Page 23 of Crown of the Dunes (The Ballan Desert #2)

The doors to Kelvar and Alyx’s rooms stood unchanged, as solid as the mountain from which they were carved.

Approaching them, I hesitantly brushed my fingers over the thin joints where the doors met the wall, both made of the same kind of stone.

So tight was the seal, that I couldn’t even detect hinges.

Only the intricate carvings of snakes and larrea flowers intertwined around the arch of the door indicated that this was more than a solid wall.

That, and of course, the two panels of blood glass, one set into each of the double doors like a lancet window, although the glass was such a deep red—almost black—that it was impossible to see through.

My fingers drifted toward the glass but hovered an inch away. It seemed to radiate warmth, palpable even without making contact. In the quiet of the tower, I even imagined I could hear it breathe. The lub dub of a heartbeat echoed in my brain.

The air shifted, and I looked down to find Queen Ginevra next to me. The set of her mouth was determined, but her eyes held a wistful sadness.

“I hate to disturb Alyx’s tomb,” she whispered. I sensed she too was loathe to speak too loud and disturb the peace of these rooms, even if just for a few moments longer.

I swallowed thickly. If legends were to be believed, Alyx’s body still lay within, Kelvar having sealed the doors and forbidden anybody from moving her when she died.

That was the point of the tale where Ginevra believed Kelvar had wandered out into the desert in his madness, never to be seen again.

But according to Erix and Lord Alasdar, he had returned after stealing the Heart of the Desert from its temple at the edge of the sea.

Would his remains be within too? What if Lord Alasdar was wrong and Kelvar hadn’t returned with the Heart, leaving it lost to the sands of the desert?

I set my jaw against that thought and laid my hand flat on the pane of blood glass before me.

Lightning pulsed in my chest, and I stiffened.

Power rushed over me, but not in a way that threatened to pull me away from my own body.

Instead, just the opposite happened, every fiber of my being zeroing in on the smooth press of glass against my palm, like a red wolf bearing down on its prey.

The flow of my magic rushed toward it all at once, like it yearned to not just throw itself at the barrier of blood glass, but to reach something beyond . There was something powerful in those chambers.

A sharp intake of breath next to me dragged my mind away from the overwhelming need to get to whatever lay beyond these doors.

I looked to the queen once more, finding her hand pressed to the other window, mirroring my position.

Her eyes were blown wide, and at this proximity, I was sure they held some of the same molten silver as Erix’s had, although only just around the pupil.

I don’t know how I hadn’t seen it before.

“I feel it too,” she murmured, a visible shudder wracking her body. So slight was she, I thought she might topple over, but she stood firm.

A shuffle behind us reminded us that we weren’t alone.

“What should I do?” Aderyn asked, her voice grave but curious.

“Make sure we are not interrupted. Nobody must ever know about this. The Heart would be too dangerous in the wrong hands.” The queen’s tone was grim and brooked no argument.

Boots brushed against stone behind me, and I imagined Aderyn taking her guard posture, one hand on her saber hilt and an icy blue stare that threatened to freeze anybody who crossed her.

“Ready?” The queen murmured, but her voice sounded like she was very far away. I stared into her eyes for one moment longer before nodding sharply.

“ Push .”

My magic sprang to follow her command, as if it had already been pulling at its leash and the word set it loose.

I screwed my eyes shut, but it didn’t matter as white light burned in my brain.

Power that I didn’t know how to command surged from my gut and flowed down my arm with the force of stampeding horses.

When I had thrown rocks or started fires, I had unleashed just a lick of this power, but now it broke free of all constraints. It felt like an avalanche—like a wildfire and a stampede of horses and the strike of lightning all at once.

Something cracked so loud, it echoed through my core, and I couldn’t be sure if it was the blood glass or my own sanity. I followed instructions of the only word echoing in my head and pushed, but an ache ran through my bones as if I had run into an immovable object.

With a growl, I tunneled even deeper into the roiling well at my core, deeper than I had ever dared go.

I let it fill me up, finding even more power surging outside of me: the queen.

I took that too and shoved it at the impenetrable wall penning in my magic.

The queen’s magic surged beside me as she shoved the weight of her will against it.

My eyes remained closed, but I could see the impenetrable wall of the blood glass in my mind’s eye, surrounded by a growing sphere of magic.

The bubble of magic grew and grew but did not burst.

A tear ripped through my mind, and the magic was severed. Lightning flashed behind my eyes, bright even against the burning whiteness, and I screamed.

Pain brought me back into my body as my knees hit stone, the jolt making me bite my tongue hard enough for copper to fill my mouth.

But the screaming didn’t stop.

I wrenched my eyes open. The doors before me looked the same as they always had. The screaming came from beside me, but it had transformed from a horrified shriek into words.

I couldn’t parse out the words though, because every inch of my skin froze over at the sight on the floor beside me.

Queen Ginevra lay crumpled next to me, staring up at the ceiling with dull gray eyes. Blood trickled from her nose and open mouth, and time froze as a single droplet trailed from the corner of her lips to drip on the white linen of her gown puddled beneath her.

“Help! Somebody, help!” Aderyn shouted, already on her knees at the queen’s side, her hands on her face and neck checking for breath, a heartbeat— anything . Her usually steady, logical voice was laced with a pain I had never heard from her, no matter how dire the circumstance.

The surge of power within me fizzled like a half-extinguished fire, and I sensed clearly the spark of life in Aderyn, in an eagle passing by the window outside, even in the riders pounding up the stairs toward Aderyn’s cries.

But from Queen Ginevra, nothing .

Dead.

She was dead .

Because of me.

I had grabbed her magic and pushed it against the barrier when she’d still been so weak.

And I was the one who had pushed for us to retrieve the Heart, even when I knew it would be dangerous.

I had told myself it was to save the desert, but a small selfish part of me had also wished to have the Heart so I could bring Erix back.

I lurched forward, hands grabbing her face, uncaring that my fingers smeared the blood around her mouth and nose.

“No.” The word tore out of me in a broken sob.

I wanted to say more. To demand that she wake up. To scream that this wasn’t the way things were supposed to happen. That I could bring her son home to her if she just lived.

Instead, a wordless roar tore from my throat.

The flow of power within me burst forth, destroying any remaining vestiges of the dam that had kept it at bay since my injury.

The glass in all the lanterns in the room shattered and wind tore in through the window in a horrible, howling burst. Already, lightning crackled in the air, full of the earthy taste of magic.

Aderyn’s gaze shot to me, and her hand flew out to grab my shoulder.

“Keera!”

Somehow, the one word held so much. She didn’t shy away from me, even as I began to shake, but reached out with her other hand to hold both my shoulders.

It wasn’t the touch that could truly ground me in the storm of my magic, but it was enough for me to hold on to for a few seconds—the touch of a friend who had stood by me through my trials giving me a fingerhold on sanity. Enough for me to grit out a few words.

“Don’t let me hurt anybody,” I gasped. “The room—the room under the palace.”

My body heaved in horror even saying the words, but it was all I could do as my sanity was lost in an all-consuming wave .

I was vaguely aware of strong arms wrapping around me, alongside a cacophony of jostling and screaming. I paid no mind, only truly aware of the screeching of power. The only thing keeping my skull from exploding with the intensity of all of it was a tether in my gut that I gripped like a lifeline.

Then a slam, and it was all gone. The magic. The desert. Erix .

I opened my eyes and was greeted only by lifeless gray walls. Then it was my turn to scream and scream, until my voice was gone and I collapsed on the unforgiving floor in exhaustion.