A Queen Among Darkness: Chapter Fifty-Four - Valeria

A Queen Among Darkness: Chapter Fifty-Four - Valeria
“Are you sure about this?” Chris asks Mei, while I resist the urge to tap my foot.

“I’m positive,” she chirps, “I’ll have my link open the whole time, I promise,” she says, reaching up on her tippy toes to kiss him. He wraps his arms around her lifting her with ease as he returns her kiss causing her cream-coloured cheeks to blush.

“Please be safe,” he begs in a whisper, placing a kiss on her forehead as he lowers her back down.

“I promise to come home in one piece,” she says with a bright smile.

Chris looks over at me with hard eyes, but I can see the worry he’s trying to hide. I’ll cut the man some slack since I’m kind of in the same boat. “Remember what I said,” he says in warning.

“Anything happens to her, and you’ll kill me. Trust me, your majesty, if we fail at this, I’ll personally come to you so you can kill me,” I say darkly.

Chris looks unsettled and Mei looks sad at my words, but I mean them wholeheartedly. If I lose Isolde, I don’t want to go on.

Chris reluctantly lets go of Mei as she walks over to me with a bounce in her step.

“Ready,” she announces.

Having found the marker for the portal, I step through the rippling air and out to the front of the safe house to see Alaric pacing a trench into the dirt.

He stops when he sees me and walks over, “How’d it go?” He asks, looking me over, “You’ve been healed,” he observes, just as Mei steps through the portal, looking around with wide eyes.

“You can thank her for that. Alaric, meet the nagata Empress and Delta of the Invictus pack, Mei,” I introduce, “Empress, this is Alaric, a makkari who is helping me get Isolde back.”

Alaric looks down at Mei in awe, “Your majesty, it is an honour to make your acquaintance,” he says, offering her his hand.

“Please call me Mei,” she says with a blush in her cheeks as she shakes his hand. She’s such a timid little thing.

“I can’t believe you got them to agree to help you,” he says in disbelief.

“It would seem the universe is on my side. So, all I need is for you to close this portal and open one that can take us to the Kartheca,” I instruct.

Alaric calls on his magic and closes the portal and quickly opens another. He pulls his magic back and as his obsidian eyes switch back to brown, he looks at me warily, “You have to understand, I can only get you to the Kartheca’s location, I can’t get you inside.”

“Why not?” I ask, feeling my trigger finger twitching.

“You’ve been to Atlesper, right?” I nod yes. “Same thing. Zarseti placed a barrier around the Kartheca so only those the Delegation or the Fortis twins grant entrance to can get in.”

“But Isolde and I got into Atlesper just fine,” I point out.

“That barrier only hides the kingdom from humans. The Kartheca’s barrier protects it from everyone, it’s a fortress. I may be able to get you there, but I have no idea how you’re going to get in,” he says guiltily.

I take a deep breath to keep myself calm. Maybe the universe isn’t on my side, since at every turn there is something trying to get between me and Izzy, and I’ve had about enough of it.

“I’ll think of something. If I can’t get in, then I’ll have to draw them out,” I say as my brain starts coming up with plans B through to Z.

“I don’t like how that sounds,” he says apprehensively.

“Then pretend you didn’t hear it,” I say as I turn to Mei, “You ready?”

She nods eagerly, “Very.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to wear something else?” I ask, looking over the white knee-length spaghetti strap dress she’s wearing. When she said she needed to go change, I thought it was into something casual, not a summer dress.

“My friend Jane made it for me,” she smiles, fanning the dress out, “My clothes tear off when I shift, so she made me this dress. It’s very stretchy so it can accommodate my shifted form. This way I’m not naked when I shift back. Chris loves it,” she giggles.

I nod appreciatively, “A tactical dress. Very clever.”

“For what it’s worth, I hope you succeed,” Alaric says softly.

“I will, failure isn’t an option,” I say as I step through the portal. To think I nearly passed out the first time I jumped through a portal, now I’m an old pro.

