“My men are working on it. We will retrieve the Amulet−”
“Not the Ring.” I scowled, thinking of Kiros. “He has it hidden, somewhere well. How do you plan on retrieving it?”
He didn’t respond.
“Blaise, you need to leave, before this gets worse than it already is.”
“Don’t,” he said softly. “Please.”
My heart ached from his tortured gaze, the vulnerability on his face. “Go.”
“I won’t.”
I pushed him at arm’s length. My mouth dried as I stared at him. “Get out.” I shouted it this time, and he backed away, tears in his smoky-gray eyes. “Leave.”
He hung his head, shaking it, and shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked out the door. I didn’t look to see if he looked back.
Loving me had killed eighty men. It was killing him. I had no choice.
***
Orb-like eyes regarded me as the little pixies were brought into the room by the physician. Seeing them only reminded me of Cedric, when he’d illegally imported one to Berovia. I made a note to find another advisor, as I’d made him one to force the court to accept him. It hadn’t worked.
A pixie flitted overhead, her butterfly-like wings beating against the still air in the musky room. The stench of death lingered, and the potion sat un-stoppered next to the bed. The physician scrunched his nose when he examined my wounds. He peered at me through half-moon spectacles. His glacier-blue eyes had paled with age. White hair covered his round head. “How did this happen?”
A voice I recognized as Adius’s sounded behind him, though I hadn’t seen him slip in behind the physician. “You’re not here to ask questions.”
A pixie landed on my shoulder and placed her hands over one of the deeper cuts. A warmth protruded from her palms, pulsating through me in waves. When she took her hands away, all that remained was a pink scar.
“Thank you,” I said.
The physician furrowed his brows. “No need to thank me, Your Majesty.”
“I was speaking to the pixie.” I glanced at her. She looked back with appreciation.
The physician’s eyes widened, judgement pooling in them. He glanced at Adius, who only grinned at my response.
After several minutes, he stood, pushing his spectacles up his dented nose. “The scars should disappear within a few hours.”
I glanced down at the pink marks covering my arms. “Thank you.” I looked at him and the pixies. “All of you.”
He caged them again and left the room quickly. My stomach dipped as he did. Before I could say anything, Adius marched to my side. “No time to rest I’m afraid, Your Majesty. A woman has been murdered. I came when it happened, but I thought it best to wait for you to be healed first.”
My eyes bulged. “Where?”
“In the courtyard.”
Stars filled my vision as the necromancer threatened to push through. I pressed my fingers against my head, feeling the ridges of my skull beneath my fingertips. Join us. His voice tinkered, echoing around in my head. I grabbed the potion and gulped it down.
After a few minutes, the familiar pull of slumber overcame me. I forced myself to sit upright. The headache and his voice were gone, but I wouldn’t give in to the tiredness. Inhaling deeply, I willed myself to get out of bed. “Take me to the body.”
I hurried down the emptying hallway, a hollowness in my center as we emerged into the crowded courtyard. Guards stood around a mass, a mess of silver and crimson. Blonde hair was strewn over the ground, tangled with twigs and blossom petals. Barely a soul noticed their queen as I swept through the swelling crowd. Only Blaise had noticed me, but I avoided his gaze.
My stomach dipped when I saw her face. It was Marissa. Her unseeing eyes were focused on the matte-black sky.
“She was dead when we found her,” Adius explained and stepped back. “Everyone, get out of here.”
I tapped his arm. “Don’t we need to lock the castle down until we find the culprit?”
He glanced at Marissa, and the darkness inside me tugged, prickling to the surface. One of Morgana’s rings lay on the ground, dull after years of wear. I clamped my eyes shut, pressing my hand against my stomach. “Where is she? She was meant to be kept in the tower room. How did she get out?”
Adius’s voice dropped. “She overpowered both of my men. She didn’t have her staff.”
She hadn’t needed one, not if he had taken full control, but I thought we’d had time. “Where is she now?”
“She’s locked in one of the dungeons.” He grabbed my arm as I attempted to leave. “She’s not herself, Your Majesty.”
I knew what that meant. I gave Blaise a dark look as he watched from across the courtyard. Skeletal leaves drifted down, as if to cover Marissa with a blanket.
