Page 107 of The Witch Queen

We race back to the palace, dodging as the stone griffins dive, their talons rending faces and shredding flesh. Bones snap as the dragon-like gargoyles lunge at Followers and guards alike. One of the beasts veers into our path, causing Jacquetta to stumble. I scramble to help her, but I’m too slow. The stone maiden catches up with us. Her massive, marble arm arches above our heads, preparing to strike.

“Ayleth!” Jacquetta screams.

I hurl my shadows out with all my strength. Darkness pummels into the statue’s torso. The stone maiden freezes mid-swing. I urge myshadows deeper, bent on destroying the monstrous thing. But as my power reaches the statue’s core, I sense a faint rhythm. Almost like a…beating heart, like what I feel when I hold a witch’s latent magic in my hands. But how can that be? The statue possesses no power. It’s carved from stone.

Or it was.

Abruptly, the statue’s eyes darken. The fissures in its body rapidly expand and—with an earsplittingcrack—the whole thing bursts apart. Jacquetta and I cling to each other, my shadows shielding us from the jagged, flying pieces of the statue’s body. Not everyone is so lucky. A nearby guard is impaled by a spear of marble. A Follower is crushed beneath the remains of the maiden’s leg.

“What thefuckis going on?” Jacquetta heaves between breaths.

“I don’t know,” I reply. “But—”

A sharp cry jerks my attention to the right. One of the nearby windows has been smashed out, the remnants of stained glass like broken teeth. And that’s when I see her:Blodwyn.

The princess is near the tree in the center of the chamber, surrounded by Followers. She’s managed to find a sword and is diving and parrying against their attacks. But she won’t last long.

Good,that voice supplies.Let her die.

Maybe I should. But then one of the Followers strikes the princess from behind. She drops to her knees and every nerve in my body screams in outrage. Before I fully realize what I’m doing, I leap through the window, summoning shadows as I go. Followers flood the chamber from every direction. A man charges toward me, sword raised. I send my shadows out, snapping his neck with a swift crack. Blodwyn is just a few feet away now. I can almost—

A menacing groan, like a beast rising from the deep, halts me in my tracks. The massive tree begins to tremble. Glass apples tumble from the branches and burst against the marble floor. I dart out of the way as one of its limbs crashes down in front of me. And then—as though cleaved by an invisible axe—the trunk itself splits down the middle.The living and dead halves of the tree fall away from each other, crushing bodies as they land. I watch in horror as the floor below the tree rips wide. From its depths, inky shadows, like tentacles, slither out of the void. They snake through the chamber, latching onto courtiers or Followers and dragging them into the darkness.

“What on—” I breathe, hardly able to comprehend what I’m seeing.

“Help!”

My senses rush back to me, recognizing Blodwyn’s cry. A tendril of whatever is coming out of the ground has wrapped around her ankle and is reeling her toward the gaping hole. I leap over bodies and debris, just able to snatch her forearms before she’s pulled into the abyss.

“I’m here,” I say. “Hold on!”

I send my shadows to help, but they shrivel away from the force as though they’ve been burned—just like what happened with Nox. And at the Mine.

“Ayleth, please!” Blodwyn begs.

You don’t care about her,that voice again.Just let go. It’s better if she dies.

But in this moment, all I can see in Blodwyn’s panicked gaze is the young girl I used to know. The girlIused to be as well, who neededanyoneto save her. Whatever comes next, I will not let her fall. Gritting my teeth, I pull even harder. But the void pulls as well. My shoulders strain in their sockets. Blodwyn’s hands slip in my grip. Her left falls away entirely. She screams and grapples for purchase. I reach for her, but—

“I’ve got her!”

Another pair of hands grabs Blodwyn’s dangling wrist.

It’sJacquetta.

For an instant, all I can do is stare at the other witch. Why is she helping?

“Come on,” she calls. “Pull!”

Shaking myself out of my stupor, I do as she says. Jacquetta and Ihaul Blodwyn to safety. The princess struggles to her feet, breathless as she stares at the smoking crevasse yawning before us, the chasm seeming to stretch endlessly downward.

“Look!” Jacquetta grips my arm.

At first, I don’t understand what she’s talking about. Then…

Ahandreaches out of the abyss and plants itself on the ground. Then another. And then, like something out of a nightmare, a figure drags itself out of the deep. At first glance, I think it’s a person. But the angles of its body are all wrong. Flesh hangs from its frame, greenish and rotting and so unnatural that my stomach roils. The creature’s yellow eyes sweep over the crowd.

“Enough!” it shouts, its gravelly voice resonating over the chamber.