I step out as warm air caresses my face bringing with it a cool breeze, the smell of the ocean, and the sound of crashing waves. I’m temporarily disoriented by the darkness of nighttime. Time zones are a mind fuck when you’re portal jumping. On one side of the portal, the sun is high in the sky, but on this side, it’s a dark sky full of stars. There’s no city for miles, so every single star is out in full glow. It’s breathtaking. Seems fitting the home of ancient warriors would be somewhere that can look up at such a stunning view of the galaxy.

I look down at the jagged rocks under my feet and breathe in the hot air as Mei steps through the portal beside me. After a second her eyes are wide as saucers and she’s slowly stepping forward.

“Wow,” she whispers in wonder. I look around trying to figure out what’s so ‘wow’. I would have said the stars, but she’s looking forward, not up. “It’s much, much bigger than the palace in Longsang,” she says.

“What is?”

“The castle,” she says pointing forward. I follow her finger but all I see is wide open space. We’re standing near the edge of some kind of islet. Nothing but grass and jagged rocks.

“What castle?”

She blinks at me in surprise, “Don’t you see it? It’s right there,” she says, pointing forward again.

“I guess it’s the barrier. You can see it because you’re a nagata and I can’t see it because I’m human,” I shrug.

“Oh,” she says sympathetically, “So how do we get in?”

“Well, I could cause an explosion, or start firing my gun, that might get their attention. I doubt this barrier has a back door unless you have any suggestions.”

She shakes her head, “This Manon person used another makkari to place a barrier around my home kingdom, then killed her so it could never be reversed and so she couldn’t get caught. I had to ask the God Oshmin to remove it.”

I stare at her as my brain does a double take on that sentence.

“You asked a God for help and actually got it?” I ask in bewilderment.

She nods, “He said he owed me one.”

“Owed you one for what?”

She wrings her fingers together, showing clear discomfort, “It’s a long story.”

“Say no more. You’re full of surprises, Mei,” I smile at her and watch her smile brightly back at me.

Mei’s eyes shift to look at something behind me and slowly her eyes widen further. I glance behind me to see a bright ball of glowing pink light floating in the air like a giant firefly.

“Know any supernatural beings that look like balls of light?” I whisper. She shakes her head. “We’re both seeing this though, right?” I check and watch her nod her head. She’s a woman of few words, and I can appreciate that.

Before our very eyes, I watch as the outline of a glowing pink arch appears and then disappears. Suddenly right in front of me, I can see exactly what Mei was wowing at a moment ago. I take a tentative step forward and slowly look up to see an incredible castle with domed rooves standing tall before me. The architecture looks ancient and yet the façade looks brand new, like it has been untouched by the elements or time itself.

“Wow…” I breathe out as I soak in the building in front of me.

“You can see it?” Mei squeaks in surprise. I nod slowly.

The glowing ball of light moves in front of my face as if to get my attention and then moves back and forth. I swear it looks like it’s telling us to follow it.

“I think it wants us to follow it,” Mei softly says, echoing my thoughts.

Following random balls of light seems unwise, but it did let us past the barrier, so I’ll go with this for now. Mei and I follow the light towards the castle, but instead of leading us towards the front door, it leads us around the side and then, in another spooky twist of events, a dirt staircase opens up in the earth before us leading down under the castle itself, and then the light completely disappears.

I glance at Mei with, “Are you scared?” I ask her.

She grabs my hand and leads me down the stairs, “I’ve lived through much worse than this,” she says confidently. She’s so petite but has a hell of a grip.

We walk down at least ten or so steps before reaching flat earth, and now I’m completely bathed in darkness. I can’t see a damn thing and I didn’t bring a torch.

“This way,” she says, tugging me by the hand.

“Are you sure?”

“I can see perfectly fine. There’s a long tunnel ahead,” she tells me.

“Lucky you, I can’t see shit, but I’ll follow your lead,” I tell her, not that I have much of a choice. I let Mei guide the way, as the sound of the soft padding of our feet on the earth fills the dark space. “How old are you?” I decide to ask to fill the silence.

