he was my lifeline.
We burst into the grand dining chamber, the prince never slowing his pace as he hauled me around the table. Crystals rained down from the trembling chandelier, clattering over the banquet. I was only faintly surprised to see that the delicious feast had been replaced with decaying bones and lumps of mould.
The music in the corridor had ceased. I didn’t dare glance into that den of lust as we hurtled past the room. The tower gave an ominous groan, the sound rumbling deep within the ancient stone.
The cursed staircase appeared at our feet. Down and down and round we went, passing the haunting, dark chasm I’d escaped on my way up. The journey to the top of the tower had seemed to take a lifetime, but this… this was worse. How long would the ancient stone hold? The quaking of the building grew more violent with every passing second. Crashes sounded overhead, and I knew the roof was coming down somewhere above us. I couldn’t let it end like this, not when I was so close to going home. I hadn’t come this far to be buried alive.
I pushed my burning legs harder, throwing myself down the stairs with a recklessness that would have broken my neck any other time, but adrenalin made me surefooted, burning away my dizziness as we spiralled down into the dark. Dust and grit streamed down onto my head, larger chunks bouncing off me like hail.
When the first hint of pale light reached my stinging eyes, my knees wobbled with relief, but I hurried onwards, letting go of Anwir’s hand and taking the last few steps at a leap, staggering across the hall and out into the open air. I didn’t stop there, or look back at the groaning, cracking tower. I broke into a sprint, speeding through the tunnel of deadly vines I’d carved, then into the sunshine and toward the tunnels. The witches were waiting on the other side, probably watching the cave mouth with baited breath. They’d be ready for whatever followed me out. I would be safe when I reached them.
A stitch burnt in my side, growing stronger and more insistent with every pounding step, but I ignored it, fixing my attention on the fissure in the cliff face. I was too far away to see clearly, but I caught no glimpses of those cave-dwelling monsters waiting to strip the meat from my bones. Maybe they’d grown bored, or maybe the imminent collapse of the tower had scared them off.
I skidded to a halt on the dead grass outside the tunnel, doubling over and pressing a hand to my stitch.
The princes were barely a step behind me, and neither appeared even slightly flustered by our mad dash. Panting, I forced myself to straighten.
“There are things,” I said breathlessly. “Monsters. In here. We have to go through.”
Anwir swept his long hair back from his face, eyeing the cave warily. Behind him, in the valley basin, the tower gave an almighty rumble. We all turned in time to see its dark walls collapse inwards before the structure tilted, and surprisingly slowly, sank beneath the sea of brambles. The ground quaked beneath my feet as a cloud of dust billowed into the air, blocking out the sky. A minute slower, and we’d all have been dead.
It wasn’t nearly as shocking as it should have been. Had I been desensitised to near-death experiences? If I had, it did nothing to lessen my dread at the looming prospect of facing those blind-eyed beasts again.
I turned to Anwir, a brilliant idea unfurling in my mind. “Wait. Can’t you teleport us out?”
He’d only have to take us to the other side of the cliffs, then we could rendezvous with the witches and warp to safety.
It was Idris who answered. “No,” he said, his voice flat and cold. “Our magic is dead.”
“What?” Dismay made my voice shrill. “What do you mean, dead?”
“Wards.” His pale eyes flickered skyward, then he lifted both arms over his head, drawing the curved swords with a delicate shivering ring. Free of the gloom of the tower, the blades were somewhere between silver and gold, as pale and lovely as dawn light. “They’re nullifying our power. Let’s go.”
Without any further hesitation, he strolled into the tunnel as though he was off for a walk in the park. I shot a panicked glance at Anwir, who grimaced, gesturing for me to follow his brother. Hoisting my pathetic lantern higher, I hurried after Idris. Behind me, metal hissed as Anwir drew his weapon. I followed suit, sliding a dagger free of my belt.
