The Fate of Crowns: The Complete Trilogy: A YA Epic Fantasy Boxset

by Rebecca L. Garcia

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  I devoured the newspaper, begging for scraps of information about home. The fire hissed when I poked the logs with an iron pole. The room was warming up, stinging my extremities back to life. Blaise had avoided me at every turn. He did let me stay here last night, but I had to leave today. When I entered the throne room earlier, he left. I didn’t know where to go when I would leave. I would have certain death to go back to. For running, for betraying, and for dropping a hint to Blaise. There was Berovia, but even Cedric had turned away when he found out about my crown, and he liked me. I shuddered at the thought of what the solises would do if they knew I was on their territory.

  I rubbed my eyes and looked at my reflection in the mirror. I no longer looked stuffy. I better resembled the fae, loose and carefree. My hair was down in soft waves. I relished in the absence of pins. A silk dress snugged my curves, stopping at my knees. I stretched out my feet and smiled at my blue toenails. Bored, I’d stolen polish from a girl down the corridor. I’d taken the time to shave my legs too. I hadn’t bothered pampering myself in so long. Usually I had maids polish me into looking like someone worthy enough to be a princess, but doing it myself brought me solace. I enjoyed playing with the different lotions and potions in the bathroom. The fae had such beautiful makeup. Lunas would be deemed trashy if they used any of it, but fae weren’t known for their subtlety.

  A loud crashing noise from outside my room jolted me. I jumped off the bed, then poked my head around the doorframe. Some maid had dropped a silver platter of teacups. They loved their teas. Honeysuckle and lavender, orange and ginger, or buttercup. I preferred peppermint, and Blaise had been kind enough to casually ensure peppermint tea was bagged in the kitchen. I know he did it for my benefit, but he wouldn’t admit it if I asked. I liked that about him, his anonymity to good deeds. In fact, he seemed to prefer taking responsibility for shows of power and the bad. He was afraid for others to see his soul. If he was anything like me, then I’d bet all my coin his father had everything to do with that.

  A court paper delivery man dropped the latest paper outside my door. I hurried to it, my eyes gleaming. News. Just what I needed. Time was ticking by. Who knew how long until Amos attacked the elves? With me gone, he would have jumped into action. I was a loose cannon who knew far too many secrets. I bet he wished he killed me when he’d had the chance.

  PRINCESS OF MAGAELOR PRESUMED DEAD, LOST TO NIFERUM

  I couldn’t believe my eyes. The king had declared me dead in the space of a couple of days! He knew where I was; someone at Lepidus would have reported back to him. I could guarantee it. This was his way of exiling me. I clutched my chest as it gave in, and my knees weakened. I collapsed onto the bed, my eyes reddening from tears that threatened to never stop. I tried to hold it in, not let it get to me, but I couldn’t keep it at bay any longer. My father wanted me dead so much that he’d made it so to the kingdom. He hated me. He’d never cared, and neither had my mother. The only people who had ever liked me was my brother and Jasper, and they were both dead. I stroked my arm. Was I lonely? How would I know? I’d spent my life separating myself from anyone who tried to get close. I’d never been good at friends. I’d told that to Cedric. I remember his infectious smile, the way he looked at me. We’d laughed. I liked him, but I was just a passing phase to him. A guy like him would have a ton of friends, but to me, he was my first.

  “You’re crying.”

  I flinched. I hadn’t heard the door open. I sniffed, wiping my tears with the back of my hand. “Blaise,” I croaked. “I’ve been trying to find you…”

  “I know.” His expression softened. “I’ve never seen you…” He trailed off.

  I tilted my head up to look at him. “What?”

  “Vulnerable.”

  “You snuck in on me.”

  “It’s good to know you can feel.”

  I laughed, coughing as I did. “Do I really come across so stiff?”

  He shrugged, his forehead creased, and he smiled. “Yeah, you do.”

  “Thanks for sugarcoating it.”

