Page 3 of The Witch Queen

Shadows mass around me, feeding off my energy.

Mother pales at the sight of them. “What is this?”

“Just what it looks like,” I reply. “Shadows.Myshadows.”

“Yours?” She echoes. “But they can’t be. Unless…”

“Unless I bound myself to Malum,” I finish for her. The shadows spread behind me like wings. I lift my chin, savoring the feel of them. Of the power coursing through my veins. “Which is what I did—after I broke the Veil.”

Horror twists Mother’s features. She looks at me like she’s seeing me for the first time. And it feels good to have her cornered. To finally be the one in control. Mother must sense the shift as well. And she does not appreciate it.

“No,” she snaps. “I will not allow this. We’re leaving.Now.”

She snatches my forearm and attempts to drag me away.

DoNOTtouch her.

The voice lashes through the chamber.

Mother halts as if struck. “What was that?”

In answer, shadows slither across the floor and cobble themselves together. The mass of darkness stretches and divides until it forms a towering figure, one at least two heads taller than I am. Shadows curl like smoke from its limbs, like the shadow women I summoned to terrorize Callen in Ignatius’s lair. But this figure is far more solid. Far more alive. His eyes glow like embers as they meet mine. I should probably be terrified, but I’m not. Instead, I feel a sense of kinship. Like I have been waiting for this moment, and this creature, for a long time.

“Who are you?” I ask, my own voice barely above a whisper.

The creature dips his chin.I am called Shade.

Shadows drift from his form and wrap around me, brushing gently against my skin. And I swear that I can feel something like reverence radiating from their touch.

“Ayleth.” Mother jolts me out of my trance. “Get away from thatthing.It—”

In a single fluid motion, the shadow creature’s fist pummels into Mother’s chest. She howls, her knees buckling, and sinks to the floor. Shade’s hand twists, then slides free of her body. Buried within his palm is a pulsing crimson orb.

For you, my queen.

He glides closer and slips the orb into my hands. It is warm and shimmering and I know what it is as soon as it touches my skin: Mother’s latent magic. The final dregs of power she retained after the Veil fell. The kind all witches possess from birth.

Shade’s red eyes glitter.Destroy it.

“Don’t!” Mother begs, looking up at me. “It will kill me. Please, Ayleth!”

But what do I care if she dies? Mother deserves this fate. Desire rushes up inside me, urging me on. Shadows press closer, awaiting my command. Still, something holds me back.

“Death is too quick,” I say to Shade.

Though his face is largely featureless, I sense that he smiles. One of his shadows drifts over to the Bloodstone crown. It’s…glowing.

Then take it,Shade says.Lock it away, as they did to us.

At first, I’m unsure what he means. But then I remember—

The Bloodstones were forged of the Ancients’ latent magic. They’re what held the Veil and kept Malum back for past centuries. Before I shattered them, Ignatius runed the stones so that they would absorb a witch’s power. Even now, the broken pieces hum—like calling to like.

It must be undone.

Rhea’s words resound in my mind. At the time, I assumed she meant the Veil. But my work is not finished. Not yet. I look to Shade. He nods, his shadows weaving around him.

Yes,he rasps.From the darkness, will riseourqueen.