“Nineteen. I’ll be twenty in November,” she says. I can’t see her face, but her tone sounds happy.

“Wow. Nineteen and an Empress to an entire species, that must be intimidating.”

“It is, but I want to do it. It feels right, like this is where I belong. I wasn’t sure at first. I felt too weak to lead them, and I thought they wouldn’t accept me because I didn’t grow up in Longsang, but since the coronation things have been amazing. I love getting to meet and help so many people and getting to learn more about myself and my people,” she says cheerfully.

“Why couldn’t you before?” I ask curiously.

“I grew up captive in another pack. Chris found me and saved me.” The tone in her voice when she says his name makes my heart clench painfully and that’s when an agonising thought pops in my head making me stop in my tracks and catch my breath. “Valeria? Is something wrong?” She asks with worry. I feel her placing her hands on my shoulders and soon the tunnel is illuminated by the golden glow of her hands.

“I’m okay,” I say, placing a gentle hand on hers, “I’m not hurt,” I assure her and watch as the light of her hands slowly fades out.

“What happened?”

“I just… I just realised I can’t feel Izzy anymore,” I choke as I feel the tears prick my eyes, “I’ve been moving nonstop since this all happened to the point I didn’t even realise it. Those slight feelings and sensations that I learned to identify as hers and not mine… they’re not there anymore… and I’m scared I’m never going to feel them again,” I admit painfully.

To my surprise, Mei’s delicate arms wrap around me in a shockingly tight hug, but grateful for the gesture I return her hug.

“I know how you feel,” she says softly, taking my hand in hers and leading me forward.

“You do?”

“The makkari who helped kidnap me, she put a spell on serpentine cuffs that blocked my connection with Chris. I couldn’t link with him, I couldn’t feel him, I couldn’t anything. I felt so alone and empty. It was unbearable,” she says, and I can hear the pain in her voice, “I don’t know what rejection feels like, but I know how it feels to lose the connection to your animai, so I can understand a little of what you’re feeling.”

I squeeze her hand, “Thank you, but I’m sorry you went through that. I promise we won’t let her get away with this,” I vow.

“So this Manon really killed her family?” She asks sadly.

“Even her own animai.”

I hear her gasp, “How could she?! But she would have felt it!” She cries in disbelief.

“Some people don’t feel anything and thrive on the misery of others in order to feel something. My brother is very much like that. There’s just something wrong in their brains, but trust me it’s not an excuse. They know right from wrong; they just don’t care.”

“I’ve met a few people like that,” she says with displeasure.

“Not in your pack or kingdom I hope.”

“Not anymore. I love my home,” she says happily.

“How come you’re not scared of me or distrusting of me?”

“Why would I be?” She asks in confusion.

“You know what a venatrix is, right?” I ask, but all I hear is silence. “If you’re nodding, I can’t see you,” I remind her.

She giggles, “Sorry. Yes, I know what that is. Alpha Amelia taught me,” she says proudly.

“So then why don’t you hate me?”

“You’ve been nice and honest since we met, and I don’t get a bad feeling from you. I get a good feeling. I think you’re a good person,” she chirps.

I raise an eyebrow, “I’ve murdered innocent people.”

“Did you know they were innocent?”

“Not at the time. I thought you were all monsters hell-bent on killing humans. At least that’s what I was taught to believe,” I explain.

“Did you like killing people?”

“Not really, it was just what I felt was my duty,” I shrug.

“That just sounds like someone who was told some lies and was made to do something they didn’t want to and now that they know better, they’re trying to be a better person. That sounds like a good person to me,” she says happily.

“You’re not like most people are you?”

She giggles, “People say that, but I’m just me.”

“I think the world could do with more people like you,” I say, squeezing her hand.

“It sounds like the world could do with more people like Isolde. I feel so bad for her, no one deserves this,” she says sadly.

“I just hope you can help her,” I say as I take a deep breath.

“I promise to do everything I can to help you get your animai back,” she says confidently, and I swear I can feel the energy between us intensify, but in a good way.