  “No problem.” He let out a huge breath, slumping against the wall by the bed. “I wish you hadn’t run.”

  “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t stay.”

  “I want to know why. I would be dead, you said. What did you mean?”

  I shook my head. “I can’t. It’ll start a war.”

  His eyes gleamed. “I’ll protect you.”

  “You can’t.”

  He rushed to my side, then grabbed my hand. “If you ran to protect me, I’ll make sure you’re safe. You can tell me.”

  He thought I was trying to save him, but that wasn’t why I had run. I was protecting myself from a marriage when I thought they’d be invaded and taken over. I was looking after my reputation. None of which I could tell him. “My people would be hurt.”

  He rubbed the back of my hand. “They’re not your people, Winter. Don’t let the kingdom fall on your shoulders. I promise I won’t do anything without telling you first. You can trust me.”

  “Promise me you won’t go to war with them. Don’t skirt around the truth. Tell me straight. If you do, then I’ll disclose everything.”

  He slumped back, dropping my hand on the bed. “You know I can’t do that.”

  “Then I can’t tell you.”

  He balled his fists at his side. “I let you stay here. I decided to hear you out after all that happened, and you won’t tell me why my life was in danger? Do you not care?”

  My lips parted. I wetted them. “Just tell me you won’t go against them. Please, my father is more powerful than you. He has our ancestral magic. He can take all of you on.”

  Blaise scoffed. “Is that what you’ve been told? That you’re stronger than us?” He tilted my chin up with his thumb. “We are not the inferior ones, despite what you’ve been taught. Our magic comes from within. All I’d have to do is take your staff away, or your father’s, and you’d be defenseless.”

  “I know.” I breathed heavily.

  His eyes shifted toward the newspaper. “I just read that. I’m sorry. It just got delivered an hour ago. Seems the news was printed fast.”

  Tears pricked my eyes. “How did our newspapers reach your court?”

  “I allowed them to. I need to know what is happening in my enemy’s territory.”

  I nodded in understanding. His fingers lightly touched mine, and electricity shot through them. My mind flitted to the spell. “I need to go to your library.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Ah, you’re looking for the book you left behind?”

  My eyes widened.

  “You didn’t think I wouldn’t search the room of the girl who’d ran on our wedding day, did you?”

  “Where is it?” I asked.

  “Safe.”

  I gulped. “This isn’t a joke.”

  “No, it’s not.”

  “Please, hand it over.”

  “Tell me what you need it for first.”

  Everything was a game to him. I rested my forehead against my fingers. My head hurt. I couldn’t tell him without everything tumbling down like a pack of cards, but I was tired. Exhausted. The lying, secrets, the running…

  “I am vulnerable,” I said, choking. “I’m scared, Blaise.”

  He softened instantly. He sat on the bed, dipping it toward him. He pulled me against his side, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “I’m not going to abandon you. Just tell me the truth.”

  “It’s difficult. My people, I can’t let them be harmed.”

  Blaise chewed on his lip. “They’re not your people, Winter. They are Amos’s.”

  “They were going to be mine.”

  “I heard about Edgar.” He paused. “You know, Winter, the part about being king…” He nudged me playfully. “Or queen that they don’t tell you is knowing who to ally up with in a war and to realize when you’re beat. This is a war. Whoever wanted me dead, and I’m taking a stab that it was your father based on your arri
val here and fear for your life, they declared this battle. Not you. Don’t suffer. Look at the end goal. I am your ally. All I ask for is your honestly in exchange.”

  I regarded his words carefully. “I know you can’t lie.”

  “Nope.”

  “Then tell me, no skirting around it, promise you won’t wage a war against my people.”

  “I can’t. You know I can’t.”

  “Then promise me you’ll try to find a way not to. You’ll only do it as a last resort.”

  His eyes rounded. “Winter…”

  “Please. If you do, I’ll tell you everything.”

  He sighed slowly. “Okay, I will try to find another route.”

  I closed my eyes and thought of the man who’d treated me with callousness.

