Page 153 of The Witch Queen

You swore to us,he says, something low and lethal in his voice.Bound yourself.

“I know. But all this crown has brought us is bloodshed. Ruin. That isn’t who I want to be. Let’s choose a different path, Shade. Together.”

My Huntsman pauses, his shadows curling around him, uncertain. For a moment, I think I’ve reached him. The fire in his gaze dulls in the slightest. But then…

So be it,he replies.

His grip tightens around Della’s heart. Black fissures expand through its surface, like glass cracking. Della screams where she’s huddled on the ground.

“Wait!” I cry. “Shade, don’t!”

On instinct, I send my shadows on my Huntsman. But they…don’t come.

I see them, just out of my reach, but they refuse to heed my call. Even my own power dims inside my chest, like a heartbeat growing fainter.

“What’s happening?” I ask, horrifed. “What have you done?”

In Shade’s hand, Della’s orb of magic shrivels to a husk. The other witch utters a last, despairing whimper, and then stills.

We will have our vengeance,Shade rasps.If you will not get it for us, then we shall serve another. The true queen.

Thetrue queen.

But he can’t mean—

As if in answer, the ground begins to quake. Wind gusts around us, so fierce that the bones of the Sanctum groan under its pressure. Tree branches lash back and forth, startled birds flying from their nests as they’re swept away.

“What is this?” Selene shouts over the tumult. “What’s going on?”

Before I can do anything to warn them, the earth splits beneath ourfeet. A chasm, just like what I witnessed in the Great Hall, wrenches open and a body drags itself out of the darkness, one that is twisted and rotten and wrong.

The lost princess.

The other witches freeze where they stand, gaping at the creature in abject horror. And I know in this moment that they did not summon her. That they’re as powerless as I am. Power that shrinks even further as I watch Shade approach the corpse-like creature and present her with thecrown.She wraps her skeletal fingers around the Bloodstones and places it on her head with a smile that chills my blood.

“Well,” she says in that croaking voice. “Now that this has been returned to me, let us see if we can manage the rest. Huntsman, bring me their hearts.”

Shade’s eyes meet mine, a hunger I do not recognize burning in their depths.

Yes, my queen,he rasps.

This time, I know he does not mean me.

In a blur of darkness, Shade lunges. I reach for my shadows, but it’s useless. They will not obey. Shade barrels toward me and I brace for the blow. For my own heart to be ripped free of its moorings. Instead, a roar splits between us, followed by a hulking shape.Nox.I barely have enough time to leap out of the way before the Nevenwolf lands, squaring off against Shade. Confusion tangles my thoughts. If I can’t command the shadows, why has Nox come to my defense? The Nevenwolf looks back at me and chuffs, jerking his head toward the forest.

I don’t need to be told twice. I turn on my heel, locate Jacquetta in the chaos, and race in her direction.

“Come on!” I shout, grabbing her hand and pulling her along withme.

We sprint together through the Sanctum’s gate. But we don’t get far. Directly ahead of us, the trees begin to tremble. Wood cracks and groans. And then, to my complete astonishment, the roots of the trees rip themselves out of the ground. They slap back down onto the earth, find purchase, and raise the trunks up with them so it appears asthough an army of massive, monstrous spiders towers above us. The trees give themselves a shake, leaves falling from their branches. And then they charge.

Horror climbs up my throat.

The trees’ long roots travel like tentacles, limbs sweeping down to pluck bodies like they’re no more than toys. A gray oak scoops a man up and neatly snaps him in two, then flings the mangled pieces of his corpse away.

“This way!” I shout, veering in the other direction.

Jacquetta doesn’t follow. “Mother!”