Love Between Two Worlds - Chapter 18

  

Chapter 18 — The Voice of the Future

The light exploded.

Amelia couldn't see anything. For one terrible second there was no chamber, no Crown, no First King, no Adrian. There was only white.

Then pain — a sharp pressure tore through her chest, and somewhere impossibly far away she heard him shout her name.

"Amelia!"

She reached for him. Her fingers closed around nothing.

Then the voice came back. The same one. Older. Terrified.

Don't let him take the Crown.

Amelia opened her eyes into a different place entirely — a corridor stretching endlessly in both directions, walls of black stone veined with pale gold, doors lining either side, each marked with a symbol she didn't recognize.

Except one.

A silver crescent surrounded by seven stars. Her ring.

She turned. Adrian stood several steps behind her — but something was wrong. His clothes were darker, his hair longer, his face sharper. A thin scar crossed his throat. He looked older, not by years but by decades.

"Adrian?"

His eyes filled with something painfully close to relief. "You came."

She stepped toward him. He stepped back.

"Don't."

Her heart dropped. "Why?"

"Because if you come any closer, the Crown will know."

"What Crown?"

He glanced over his shoulder, fear flashing across his face. "The one you haven't chosen yet."

"I don't understand."

"You will." He pressed his palm against one of the doors, and the stone rippled, images spilling across its surface. Amelia saw herself standing beneath the Crown, Adrian beside her, the Veil glowing peacefully around them.

Then the image changed. The Crown cracked. The sky split open. Elarion burned. Blackwood Manor stood beneath a blood-red moon, and Adrian knelt alone in the ruin of it.

"What happened?" she asked.

"You chose wrong."

Her stomach turned. "What did I choose?"

He didn't answer.

"Tell me."

"I can't. I don't know which version of this future you're going to make."

The corridor shook. He looked up at the ceiling. "We don't have much time."

"Who are you?"

A sad smile touched his mouth. "You already know."

"No." She shook her head. "You're Adrian. But you're not my Adrian."

"Not yet."

The words stopped her cold. His gaze dropped to her hand. "Your ring is broken."

She looked down. It wasn't — the silver band sat whole on her finger. But beneath its surface something black moved like smoke trapped under glass.

"What's happening to me?"

"The Crown is trying to decide what you are."

"And what am I?"

His eyes lifted to hers. "Queen."

The word echoed down the corridor. Then another voice answered.

No.

The older Adrian went pale. "He's here."

"Who?"

The walls began to shake. Every door along the corridor slammed open at once, and darkness poured through them. He grabbed her wrist.

"Run."

She barely had time to react before he pulled her down the hall. Behind them something moved — not the First King. Something larger. Something with no shape at all.

She looked back. The dark was crawling along the ceiling now, and it had eyes. Hundreds of them.

"Adrian—"

"Don't look at it."

"What is that?"

"The reason the First King was imprisoned."

Her blood went cold. "You said he was the reason."

"I was wrong."

They reached a silver door. He shoved it open, light spilling through.

"Go."

"What about you?"

"I can't."

"Why?"

He looked at her with an expression that broke something loose in her chest. "Because I already stayed."

The darkness reached the end of the corridor. He pushed her through the door.

"Adrian!"

His hand held hers for one last second. "Whatever happens when you wake up—"

The darkness struck. His fingers slipped free.

"—don't choose me because you're afraid to lose me."

The door slammed shut. Amelia screamed his name, and everything shattered.

---

She woke on stone, lungs dragging in air. Someone was holding her.

"Amelia."

Adrian. Her Adrian.

She grabbed his coat and pulled him close before she could stop herself. He stiffened.

"You're here."

"Yes."

"You're alive."

His brow furrowed. "Of course I am."

She closed her eyes and just breathed for a few seconds, then pulled back to look at him properly. Silver eyes. Blood at his temple. No scar across his throat.

Not yet.

"What happened?"

"You collapsed." He looked up. The Crown still hovered above her, but its light had dimmed.

The First King stood several yards off. The amusement was gone from his face, replaced by something close to unease.

"What did you see?" he asked.

"Nothing."

His eyes narrowed. "You lie badly."

"I learned from experts."

Caelan almost smiled. The first Hart didn't.

"Amelia," she said quietly. "What did you hear?"

Amelia looked at her, then at Adrian, then up at the Crown. She heard the older Adrian's last words again, clear as a bell. Don't choose me because you're afraid to lose me.

Her throat tightened. "I heard a warning."

"From whom?" the first Hart asked.

She hesitated. "Adrian."

The real Adrian went still. "What?"

"Your voice."

"I didn't speak."

"I know."

The First King stepped forward. "What did it say?"

She looked at him directly. "That I shouldn't let you take the Crown."

His face hardened. "And did you?"

"No."

The Crown pulsed overhead, and the chamber shook — then something no one expected happened. The Crown pulled away from Amelia. Everyone froze as it rose slowly into the darkness above, leaving her standing alone beneath the empty space it left behind.

The First King stared upward. "No."

"My King?" Caelan said.

The Crown began to crack — one line, then another, light pouring through the fractures.

"It is rejecting him," the first Hart whispered.

"Rejecting who?" Amelia asked, though she already knew.

The ancient woman looked at the First King. "Him."

His face twisted with rage. "You would reject me?"

The Crown gave no answer. Instead every creature in the chamber lifted its head, one by one, and turned to face him.

Caelan stepped back. "My King."

"Silence."

The creatures rose to their feet. The First King looked around at them, disbelief chasing the anger off his face.

"No."

The first Hart's eyes widened. "The Crown has chosen."

Amelia felt the ring burn against her skin. "Chosen what?"

"Not you."

Her heart stopped. "Then who?"

The Crown descended again — not toward her this time. Toward Adrian.

He looked up as silver light tore out of his chest.

"Adrian!"

He staggered. Amelia caught him as the Crown settled directly above his head.

The First King stepped forward. "No." For the first time, real fear moved through his voice. "That cannot happen."

Adrian lifted his eyes. Silver, then white, then something older than either.

The Crown spoke.

Guardian.

His body went rigid.

Blood remembers.

The First King backed away. "No."

"What's happening?" Amelia asked.

The first Hart answered in a whisper. "The Crown has found its original vessel."

Adrian's head turned toward the First King, and when he spoke, the voice wasn't entirely his own anymore.

"Father."

The word rang through the chamber. Amelia froze. The color drained from the king's face.

"You remember."

"I remember everything." Adrian stepped forward, the Crown following him like a tide. "You should have remained beyond the Veil."

The First King raised a hand, and the darkness behind him tore open.

"Then remember this."

The floor split apart, and a massive shadow rose between them — the same shapeless thing Amelia had glimpsed in the older Adrian's warning. Hundreds of eyes blinked open across its surface.

"The Hollow," the first Hart breathed.

"What is it?" Amelia asked.

Her grandmother's voice answered — not from the ring, not from the Crown, but from everywhere at once.

The thing that existed before the worlds were separated.

Amelia's blood ran cold. The Hollow turned its countless eyes on her and smiled without any mouth to smile with.

The First King looked at her, and for the first time all night he wasn't trying to claim her.

He was begging.

"Queen." His voice cracked. "Help us."

The Crown pulsed above Adrian's head. The Hollow moved. And between them, the Veil began to tear wide open.