A Queen Conflicted (Alys Book #3)

Chapter 47

The tunnel was long; mush longer than Endolynn had anticipated. Her body protested as she made herself keep moving forward. Within the first minute, she tripped and dropped the torch. The light smothered out immediately, encasing the queen in darkness.

Endolynn was slow to stand to her feet again, but she made herself move into the blackness, hands on the freezing, hard dirt walls on either side of her to help guide her.

Every once and a while, she paused to listen for any signs of Dastrehan up ahead, but everything was silent.

She tried not to let her fears grasp hold of her mind and attention, but the longer the tunnel went on without any sign of her husband, the more Endolynn found she was starting to panic.

What if Leoford had been waiting for Dastrehan in this darkness? Waiting to attack him and take him by surprise. Or what if Leoford had never been here at all? Had Gax been stationed at the tunnel to misdirect them? Were there men waiting to kill Dastrehan in the dark? Had they already got him?

Endolynn bit into her cheeks to keep back a sob. Her body was weak and injured; she did not need her mind leaving her right then too.
She took a slow breath in and whispered a prayer that the tunnel would not split off. If it did, she would surely be lost in the darkness forever.

Total despair was creeping into her mind, demanding attention, when she saw a dim light ahead.

Somehow, Endolynn managed to will her body to move faster towards the light.

She wanted to call out to Dastrehan but stopped herself. She did not want to let any enemies know she was coming.

Muffled voices came to her ears, and Endolynn stopped for a moment to try and identify them. After a few moments, she moved forward again, pressing herself against the left side of the tunnel. She stopped a few feet from the end of the tunnel where a stone door was opened into the light.

"You will never do it."

A shiver ran through Endolynn's body as Leford's voice assaulted her ears. She pressed her head back into the freezing dirt wall of the tunnel and squeezed her eyes shut against the terrified response her body gave to hearing his voice again. Suddenly, she was worried she was going to vomit.

Breathe, she reminded herself, this is so close to being over! Hold it together.

"I will do what I have to."

Dastrehan's voice. Endolynn immediately felt relief flood into her and an immense comfort at the sound of her husband's voice.

Dastrehan was okay.

Leoford chuckled darkly, and Endolynn could envision the smirk he would have on his face in her mind, "You have always been the weaker brother. You are so much like her. Soft. Kind. Unable to make the hard decisions."

Dastrehan did not reply, and Endolynn's heart broke for him. It was obvious even to her that Leoford was speaking of Dastrehan's mother.
"No wonder she died so young. Such a pathetic creature."

"She tried to love you," was Dastrehan's response to his brother's harsh words, "Every day she tried."

His voice, though sad, was steady and clear.

Leoford gave a hateful laugh, and Endolynn imagined Dastrehan striking his brother.

But it did not sound like Dastrehan had attacked him.

"You want to know the best part, Dear Brother?"

Leoford was taunting him. More than anything, Endolynn wanted to walk out of the tunnel and shoot Leoford through the chest with an arrow to shut him up. But Dastrehan seemed to be hesitating, and maybe there was a reason for that. Maybe he needed closure.