(Skeleton Key) Princess of the Damned (11 page)

"Do you have brothers and sisters?" she asked quietly as they fought their way through the thorns surrounding the mountains.

"No," he answered just as quietly, clearly realizing that to make noise would bring the nightmares. "My parents were never able to have more. I'm it."

Her decision was sealed with his words. Hope died with it.

But he could never know that. She forced a smile and prayed the weak light of the sun didn't show him how false it was.
I have to let him go.

Before she let him go, though, she had to get him back to the mirror. "Do you think you can run?" she asked, because they were free of the thorns.

He'd been staring at the ground in front of them, focusing on placing one foot in front of the other. He raised his head, and the look on his face clearly said he couldn't. But this boy, he seemed to not know the word can't. She watched him gather his strength, pulling from deep within his soul, and he nodded. "Yes."

Eiress checked to make sure Kaida was holding on tightly, and without releasing Landon's hand, she started to run. He ran with her, keeping pace but not easily. It hurt him, she could hear it in his breathing, feel the pain emanate from his soul, as she'd done a thousand times through the mirror. She might not know all his hopes and dreams and fears, but she knew his soul.

That told her everything she needed.

She watched the sun sink lower and the shadows grow longer. The castle loomed in the distance, seemingly drenched in blood and darkness. She stumbled to a stop, and Landon gratefully stopped next to her, dropping to one knee. "Are you alright?" she asked, crouching next to him.

He nodded but didn't say anything, breathing hard. When he raised his head, his face was white, his lips pulled tight with pain. She didn't have to be a doctor to know that he was done running.

Eiress had spent a lifetime learning to protect herself, to take care of herself. She didn't know what to do now, to save him. Especially when half her soul was begging to keep him there with her.

The sun sank lower.

"The monsters…" Landon gasped.

Eiress looked up, away from his pain-filled eyes, past his wild, dark hair. He'd seen them before she had.

Now they were surrounded.

"It's okay. I'll—I'll take care of them. Just stay still."

He nodded, but as soon as she had turned her back on him to face this new threat, she heard him climbing to his feet, and she almost smiled, thinking again that
can't
wasn't in his vocabulary.

The nightmares inched closer. She saw a clown with long, sharp teeth. She saw a Taraxippus, claws reaching for her soul. There were shadow demons and grotesque animals with jaws gaping and red, glowing eyes. Too many for her to fight alone.

"You're not alone," Landon said quietly by her side. "I'm here, Eiress."

She glanced at him sideways and nodded, fear making her throat tight. She searched through the depths of her courage, searching for the strength that would protect them. As the nightmares leaped, anxious for their blood, as Kaida uncurled from her arm and blew little flames, as Landon raised his club…

She found it.

She screamed, like a banshee, and it echoed through the night. The monsters shattered, raining down like shards of black night. Those not torn apart tried to run, with their sharp claws and sharp teeth and terrified hearts.

Eiress went after them.

She had to clear a path to the castle. There was no more time for stops. Landon wasn't going to make it unless she did everything in her power to get them there safely, and this was in her power.

Kaida dropped from her arm and ran back toward Landon, but Eiress kept running, kept screaming, feeling the power radiating from her in waves, watching from outside herself as the nightmares burst into black and gray flames.

And finally, when the path was clear, the nightmares realized what she could do and scrambled to get far, far away from her, or maybe to find bigger nightmares to come after her with. She didn't know, but finally, she felt her soul quiet, and the screaming stopped, and she turned and ran back to Landon.

At first, she thought he was just resting. That's what her desperate mind tried to make her believe. He was hurt, and he was resting. But Kaida was running the length of Landon in panicked circles, screeching, breath coming in smoky gasps.

Eiress fell to her knees next to him. "Landon? Landon?" she whispered, because that was all her voice would give her.

The nightmares.

The nightmares had gotten him.

While she'd chased down their brothers, they'd circled around and gone after Landon.

