Page 1 of Lady of Starfire (Lady of Darkness #5)

Nearly Twenty-One Years Ago

The Water Prince eyed the cloaked stranger carefully before his icy blue eyes went back to his queen. “You are sure about this, your Majesty? I do not mind accompanying you.”

Eliné reached out, squeezing his fingers gently. “We will be fine, Prince. No need to worry yourself …or Sorin.”

The implication was clear. Do not tell the Fire Prince that she was visiting the Underwater Prison with an unknown visitor. Briar nodded, and the Fae Queen turned, descending a set of stairs. The cloaked figure walked beside her, her footfalls as silent as her own.

When they had descended several levels beneath the sea, the stranger pulled her hood back. Silver eyes settled on the Fae Queen. A circlet of stars was on the female’s brow, shadows drifting around them as if they were in the night sky itself.

“You are beloved,” the female said.

“I am close with all the Fae Royalty,” Eliné answered. “But they have become increasingly protective of me after Esmeray killed Henna.”

“Paja reported you took care of Esmeray for her betrayal.”

Eliné hid her wince at what she’d had to do to her own sister. “I did. No one else knows.”

“Good.”

They were nearing their destination when Eliné dared to speak again. “Why now, my Lady?”

The female turned to look at her once more, silver hair slipping free of the cloak and falling over her shoulder.

It reached nearly to her waist. “I have brought much upon this world, Eliné,” she replied.

“You know this. My son has unknowingly done the same. Our time here has come to an end. It must. This world does not deserve to burn. I will make the necessary sacrifices to ensure it does not.”

“And Tethys?” Eliné asked softly, pausing at the top of a set of stairs that would lead them to the prisoner they had come to see. She hadn’t been to this part of the prison in centuries.

“He made sacrifices of his own to see this through,” the female answered, her tone faltering the smallest amount when she spoke of her husband.

Eliné nodded, wanting to comfort the one she served, but she knew the gesture would be unwelcome. She knew the female better than most. She had been serving her for centuries. “Have more come?”

“More have come. Some never left. They have found a way to hide, even from me. Achaz’s doing, I am sure.” She smoothed a hand along her cloak before she said, “Enough of this.”

She moved ahead of Eliné, and the Fae Queen scrambled to catch up to her sovereign. It had been nearly nine centuries since she had seen the female, but it had been half that many since she and her sister, Henna, had come to ask for aid from the being they were about to see.

The sconces along the wall across from the cell flickered when they reached the base of the stairs.

The female behind the bars was already on her feet.

Lank black hair framed a gaunt face, but vibrant violet eyes glittered as she stared back at them.

She wore a beige shift, and her bare feet were covered with dirt and grime.

“Gehenna,” her sovereign greeted tersely.

“Saylah,” the prisoner purred. “Goddess of the night and shadows.” She moved forward, eyes falling to the goddess’s torso before they moved back up to her face.

A serpentine smile formed that had Eliné remembering exactly why she did not visit the Sorceress unless absolutely necessary. “You have finally come to bargain.”

“Or I have finally come to kill you,” Saylah said, taking a single step forward.

“Not when I still have something you need,” Gehenna replied, beginning to pace in her cell. She stopped suddenly, spinning back to face them. “What are you going to give me, Saylah, daughter of the traitorous ones?”

“Perhaps I will let you keep your life when this is over,” Saylah said coldly.

“Considering you cannot kill me without every part of the spell required to do so, I will take my chances. I want something else.” Again the Sorceress’s eyes flicked down to Saylah’s belly.

Eliné stood back, letting Saylah deal with the Sorceress.

She and her sisters had followed the goddess here long before the Everlasting War had found its way to this world.

The people here did not realize the Great War fought in their lands was just another battle in something much bigger than their little world.

The beings of these lands did not have a name for their world, but the other realms called it Halaya.

Saylah had fled here when Achaz began hunting for her and her brother, Temural, god of the wild and untamed, only to find the world inhabited by Legacy and Fae alike, among other beings.

Finding Fae and mortals here was not unusual, but finding Legacy here had taken them all by surprise.

There had been a treaty in place among the gods long before Saylah had been born that no more Legacy would be created.

Apparently none of the gods had followed their own decrees. That hadn’t surprised the Fae sisters at all.

“You will benefit from finding the lock as much as I will, Gehenna,” Saylah said sharply. “Without it we are both trapped here. Achaz cannot come for you.”

