In the shadow of a queen

Chapter 1

Each step toward the central mound had Celaena's blood roaring. The darkness between the stained, ancient stones grew, swirling. It was colder, too. Cold and dry. A stronger darkness than  she had anticipated covered the field. Yet she wouldn't stop, not with Rowan still watching, not when she had so much to do. She didn't dare look too long toward the open doorway and the thing lurking beyond. The darkness hounding her. A lingering shred of pride—stupid, mortal pride—kept her from bolting through the rest of the field.

Running, she remembered, only attracted some predators. So she kept her steps slow and called on every bit of training she'd had, even as the wight slunk closer to the threshold, no more than a ripple of ravenous hunger encased in rags. Yet the wight remained within its mound, even as she came near enough to drag into the barrow, as if it were... hesitating. As if the power scared it to.

She was just passing the barrow when a pulsing, stale bit of air pushed against her ears. This was different than the air she felt previous. That was a more feminine darkness. This felt haunting and evil. As if it was stripping away the light.

Maybe running was a good idea. If magic was the only weapon against wights, then her hands would be useless. Still, the wight lingered beyond the threshold. The strange, dead air pushed against her ears again, a high-pitched ringing wending itself into her head. What sounded like a scream sent her hurrying grass crunching as she gathered every detail she could to wield against whatever assailant lurked nearby.

Treetops swayed in the misty breeze on the other end of the field. It wasn't far. Celaena passed the central mound, cracking her jaw against the ringing in her ears, worse and worse with each step. Even the wight cringed away. It hadn't been hesitating because of her, or Rowan. The circle of dead grass ended a few steps away—just a few. Just a few, and then she could run from whatever it was that could make a wight tremble in fear. And then she saw him. The man standing behind the barrow a woman's shadow not far behind him. Not a wight. She glimpsed only a flash of pale skin, night-dark hair, unfathomable beauty, and an onyx torque around his strong column of a neck, and— Blackness. A wave of it, slamming down on her. Not oblivion but actual dark, as if he'd thrown a blanket over the two of them.

The ground felt grassy, but she couldn't see it. Couldn't see anything. Not beyond, not to the side, not behind. There was only her, the swirling black and an unknown females face. It reached from the darkness as if offering her a hand into the light.

Celaena crouched, biting down on a curse as she scanned the dark surrounding them both. The girl seemed unthreatening in her small stature and innocent face. Whatever he was, despite his shape, he wasn't mortal. In his perfection, in those depthless eyes, there was nothing human. But she was different.

Blood tickled her upper lip—a nosebleed. The pounding in her ears began to drown out her thoughts, any plan, as if her body were repulsed by the very essence of whatever this thing was. The darkness remained, impenetrable, unending. Stop. Breathe. But someone was breathing behind her. Was it the man, or something else? It wasn't the girl. The breathing was louder, closer, and a chill air brushed her nose, her lips, licking along her skin. Running—running was smarter than just waiting. She took several bounding steps that should have taken her toward the edge of the field, but— Nothing. Only endless black and the breathing thing that was closer now, reeking of dust and carrion and another scent, something she hadn't smelled for a lifetime but could never forget, not when it had been coating that room like paint.

Oh, gods. Breath on her neck, snaking up the shell of her ear. She whirled, drawing in what might very well be her last breath, and the world flashed bright. Not with clouds and dead grass. Not with a Fae Prince waiting nearby. The room... This room... The servant woman was screaming. Screaming like a teakettle. There were still puddles just inside the shut windows—windows Celaena herself had sealed the night before when they'd been flapping in the swift and sudden storm. She had thought the bed was wet because of the rain. She'd climbed in because the storm had made her hear such horrible things, made her feel like there was something wrong, like there was someone standing in the corner of her room.