Chap­ter 34 unfolds with the Attor, a mon­strous embod­i­ment of mal­ice and cru­el­ty, drag­ging me through the twist­ing tun­nels beneath the moun­tain. Its grip was mer­ci­less as it hauled me toward the throne room. It made no effort to strip me of my weapons, ful­ly aware that they would be worth­less against what­ev­er hor­ror await­ed me. As the sti­fling dark­ness of the cav­ern walls pressed clos­er, I clung to the names of those I cherished—Tamlin, Alis and her boys, my sis­ters, Lucien—whispering them in my mind like a silent prayer, a frag­ile shield against the fear threat­en­ing to con­sume me.

When we emerged into the vast cham­ber, the grandeur of the throne room momen­tar­i­ly stole my breath despite the suf­fo­cat­ing ten­sion that filled the air. Tow­er­ing stone pil­lars, etched with intri­cate carv­ings, loomed over the gath­ered High Fae, their ele­gant fig­ures adorned in shim­mer­ing silks as they danced and whis­pered among them­selves. The con­trast between their gild­ed rev­el­ry and the cold men­ace that clung to the space was jar­ring, mak­ing it clear that beneath their laugh­ter lay a court built on cru­el­ty and fear.

I was thrown onto the hard stone floor before Ama­ran­tha, the High Queen of Under the Moun­tain, whose beau­ty was as strik­ing as it was unset­tling. Her pres­ence was suf­fused with an air of absolute con­trol, her pierc­ing gaze drink­ing in my disheveled form with the detached amuse­ment of a preda­tor toy­ing with its prey. Beside her, motion­less yet ever-present, sat Tamlin—his gold­en mask still obscur­ing his face, his warrior’s stance unshak­en, but his soul seem­ing­ly shack­led beneath the weight of her rule.

Amarantha’s voice dripped with mock­ery as she ques­tioned my pres­ence, feign­ing curios­i­ty at my intru­sion into her domain. Des­per­a­tion guid­ed my tongue, and I bold­ly declared my intent—to reclaim Tam­lin, to break what­ev­er curse bound him to her, to defy the hor­ror she had woven over Pry­thi­an. My words, how­ev­er, only pro­voked amuse­ment, a cru­el smile spread­ing across her lips as she let the gath­ered court rev­el in my audac­i­ty.

With the ease of some­one who had orches­trat­ed count­less night­mares, Ama­ran­tha remind­ed me of her cru­el­ty, ges­tur­ing toward the bro­ken, life­less body of Clare Bed­dor. The sight of her man­gled corpse twist­ed some­thing deep inside me—a bru­tal con­se­quence of a name I had once giv­en in an attempt to save myself. Shame and fury warred with­in me, but I could not allow either to take root; I had no room for weak­ness, not now, not in the face of a queen who thrived on it.

Then, with a voice laced in decep­tive sweet­ness, Ama­ran­tha extend­ed an offer—one that reeked of sadis­tic delight. If I wished to save Tam­lin and end his curse, I would have to prove myself by com­plet­ing three impos­si­ble tri­als of her choos­ing or, alter­na­tive­ly, solv­ing a sin­gle rid­dle. Alis had warned me against bar­gains with the wicked, yet I had no alter­na­tives. Fail­ure was not an option.

Every instinct screamed at me to tread care­ful­ly, but I knew hes­i­ta­tion would be seen as cow­ardice, as an admis­sion of weak­ness. With my heart­beat ham­mer­ing in my ears, I met Amarantha’s gaze and accept­ed her chal­lenge, know­ing full well the hor­rors that await­ed me. The room erupt­ed with laugh­ter and whis­pers, the High Fae rev­el­ing in the enter­tain­ment my suf­fer­ing would soon pro­vide.

Fear coiled in my stom­ach like a liv­ing thing, but beneath it burned some­thing stronger—determination. I wasn’t fight­ing for pow­er or vengeance; I was fight­ing for love, for the promise of a future not shack­led by Amarantha’s dark­ness. Love for Tam­lin, for the mem­o­ries of those I had lost, and for the frag­ile hope that light could still pierce the over­whelm­ing shad­ows that sur­round­ed us.

As I was dragged away, prepar­ing to endure what­ev­er night­mare Ama­ran­tha had devised, I made myself a promise. No mat­ter what lay ahead, I would fight. I would endure. And I would not break, no mat­ter how much she tried to make me.