There never had been.
For the first time she noticed the pile of bones. The darkened earth. Walls splattered with entrails and God only knew what over the millennia. A circle of shimmering gemstones was embedded deep in the earth. She’d crossed them.
She looked back at Envy.
He was on the other side, pounding his fist against a wall she couldn’t see.
Hot breath caressed her neck. A tongue darted out.
She realized with growing horror that the blood had been real.
“Little deceiver, you may only pass once the tithe has been paid,” Abyssus crooned softly. “Should we take it from the prince?”
“No.”
“Mm.” Abyssus canted his head. “No. I do not enjoy that word.”
She rushed forward, nearly tripping over her feet as she tried to cross the line. It sizzled over her skin, hissing and tossed her back. She scrambled on her backside, crawling away from the ancient being who now stood over her, surveying her with growing intrigue.
He crouched in front of her, golden skin glowing.
“Did you truly believe you wouldn’t be tested?” he purred. “That you would simply walk back, be given all that you seek? We both know that’s not the way of kings. Most especially dark ones.”
Camilla froze, her mouth dry.
Abyssus had removed all their surroundings again, set them hovering in a suspended state of nothing. Darkness devoured her hands, tendrils curling over her where she remained sprawled on the ground. Or what had once been the ground.
“It’s when we’re trapped in complete darkness that our true selves are revealed.”
His otherworldly glow winked out.
“Who are you when the world fades away? What are you made of? How strong is your mind, your will, your capacity to fight? When there is nothing, who do you become?”
He was pressing her, taunting her, all the while the darkness shadowed all. Blackness was a color she knew; it had form, variation. This was the absence of all. No color. No matter. Her eyes were open—closing them didn’t make any shift in the endless void she was trapped in.
“What do you fear above all, little Fae?”
“I don’t know!”
“Mm. Look deeper.”
Then even his presence was gone.
There was truly nothing.
No spark. No life. No joy or pain. No past or present, no future she could ever hope for or dream of. No way out of this endless abyss that had swallowed the world.
But there was fear.
Camilla felt it pressing into her chest, stealing what little air remained. The darkness learned her, carved her open, tasted what her soul was made of. Decided to play.
It sipped from her fear, drank down her cries, indulged in the sorrow that threatened to trap her mind forever.
Time lost all meaning. There were no seconds or minutes or hours. They were constructs that belonged to civilizations, and Camilla was so far removed from anyone else, was so alone.
“There.” Abyssus’s voice drifted over her on a dark wind. “We have found your test.”
Just as suddenly as the abyss appeared, it was gone.
Camilla was on her hands and knees, panting. She glanced up at the cave, the walls dancing with shadows, the dirt packed hard beneath her. Tears streamed down her face.
She swiped at her nose, then sat back.
Abyssus was gone, the circle of gemstones falling below the surface, freeing her.
Camilla drew in a deep breath, then hauled herself to her feet. She gave herself another moment to collect her emotions, then turned.
Envy was nowhere to be seen.
“Envy?” she called out, voice echoing softly.
There was no response, no sound aside from her own voice.
“Abyssus?”
She felt him stir in the space around her, incorporeal.
“Where is the prince?”
Silence stretched between them.
“Go to the Twin Pillars,” he whispered. “You’ll find your answer there. If it’s not too late.”
A different sort of fear gripped Camilla. “How long have I been gone?”
“To some… it might feel like decades. Or months. But it has only been a few days according to the laws of this realm, little deceiver. Run. The last clue awaits, but the king left this message for you.”
Days. She’d lost days to the abyss. Critical time as the game grew closer to the end.
Had Envy left her and solved the next clue, or had something darker happened to him?
Camilla took the folded parchment from Abyssus, stomach twisting.
“Solve the final clue before the sun sets. Or lose your talent forever.”
Camilla swore. They were underground; she had no idea what time it was.
“Abyssus! How long before sun sets tonight?”
“Thirty mortal minutes, maybe less.”
Without wasting another moment, Camilla plunged down the tunnel, and ran as hard and fast as her feet would carry her.
FIFTY-SIX
ENVY SLUMPED AGAINST the column on the edge of the underground site of the Twin Pillars, his eyes drifting shut from the latest wave of pain. The magical chains that bound his wrists and ankles burned his flesh, searing it nearly to the bone.
Days had passed since he’d been imprisoned in the underground cathedral by Abyssus.
As far as prisons went, Envy supposed it could be worse.
The cavern was a beautiful mix of natural rock formation and demon-made ingenuity. The soaring walls were hewn from the natural rock found that far underground, while the floor had been laid with black marble tiles. The ceiling was reinforced with gold arches, the metal forming a Gothic architectural element that made one stop and admire it.
Even when one was magically shackled and beaten.
The moment they had passed over the ward Abyssus set up, Envy had been spit out at the Twin Pillars, chained and bound by magic across from them. It was the worst sort of fate—to be in the place where his next clue was and to be wholly unable to get there and solve it.
Then Vexley appeared.
And he’d changed.
The gleaming fangs and crimson eyes were badges of honor for the fool.
He now wore his sadism proudly instead of hiding behind his mortal veneer of debauchery. Envy hated him either way.
The newly turned vampire kicked him in the side. Bones snapped. He felt a fragment of broken rib pierce his lung, his breath wheezing out from the impact.
Envy spit blood onto the marble floor, running his tongue over his teeth, tasting the fragrant ichor that ran through his veins.
“You missed a rib.”
Vexley hauled off and kicked him with his newfound strength.
Pain seized Envy, but he gritted his teeth, defiant.
“Surely you can do better than that.”
“Are you out of your damned mind?” Vexley said, lunging forward. “I am a god now.”
A god of idiocy.
Envy yanked his chain taut at the last second and slumped out of the way, the vampire’s fist coming down on the link instead of his head. The chain heaved but didn’t break. Envy dragged himself back to a sitting position, breath shallow.