Page 35 of The Nightmare Queen

I bring my horse closer so that he can lean over and keep his words quiet. “Notice how there’s been a lack of some certain possessed beings so far?”

I nod, chewing on my lip. “Yeah, I have.”

“And?” he presses.

My shoulders shrug. “And, I think the queen must have it under control.”

He laughs at that. Not as quietly as his words clearly had been, because we get a few stares from the Obsids around us. “Where was that control when she got herselfbitthe other day?” I don’t have the explanation for that, I don’t know when in that fight she got bit exactly, just that I noticed her bloodied shoulder after we pulled back our Wields from one another.

“You guys can stop talking about me now.” We both startle at the sound of her voice. It’s the first time she’s acknowledged me verbally since our last conversation. “But, you’re right, princeling. Idohave it under control.” I give Will a look to let it go. We already have a fragile enough relationship with them.

She returned to her silence after popping into Will and I’s conversation. Her next acknowledgment coming in the form of her hand reaching out to stop us. We all pull our horses up to where she’s stopped. To where there is a deep fissure running through the ground.That wasn’t here when we entered the kingdom,I note.“Shit. How are we supposed to get across tha—” Axel’s mouth drops open as Eveera’s horse backs up and then takes off at breakneck speed, the two of them jumping across the expansive gap.

The rest of us stay put and stare at her dumbfounded. “You lot coming?” She shouts. Unease trickles through while a few of us look around for any possible way around this. When one can’t be found, each of her men take off in a run, meeting her on the other side. Will shoots me a nasty look before making the same jump. I’m the last to do it, my horse landing with a grunt.

“Armond, Void to the others, the armies will have to detour around as best they can.” Eveera barks. Within a blink he winks out of existence, leaving his horse behind.

Axel is panting, his hands planted firmly on his hips. “E? Have I ever told you that you make terrible decisions. I could have justdiedright now.” He shrieks while pointing a shaky -dramatic- finger at the fissure.

She tips her chin up. “I do not make terrible decisions.” She argues.

“No. No, sweetheart, you really do.” He says breathlessly. “You really do.”

Sweetheart? He calls his queen sweetheart?I mull that information over in my mind as the voice in my head suggests,maybe he was a lover too.That thought and their familiarity with one another sends an ill feeling twinging through me.

As she passes his horse up, he leans over to thwack the side of her head.Another person who hits the queen upside her head? How bizarre.She gives no other reaction than yelping,“OW!” and shoving him back. Armond blinks back to his place on his horse interrupting the queen and Axel. He gives her a nod that she returns as she takes the lead.

The closer we get to the border the more anxious the energy around us seems to get. Will is the only relatively unaffected one, his mood steadily improving.

CRACK!An eerie sensation of déjà vu creeps up the back of my neck while my horse stops in its tracks. The rest of the horses slow as well, all eight of our heads looking around us. I urge mine forward to line up with her and Axel.

She hands her reins to me, standing quickly in her stirrups. Just as I think she’s about to get off of her horse, she instead climbs up onto her saddle using the new vantage point to survey the area. Her irises go from gold to black in an instant just as a dozen pairs of red eyes appear on either side of our horses. Black tendrils explode out of her hands and both Axel and I lunge to grab a leg and steady her. Our eyes lock, the look saying the same thing to each other.

The tendrils secures tightly around the creatures’ throats. She pulls her hands down, forcing the creatures to collapse with the motion. She then whips both her hands out to the sides and their heads roll from their shoulders, black sludge pouring out into the ground from the stumps.

The air is still for a moment until a scream rings out from deep in the forest. What was a dozen pairs of eyes has now tripled. Panic briefly crosses Eveera’s face just before she dives towards the ground, her ankles slipping from our hold. We both scramble off our horses after her.

“WHAT DID I TELL YOU? SHE MAKES TERRIBLE DECISIONS!” He shouts while unsheathing his sword and cutting through the closest creature.This damn woman.

Ihadeyes on her but now she’s disappeared into the masses.Again.

My wrist both glows and burns and if I were to guess,I would bet that it is my indication that she was at least still with us. The sign that proved she was okay came from the wave of bodies dropping to the ground at our feet.

“SHE’S SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THEM, AXEL!” I call out.

“Eveera.”I reach out to her mentally. It’s a long shot that the link will work this way but I want eyes on her. No, Ineedto have eyes on her.

A new voice pipes up. “CAN SOMEONE MAKE SURE SHE DOESN’T GET HERSELF KILLED, PLEASE?”Maxwell.“IF SHE DIES, MARJORIE WILL SKIN US ALIVE.” He shouts.

“How about”Grunt. “nobody”SLICE! “DIES,” Will yells back to him. “I thought you said she had thisHANDLED!” He directs those words at me.

I dive under the hands of the creature closest to me. “EVEERA!”I try again.

A strange feeling washes over me as a feminine voice barks into my mind. “I SAID STAY OUT OF MY BLOODY HEAD.”I don’t have time to respond as I stab another beast, sludge splattering all over me. I see her head pop up in the middle of a group of creatures.

She screams out slashing in all directions. “Where are you all coming from?!” Her throwing stars are seated snuggly in the throat of a beast that I pass while running towards her. I urge my legs to move faster when I see a deformed hand grabbing at her back.

“NO!” I scream, yanking her chest into mine, my sword coasting over her head and cutting clean through the creature’s face. She slumps against my chest for a moment both of her hands fisting into my bloodied clothes. My free arm comes around, hand cupping the back of her head. I hold her tightly to me as our breaths sync together.

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