Heart in her throat, she rolled him over, onto his back, and cradled his head in her lap. "Landon? Please, please…please?"

"It's…it's okay, Eiress." Landon gasped, and blood, red blood like hers and not gray and black like everything here, spilled from the corner of his lips and traced its way to his jaw. "But I have to tell you…before you go…"

"No! Landon, I'm not leaving you! You'll be okay. We just have to—we just have to—" Have to what? What could she do?

"Eiress, I love you. I've always…loved…you. Go…through the—the mirror. Take my—my place." His eyes slid closed.

"Landon! Landon, no! Come back, please—please don't leave me." She bent her head over his, her long red hair falling around them like a curtain, like she could block the world out and keep him here with her.

But she couldn't.

She'd left him, high on her own power, and now he was dead, and it was all her fault.

His soul, his beautiful, bright soul, it did not belong in a place like this, but now it was doomed here.

Forever.

E
IRESS STAYED LIKE THAT, CURLED AROUND
him on the cold, damp ground, for hours. The sun sank, the moon rose, and then the sun followed it. She could feel the frenzied energy of the souls, and realized belatedly that Elizabeth and Mary would not have opened the gate. The lost spirits had been granted a night's reprieve, and they were growing in strength. Another night like that, and they might try to overthrow the castle. They might break Mary's spell and attack her royal court.

Eiress couldn't seem to care.

She cried until there were no more tears, and her eyes burned so badly she couldn't keep them open. She relived every moment with him, in the short time they'd had, every conversation, every touch. When those were burned into her memory, never to be forgotten, she went back further, to every time she'd felt him at the mirror, every time he'd lent her his strength, every time he'd soothed her with his compassion.

And now he was gone, and she didn't know what to do without him.

There was no hope left. No light. Nothing.

She realized, as the sun started to set again, that her hair was no longer red. It had turned black, and she wasn't even sure when.

She leaned up on an elbow, used her skirts to wipe the blood from his face. She brushed his brown hair back from his forehead, and gently kissed everywhere her fingers touched. His eyes, his cheeks, his cold, cold mouth. And she decided she would stay here with him, always.

Likewise, Kaida hadn't moved from Landon's chest, as if he thought keeping Landon's heart warm would make it beat again. She'd never seen Kaida cry before, but tears soaked the tiny dragon's scales now, and tremors shook the little body. "It's my fault," Eiress whispered. Her voice shocked her—it sounded old, and raspy. Like Mary's. Like brittle leaves rolling across a desert wash.

This was what she became, without Landon.

Another night spent sobbing, unable to move, unable to find the will to do anything but stay by Landon's side.

Another night of the lost souls gaining power.

It wasn't until the morning that she truly realized how much danger she was putting the world in. If the souls found a way to fight back, or…or escape…or whatever they seemed to be trying to do, Landon's parents would be in danger. Her mother was dead, but maybe her brother—maybe her brother Kaida—was still alive. She had to open the gates. And then she would blow them to pieces so no one could ever close them again.

Then, she'd go after the castle, and Mary.

She rose stiffly to her feet, brushing her skirts, dried hard with blood, out of the way.

Landon's blood.

She refused to leave him. She picked him up, and with slow, determined steps, carried him all the way to the castle. Elizabeth didn't meet her at the doors. Vlad didn't announce her presence. Mary didn't scream through the halls.

They were hiding.

But whether they were hiding from her or the souls, she didn't know.

The spirits were swarming the castle now. The ball would start soon. Eiress took Landon to her room, laid him on her bed. Pulled a blanket over him so she could pretend he was sleeping.

"Protect him, Kaida. Better than I did," she whispered as she slid her crown in place in her black hair and turned to go. She glanced back with one last sob, and then shut the door.

Souls were thick in the halls, reaching for her, begging her to dance. She ignored them all, ignored their horrific memories. They couldn't hurt her anymore. Eiress's greatest fear was losing hope. Landon was hope, and he was gone. She'd lost him, and all hope. There was nothing more to be afraid of. She felt tears soak her cheeks, but she kept her head up and walked through the damned to the ballroom.

