Page 130 of Queen of Thorns
“I will kill the Light Ancient once and for all,” he growls low and fierce. “and then it will only be me. And I don’t care where you run, I will find you. I will destroy everything you love.”
“He’s going somewhere you can’t touch him too.”
“I will turn all of the courts against you. Right now, you have allies defending your borders, but don’t worry, my pet, I will dismantle that too.”
“I believe you,” I whisper. “But I won’t be around to see it.”
Rev and I, together, take one big step backward, into the door of light that has appeared right at that moment. The burning light sucks at us and drops us only a few miles away—at the portal to the human world.
We wait and listen to the rumbling anger of the Night Bringer. The ground shudders, trees wave, and birds take flight. “Now.”
Heart pounding, I step through the archway to the human world for the last time.
Caelynn
Birds chirp joyouslywhen we first enter the human world. The lack of magic is noticeable, even with sparkling sprites bouncing around here and there.
“Go home,” I whisper to the sprites. “Leave this place or remain forever.”
The little fluttering creatures pause, considering me. Then, they dart through the portal back home.
We are in a forest clearing, with moss-covered logs and rocks stacked in a circle.
“I don’t know what’s happening in this world,” the spell book tells me. “I feel blind.”
I nod. I’d expected that part. The spell book’s all-knowing power stops with the portals. “You can still help us with the spell, right?”
“Yes. That spell is ingrained in me, and my magic remains.”
Rev pulls me against his chest as we wait again. Tremors rock through the portal behind us.
“He’s coming,” I whisper, my chest tight. This is part of the plan, I remind myself. Taunt the Night Bringer. Make him think we’re fleeing and never coming back so he’ll follow us where his magic is weakened.
Rev tugs me out of the way. The Night Bringer is still bound by the bargain. He cannot harm me or Rev.
But that’s not what he’s coming here for. He’s come to kill the people I care for, that are currently taking a not-so-leisurely stroll through a deep tunnel in the Smokey Mountains.