  Where does your loyalty lie?

  The immortal words swept back to me. My father had asked me the simple question before we’d been kicked out of Niferum, and the answer was always to Magaelor. Growing up, it’s what I was taught. Our job as royals was to protect the people, not the other way around, but he abused his power. I saw it clearly now, and Cedric had been right. I was lied to, indoctrinated. I was bare now, no crown to save me. I had only the truth, which wouldn’t keep me warm at night.

  Magaelor needed a true queen, not a king with ambitions that he’d sacrifice our people for. He’d shown his true colors. Hurt had turned into betrayal, which fell into pain, then anger. Now, I’d sharpened my rage into a weapon to wield against him.

  Blaise was right. I needed an ally.

  I was going to take the kingdom from him. Every passing day chipped away the bond King Amos and I had once shared, or I had been deceived into believing.

  “You were right. We need to kill him.” My blood ran cold. “Like he was going to kill you.”

  “He’s after forest nymphs,” I told Blaise, after going through the other plans my father had. I shuddered at the thought of what he might do to Birch or Daisy if they tried to fight back against his small army of assassins. “He is going to send sorcerers to Berovia, posing as solises, and travel to the elf village in the middle of the Forest of Tranquillium.” I cast my eyes downward, away from his penetrating stare. “It’s my fault. I showed him where they could find them. He said he wouldn’t hurt them, and I believed him at the time, thinking Magaelor needed a nymph to protect us from Berovia, but I fear now I made a huge mistake. If they get hurt, it’s my fault and I don’t know what to do.”

  “He doesn’t need a nymph to tell him his future,” Blaise said sharply, balling his fists. “He’ll be dead.”

  Going against my father went against everything I had been taught. Loyalty to the crown and the kingdom was the most important thing.

  You are being loyal to the kingdom…

  I sighed. “He will hurt so many of my people if we let him reign any longer.” My statement reminded me of an important fact I had left out. “He’s after the ring of immortalem.”

  Blaise’s eyes widened. The windows trembled as a rumble of thunder sounded, then a bolt of lightning swept across the black skies.

  “The storm’s close,” I said, counting the few seconds between the two.

  “We get them all the time. The castle holds up well.”

  “What of the villages? We have heavy stone to protect us.”

  “My people aren’t really of your concern now, are they?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Fine, be that way.”

  “Sorry,” he muttered. “I’m trying to change things around here. It can’t be done in a day, and blame for every bad thing seems to fall on me.”

  “Curse of being a royal.”

  “Curse of being king,” he replied. “Speaking of, you say he’s after the ring of immortalem. Did he say he had any clue to where he could find it?”

  “He was secretive about it. When I snuck in to listen, he never gave away what he knew.”

  Blaise thumbed his palm. The sheets wrinkled as he shuffled position. “The solis king had it once.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “How?”

  “Let me unveil some important history to you.” He cleared his throat. “There was once a princess. She wasn’t beautiful, obedient, or graceful. She was born to the solis king three centuries ago.” He looked over at the window, looking at a memory I couldn’t see. “My mother told me the story. She loved telling us tales from history.”

  It was the first time I’d heard him talk about his mother. “How old were you when she died?”

  “She didn’t die,” he said, his tone clipped. “Anyway.” He waved his hand in the air. “The princess was a disgrace to her family. They hid her away in the east wing of the palace. Her name was Evangeline. She despised everything about her family, as she watched her younger sisters and brothers adored by the public from her window, and her father, who wore the ring of immortalem, potentially rule for all time. She became bitter and turned against elemental magic. Instead, dark powers lured her with the promise of revenge. She channeled her hatred into becoming the strongest dark sorceress they had even seen. She sacrificed for more power and played nasty tricks on her siblings. Darkness threatened to consume her, until one day…” A smile played on his lips. “She fell in love. He saw beauty in her and realized she had been cursed. He empathized with the way she was treated, for his people were treated equally as bad.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Who was it?”

  “His name was Caspian, and he was a faery.”