Vlad met her at the door, eyes wide with horror, nearly torn to shreds by the powerful souls in the room behind him. Eiress barely noticed. She swept past him, toward the gate. It wasn't until she'd passed her throne that she realized…

Only one throne was occupied.

She froze, and then turned slowly back toward Elizabeth. The woman's beautiful hair was torn from her head. Her face was a bloody, blackened mess. The souls had gotten to her, too. "Where's Mary?" Eiress asked.

"She left us." Black tears slid down Elizabeth's wounded cheeks. "She left us here with this." She swept her hand toward the sea of evil below them. "She left and you left—"

"What do you mean, she left us?" Eiress asked with dawning horror.

"Your
friend
came through the mirror and unlocked the chains with this." Elizabeth tossed her a key, and Eiress caught it and held it tight to her chest. "And Mary was free to go. So she left. After everything I've done for her, she
left
me!" Elizabeth screamed, her claw-like hands tearing at the throne's arms, at her dress, at her ravaged skin. "She left me!"

Eiress couldn't breathe. The absolute and total horror of what Elizabeth had said nearly stopped her heart.

Mary was alive, and she'd escaped the Isle.

Even if Landon had made it back in time, he would have been trapped here, because Mary had taken his spot and gone through the mirror. Now she was free to unleash her fury on the world.

Eiress moaned, her knees almost giving out beneath her. She fought to remain standing as Elizabeth sobbed and wailed about Mary's broken promises. All Eiress could do was stare in horror.

It doesn't matter. You have a job to do.

She wasn't sure if it was her voice she was hearing or Landon's, or maybe her mother's? Or maybe all of them combined, beating inside her chest, giving her the strength to get up. "Where are you going?" Elizabeth cried. "Why are you leaving me?"

Eiress ignored her, stumbling away from the thrones, toward the gates. It was like wading chest deep through quicksand, and she was drowning. Only the voices in her heart kept her going, closer and closer to the gates. She would blow them up, watch the powerful souls get sucked down to hell, and then she would…

Would what? Would she blow up the Isle while Mary was free in the world?

It didn't matter. Gate first. She would figure out what to do next, after.

Step by step, she made her way across the ballroom, Elizabeth's screams in the background, Vlad wailing in pain as the souls tore at him. They tore at Eiress, too, but she didn't feel it. She didn't feel anything, actually.

Except…

Warmth.

And light.

Eiress froze, turning slowly toward the ballroom doors. There, among all the darkness and sin, the swirling never-ending shadows, there was a light.

It moved closer, and although it didn't have Landon's face, she recognized the soul she loved so much. Bright, glittering in the darkness like a star. It didn't belong here. Instead of horror and pain, it was hope and dreams and determination.

Landon.

Eiress didn't hesitate. She fought her way through the souls toward him. Elizabeth's screaming had stopped and now her mouth hung agape. Never before had a bright soul entered these unholy halls. The darkness around him shied away, as if the light burned them.

Eiress held out her hand, knowing full well that she was damning herself. It didn't matter. She would allow her soul to be thrown into the depths of hell a thousand times to save him. "Dance with me."

Landon had no choice. She saw the turmoil in him, the need to stop his hand from taking hers, when the laws of the Isle forced him to. He fought it, her determined hero who'd never met the word
can't
. She would have smiled, if she had any smiles left. Finally, the laws won, and Landon gripped her fingers, slid his arm around her waist, and she could almost, almost feel his touch through his soul. The warmth, the light, flowed through him to her, and she was overcome with all his memories—just as she was with the touch of the evil souls, but his memories were beautiful. Playing football with his parents, helping his mom score a touchdown because she was half the size of his dad. Saving the stove from his mother's attempt at cooking. Riding a bike. Watching Eiress in the mirror.