Page 88 of Shadow Queen
“Naavi,” Sana hissed to quiet her.
Norah gaped at her in horror. “You took them?”
The pain in Naavi’s eyes answered for her.
Norah let out a quivering breath. “Why?”
The Wild woman shook her head. “That’s not an easy question to answer.”
“Try!” Norah pleaded, her eyes welling.
Sana glared at Mikael and the commander. “Enough of this foolishness,” she told Naavi angrily. “Be done with them.”
“Please!” Norah begged.
“Sister,” Naavi said softly to Sana, “if this is possible—”
“It’s not.”
“We must make certain. And”—she looked at Alexander—“do you not want answers about him? We should take them to the pool. The water will show us.”
Sana eyed Alexander, then Norah.
“Sana,” Naavi pleaded.
Clearly, Sana held more power. Was Sana queen of the Wild? Was there such a thing? Why didn’t she want to help?
Sana sighed, relenting. “Only for answers,” she said sharply.
Naavi let out a breath and turned back to Norah. “Come. There is much to talk about.”
Norah’s relief brought a wave of emotion, but she swallowed it back.
“But not them,” Naavi said, looking back to Mikael and Soren.
“Please,” Norah asked softly. “They mean no harm, and they brought me all this way.”
Naavi looked at Sana, and Sana looked at Mikael and Soren. Then Sana said, “I won’t kill the Shadow King and his fiend so long as they don’t remind me they’re here.”
The commander snorted, and Norah shot him a daggered look. Mikael grimaced as he stood upright.
The sisters turned and started along a small path.
Norah let out a breath. Whatever drove the hate for the Shadowmen ran deep here. She clutched Mikael as he started forward, and they followed the sisters farther into the forest, and deeper into the Wild.
Chapter twenty-five
TheWildwashauntinglybeautiful, with long tendrils of earthy binds falling from the trees and into the shadowy mist of the forest floor.
A movement to her right caught Norah’s attention, and she looked to see a fox, a white fox. She smiled. “It’s you,” she called incredulously.
“He’s missed you,” the small, horned woman said.
Her comment confused Norah, but before she could ask more, they came to a large tree with reptilian roots wound thick at its base. A knotty cleft sat in its center, and Sana climbed gracefully upward and slipped through. Naavi followed. Norah stepped into the cleft of the tree and looked back at the men—they’d have trouble getting through. Alexander was already pulling off his breastplate. He gave her a nod, and she turned back to the tree and slipped through the gap.
As she stepped into the darkness, she caught her breath as it opened into a grand cathedral. Tall trees lined the sides like pillared walls, coming to an arched peak, with medallions of stained glass set deep into the woven branches, like windows. Lights hung like stars strung from above, filling the hall with an enchanted glow.
Norah looked back to see how the men were faring. Alexander and Caspian had made it through, but both were without their armor. And then Mikael showed, surprisingly.