  “Oh.”

  “You seem surprised?”

  I fumbled my fingers. “She sounds so horrible.”

  “She was hurt. Think of how she was treated.”

  “I suppose.”

  “Sometimes, it’s easy for the right person to see beneath all the walls someone has put up.” He placed his hand against my chest, and my heart raced at the touch. “Behind their flaws.”

  “Says the man who cannot love.”

  “It doesn’t mean I don’t like the concept of it.”

  I looked up. “I haven’t been in love. I’ve never even had many friends. What would I know about relationships of any kind?”

  Sympathy drowned his frown. “We are learning, Winter. Every day. There is so much we don’t know.”

  “I’m sorry,” I uttered. “I was taught not to settle for anything less than perfect by my mother, mainly in myself. I’m still readjusting.” Tears stung my eyes. Coming to terms with my old life being a lie was taking its toll.

  He sighed. “You were taught to be a ruler of the ignorant. Obedience. Keep the system the same. It’s not your fault.”

  It still hurt to hear anyone talk about Magaelor and my family like that, but it was true. “Tell me more about the princess and the faery.”

  He smiled. “So Caspian and Eva fell hard, but the king used the sword of impervius to kill Caspian. It turned him to ash. You see, at one time, he owned three out of five of the Objects of Kai, and no one should be allowed that much power.”

  The memory of Jasper’s death charged into my mind. I leaned closer. “Then what happened?”

  “All that dark magic she’d held in for years came out. From grief, her magic grew stronger. She cursed all the Objects of Kai. The spell drained her, killing her, but the curse left behind was unbreakable. The ring—” He paused, smiling. “Well, if you placed it on your finger, it would indeed make you immortal, but she countered it to as soon as it was taken off, the mortal wearing it would die.”

  I nodded. “I’ll presume the solis king didn’t know that.”

  “Nope, and he died.”

  “What were the other curses?”

  “To know that, you need to understand the point of the Objects of Kai. They were forged from nature to create a balance to immortals. The ring would make a mortal immortal as long as they wore it, and said mortal could then use the sword of impervius and the dagger of ruin to kill immortals without being killed themselves. The crown of discieti gave mortals extraordi
nary powers of compulsion, and the amulet of viribus gave the wearer super strength and agility.”

  I gasped. “Together, the user of all would be impenetrable to immortals.”

  “Yes. The king of the solises had three. The ring, the sword, and the amulet. No faery dared to go against him while he possessed those weapons. He used them to suppress our entire race.”

  I chewed my bottom lip. “Until Evangeline cursed them.”

  “Exactly. She wanted revenge against her father. She made it so the sword would burn any mortal on touch. The dagger would turn any to madness if they stared at it too long. The amulet would kill any whom the wearer loved…”

  “Yikes.”

  “She wasn’t messing around.”

  “No, she wasn’t.” I pondered everything while looking at the frostbitten window. I remember my father wearing a thick leather glove when using the sword to kill Jasper. That must’ve been why, else it’d have burned his skin. “What about the crown of discieti?”

  “Ah, yes. She gave that one the curse of loneliness. The wearer could not fully love or feel it deeply but could feel despair and pain more. Just wearing it once would leave the effects for a lifetime.” He looked lost in thought, his eyes glazed over.

  “What about immortals?” I questioned, pulling him out of his trance.

  He shrugged. “Same rules apply. They can wear the crown and amulet; it wouldn’t kill them, but it gave the same curse as it would a mortal. Of course, the ring was pointless to an immortal, and the sword and dagger were deadly.”

  I grabbed a of blanket and pulled it over myself when a cold draft circulated the room. “Then if my father finds the ring…”

  “He can still die. He will only be immortal while he wears it. Getting close to him would be hard though.”

  I lifted an eyebrow. “You know, he came here with a plan to kill you. That means he has a way.”

  “Yes,” Blaise said, his voice lowering. “I’ve already thought about this. I have the dagger, which means he must have the sword.”