The Forgotten Kingdom (Skyelorn Chronicles #2)

An Unexpected Ally

When Marithyda managed to fall into a fitful sleep, she opened her eyes and saw Markus. The forest clearing on the castle grounds was brimming with thick white fog, and the sun shone through the trees with a haunting bluish light. He stood there in the middle, handsome and princely as ever.

          She'd been here before many times in her dreams.

          She breathed his name, running over piles of dead leaves and twigs to hold him in her arms. But the moment their skin should have touched, she passed through him. She gasped and spun around to face him, confused.

          "You can't hold me," he said, spreading his arms wide by his sides. That's when Marithyda saw the dark red stain spreading over his chest, covering his hands. "But you'll be able to, soon enough."

In this strange dream world, it was much harder for Marithyda to hide her emotions. Tears started to run down her cheeks as she carefully approached Markus again. He was nearly transparent now, like a phantom. Every time she moved it felt like swimming through an ocean of water.

"Will I be able find you? When I die?" She asked, allowing her voice to quiver. Markus smiled a little and laid a hand over his blood-stained chest, where his heart used to beat. She wished she could feel it one last time.

"I'll always be waiting for you here, Marithyda." He started to back away, disappearing into the shadows.

"Markus, I'm sorry," she choked, but her throat was so tight with tears that it came out like a croak. The phantom Markus floated in and out of visibility as the quality of the light changed. Slowly, another person appeared over Markus's shoulder – a young man with flowing white hair and a roguish smile. Her gut twisted again. Paolin.

And then, on Markus's other side was the shadow of a woman with honey-blond hair and sinister eyes, holding a glittering sword at her side. Taileen.

All at once Marithyda remembered that she was dreaming.

Gasping, she bolted upright on the unforgiving floor of the dungeon. Tears streamed from her eyes, and the bruises on her throat ached worse than ever. She leaned up against the nearest wall and closed her eyes, trying to gather herself. In the stillness and quiet she became acutely aware of her panicked breaths, the chill that soaked into her bones from the freezing cold stone.

Despite Marithyda's efforts to appear apathetic, she was starting to realize something: she was afraid of dying. Nothing in this life scared her, because she was just about the most powerful person in Karvoth. But what happened after?

Most Karvothians believed in Volturnius, the creator of all things, whose domain was the Eternal Sea that surrounded Karvoth. It was said that when you pass on, you live there forever with everyone else who'd died before you. Maybe this was a comforting thought to children and the elderly, but Marithyda was always a skeptic. The King didn't want anyone traveling on the seas because he wanted to keep them trapped in his kingdom, not because it was sacred. As much as she wanted to, she wasn't sure she'd ever see Markus again outside of her feverish dreams.

Marithyda's gaze traveled over to the little notch in the wall that connected to Sabin's cell. She hadn't yet told him about their impending execution. She kept telling herself that he was probably listening in on the King's conversation with her the whole time anyways, but really she just didn't have the heart. Why should he have to suffer for her personal feud with the King? Yet another thing to add to her running list of reasons to hate the royal family: innocent people always got hurt.

As if on cue, Marithyda heard Sabin's quiet voice through the hole in the wall. She summoned what remained of her energy and crawled over; neither of them had been fed or given water in the last few days, and it was starting to seriously take a toll. Execution or not, they probably wouldn't last another week in these conditions.