Gehenna stepped up to the bars, her long fingers wrapping around them, and she bit back the hiss of discomfort at the shirastone. It wouldn’t affect her like nightstone would, but it would not feel pleasant by any means. “I gave it to Moranna to play with.”

“You are lying,” Saylah hissed.

Gehenna tipped her head back, laughing at the stone ceiling. “I am not.”

Saylah stepped closer, shadows coiling around her fingers.

No one else may be able to access their magic this deep in the prison, but she was a goddess.

The only one in this world. The Sorceress might have been strong enough to access her power at one point in time had her gifts not been stripped from her.

As for Blood Magic, she would need blood to access that power.

Her cell was spelled to keep her from accessing her own blood, and no one came close enough to the bars to give her any opportunity to take what didn’t belong to her.

“Why would you give it to her?” Saylah asked.

“To keep it from you, of course,” Gehenna said, her laughter stopping abruptly. “I told you that you would regret locking me in here.”

“She is dead.”

“I felt the world shudder when she died,” Gehenna replied, stepping back from the bars.

“By giving it to her you doomed us both, you impudent fool,” Saylah snarled, unclasping her cloak. She held it out to Eliné when she removed it from her shoulders, not bothering to look at the only remaining Fae Queen.

The goddess stood in a gown as black as the night she’d arrived in. The sleeves and bodice were lace, and she pushed the sleeves up as shadows seeped from her skin. Her eyes were glowing brightly, like stars in the darkness, and she was hovering above the ground on a cloud of black mist.

Gehenna took one step back. Eliné could see the slight tremor in her limbs, but the deity lifted her chin, violet eyes filled with hatred. “You cannot kill me, Saylah. I am protected by him. I am his most favored.”

“You were a means to an end,” the goddess sneered.

“Now who is telling lies?” Gehenna snapped.

A wicked smirk curled on Saylah’s lips, and Eliné stepped back, pressing her back to the wall. She was loyal to the goddess, but all the gods and goddesses had irrational tempers. They were fickle beings, and she had seen what could happen when they were denied.

The entire Everlasting War was because a god could not have what he so desperately coveted.

“I may not be able to kill you, Gehenna, but I can make you wish for the After,” Saylah said far too calmly. “Tell me where the lock is hidden.”

“I do not know,” Gehenna said, panic seeping into her tone.

“Do not test me,” Saylah said, a shadowy mist covering the entire dust-covered floor now. “I have sacrificed much to come to you. You do not wish to be on the receiving end of my wrath this night, daughter of Zinta.”

“I do not know where it rests,” Gehenna said, having backed up as far as she could go in her cell. “I do not know where she hid it.”

“But you know how to find it,” Saylah countered. “You would not have given it to her without some way of retrieving it.”

“I do not have my spell book. You fools took it from me when you put me in here. I cannot give you what you seek,” Gehenna spat. “And even if I could, only one born of the gods and Chaos who holds Fae elements can find it.”

“There is no such being,” Saylah snapped, her shadows rising around her, filtering between the bars of the cell.

“I know,” Gehenna shrieked, fingers clawing at the wall behind her. “That is why I gave the lock to Moranna. She was trying to create such a being.”

“You were both fools.”

“But yours can do it!” Gehenna wailed as a shadow wrapped around her ankle. “One of yours can do it if you are willing to pay the cost.”

“Explain yourself,” the goddess demanded, her shadows pausing.

Eliné listened as Gehenna told Saylah what would be required to find the lock.

What the cost would be to maintain the balance of such a feat of magic.

What trades would need to be made to ensure this world and its inhabitants lived.

What sacrifices would be required to unlock the gateway that would allow them to leave, to keep Achaz’s wrath from this realm.

And as they left the chamber that housed the Sorceress, Saylah’s hand pressed to her belly. The goddess of night and shadows said nothing until they were several halls and two levels away from Gehenna. She stopped then, stepping into a darkened alcove.

“My Lady?” Eliné asked, tentatively following her into the secluded space.

The goddess had one palm pressed to the wall, as though she were trying to steady herself. Her head was down, her breathing rapid, bordering on hyperventilating. When she lifted her gaze to the Fae Queen’s, tears glimmered in her silver eyes.

“You will need to prepare her,” Saylah said. “I cannot be away from the gateway long enough to do so.”

Eliné swallowed thickly, nodding her head. “Of course, my Lady. Tell me what you require.”

Saylah’s gaze darted to the side, fixating on the stone of the Underwater Prison. She was quiet for several minutes before she met her eyes once more. “Love her, Eliné. Love her in the way I wish to and cannot, but make sure she is prepared to fulfill her destiny.”