Free Golden by Melissa de La Cruz

“Please, Wes. Just go.”
    â€œNo, this is the only way.” He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it, wondering as he did so whether they would ever survive the day, whether they would survive to live their lives together. He had so many plans for them. So many dreams he hadn’t even begun to share.
    Then he slid his arm around her waist, pulling her tight, pulling her closer to him, so that she couldn’t run away again.
    Nat whispered in his ear so softly he had to strain to listen. “You heard what the Queen said. She doesn’t want me. I don’t belong in Vallonis.” Her voice was so soft and defeated.
    â€œIt doesn’t matter, because you belong with me,” he said, nuzzling her so that she leaned into him, and he could rest his chin on her head. They fit so well together he wished he had more time to enjoy it.
    The Queen regarded them thoughtfully, but appeared unmoved as before.
    Wes moved his lips to Nat’s ear. “On my count—one—two—”
    â€œWes—wait—what are you doing—” she whispered, agitated.
    â€œNOW!”
    Before Nat could protest, Wes tightened his grasp on her waist and rolled them both right into the portal, at once diving and falling and slipping past the Queen. They flew into the bright light of the doorway at full speed, and as Wes threw the whole weight of his body—and Nat’s—into the great bubble of nothingness in front of them, he turned the full force of his mind toward the barrier before the portal.
    He had used his magic to dispel Eliza’s illusions once. Could he use it on the Queen? Could he break whatever magic prevented them from entering the portal?
    Time to find out.
    As they fell, Wes focused on the invisible obstacle, tearing it to shreds with his mind.
You are nothing—meaningless—weak.
    His power sent shock waves rippling through the air. The great and hazy doorway undulated, sending a stream of energy rippling in all directions. The Queen’s magic had not simply faltered—it was utterly destroyed. She was made of magic, and her spells were a part of her. To break the spell, he needed to break Nineveh. When her magic fell, when he struck down her spell, the Queen cried out, falling to her knees in a fit of anguished cries.
    I didn’t want to hurt anyone, but she gave me no choice. I couldn’t just leave Nat.
    The portal opened and the Queen collapsed, her entire body shaking. She looked up at Wes in confusion. Was this the first time she’d met someone who could match her strength?
    Maybe. She flashed him a look of shock, then recovered as her lips curled into a snarl.
    Wes ignored her, tightening his hold around Nat as they fell through the doorway and dropped, spinning into the light beyond.

9
    S HE FELT HIS HAND SLIP AWAY FROM her waist as their bodies came apart at the force of his magic pulverizing the door.
Wes!
she cried, panicked and afraid to lose him again so soon. She had tried to hold on to him, but the strength of the magic was too much. Now she was alone, spinning, dropping, and racing toward oblivion.
From oblivion to oblivion—from world to world—from gray to blue.
    Nobody else but Wes would have even dared to try to break into Vallonis like that. And not even Wes could have prepared her for how it would feel when they’d actually done it. The force of his power, the sensation of falling. The rage of a broken Queen behind them.
    As Nat felt the solid world drop out from beneath their feet, her panic was soon replaced by fearlessness and wonder.
    All around her was light, a million stars bursting into life, hurtling across space and time, the universe all around and the universe inside her; she was the universe. She was something out of nothing.
    Magic.
    And just as quickly as she had entered the infinite, she was already on the other side, having left one world and fallen into the other, back in the land she was