Page 74 of Treasured

Concern radiated from her as she glanced at me. “Sebastian, I think you should rest.”

“No, we need to go.” My head swam as though I had downed a glass of Faerie Wine too quickly, but we couldn’t stay here. Without the tonic, we were on a clock before the summons came back. Would it be minutes? Hours? Less than a day, certainly. “We can’t waste any time.”

Luna frowned. “I don’t know.”

“I’ll be fine.” I shook my head, hoping she didn’t feel the pain coming through the Binding Mark. “Don’t worry about me.”

Internally, I begged her not to fight me on this. The only thing on my mind was getting us out of these caves before the summons returned. Prohiberis was strong, but it wasn’t all-encompassing. It didn’t block the Tether, and it wouldn’t be strong enough to block the queen’s magic.

We needed to get out of here.

My wife studied me for a long moment before she nodded. “Okay. We’ll go, but tell me when you need to rest.”

“I will,” I lied.

Luna meant well, but we couldn’t stop to rest. We had no time to waste.

* * *

Hours passed as we picked our way through the cave. This one wasn’t built like the last. The ice was thinner, and it creaked as we moved. Every single crack echoed, sending shivers down my spine. Luna’s hand trembled in mine, but she never let go.

After a while, my worst fears came true. The tonic wore off. The queen’s call was a quiet whisper, a brush against the back of my mind, until it wasn’t. Soon it was a tempest, and I was a leaf being thrown back and forth.

Come, Queen Marguerite called me. Come, come, come!

Instead of answering her call, I became a master of ignoring. Not just the queen. All of it. The pain in my side that just kept getting worse, the summons, even the fear that even after all this, we might not be able to break the bond.

I ignored them because I needed to get Luna to safety.

It must have been close to midday by now. Once we got out of here, Luna could Sunwalk, expose the moonstone to the light, and we could shadow back to Lightriver Abbey. It seemed so simple. We just had to make it.

Forcing myself to walk was like moving through thick mud, but I ignored that too. No matter what, I refused to let Queen Marguerite win.

Night has Come

MARGUERITE

“I’m terribly sorry, Your Majesty.” The Fortune Elf’s eyes were wide, and silver remained in her gaze. She trembled, kneeling on the marble floor. “I can’t See anything at all.”

My fingers tightened around the side of my throne, and I glared at her. “What do you mean?”

The useless elf quivered before me. “The silver planes are dark, My Queen. There is nothing there. Faint traces of fire and earth run through the future, but I can’t track their path.” Her voice shook, and she wrung her hands together. “The balance is broken, Your Majesty.”

I didn’t care about that. I didn’t even care about the darkness anymore. All I cared about was my missing son and her.

“Look again,” I snapped. “Get out of my sight and keep trying until you See something of worth.”

Why was I surrounded by such incompetence? I didn’t have time for this! This evening, I found three more wrinkles. Three!

What was this world coming to?

The elf paled, her sun-kissed skin turning as white as a sheet. “But if I spend too long on the silver planes, I might—”

“I don’t care!” I shrieked, my voice loud enough to shatter glass. “Do it, or I will find a new Fortune Elf who understands their job. I do not ask for much. I am not a hard taskmaster. One thing. That’s all I want. How is it so hard to find two vampires in a land full of them?”

The Fortune Elf’s lip wobbled, and she dipped her head. “I will try to See them.”

I glared at her. “Good. Get out of my sight.”

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