TWENTY
The coronation went ahead as planned, despite the murder and my healed injuries from the previous night. Marissa’s body was taken to be buried in Ash Forest, a great honor, Vahaga had said. I still couldn’t believe the necromancer had taken control of my friend.
I looked around the throne room as I entered through the double arched doors. A scandalous court, an army of loyal guards and their treacherous lovers, were bowing at my feet. My temporary crown glistened as dappled light scattered through the windows. I rolled my eyes up toward the silver etchings on the ceiling and the crystals embedded in the walls.
I scanned the crowd. Those I had wanted to come were missing. Marissa was forever gone, and Cedric, an ocean away. I spotted my mother. At least she hadn’t got caught. One blessing. The only one. She looked at me with a softness in her expression I hadn’t seen before. It was almost disturbing to see her without her usual disapproving scowl. I was dying to know what had happened in the forest last night, but it would have to wait.
My coronation was glorious. Half the kingdom had traveled to Imperia to see the long-awaited kingdom. I walked between five priestesses, all wearing purple from head to toe, toward the throne. Standing beside it was the high priest, wearing traditional golden robes with the blue lunar cycles embroidered as various stages of the moon. Around his neck hung a silver silk ribbon. When he saw me, he pulled it down and wrapped it around his hand.
He bowed when I reached him. “Please kneel.”
He removed my current crown and handed it to one of the priestesses.
My hands were shaking. The crown, glimmering from on top of a velvet blue pillow, had been prepared.
“This crown has been forged from gold, with rubies for vitality and emeralds to represent strength,” Vahaga said with no expression to his tone. His voice settled the last stragglers in the crowd into absolute silence. “A diamond was made from the ashes of a bone taken from the crypt of the first king of Magaelor and has been placed in the center of the crown, to create an eternal link between the first anointed king and the reigning queen. It has been blessed in the waters of Soul Lake.” The lake sat beyond Imperia, near the villages spreading to the north, where it was said many blessings had taken place. “Then buried overnight in the soils of Ash Forest.”
My father had become king before I was born, so I never got to witness the blessing of the crown. Each ruler had their own, and when they died, it was buried with them. I was sure, one day we would run out of bones to burn from the first king, and I wondered if the priests would simply move on to the second.
“Winter Rose Mortis, daughter of Amos Lormonor Mortis, do you agree to the sacred oath to serve the people of Magaelor above all else?”
“I do.” I ran cold. Every small hair on my arms and legs stood erect. I couldn’t believe it was finally happening.
“Will you, to your utmost power, execute the laws and customs of the blessed scriptures of our ancestors?”
“I will.”
“Finally, will you, guided by the ancestors, guide the people of this great kingdom with honor, upholding our values and traditions?”
“I will.”
The crown was placed on my
head. The hairs on my arms pricked, standing erect, and my eyes glossed. I stood slowly, and Vahaga turned his back toward me, then stepped by my side. At least he wasn’t being snide today. He couldn’t, not with the eyes of Magaelor on us. “Your queen, Her Majesty, Winter Rose Mortis.”
Everyone bowed, and my heart felt as if it would stop any second. Blaise bowed too, even though he didn’t need to. It only made us having to separate hurt that much more.
I scanned the room once everyone stood once more. A man caught my attention, perhaps because he was so desperately trying not to be seen. He wore an oversized black traveling coat. He’d come from money, or at least he appeared that way. He pulled his hood forward when he saw me staring, then turned his back. Others around him waved when they noticed I was looking in their direction.
I caught Adius’s gaze, then nodded, a signal for him to come closer. Reaching my side, he leaned down, and I whispered the man’s description in his ear.
“From Kiros?” I asked. “I didn’t see a staff.”
“Perhaps.” His jaw clenched. “We will find him.”
“Hurry,” I whispered. “We cannot have anything go wrong. Not today.”
Adius bowed, then walked away, quickening his steps. Ladies gawked after him as he forced his way through the crowd. He held a strong position at court, commander of my army. He was a prize to any lady here, but Florence was the only one who held his attention.
I moved my gaze to where she stood, front row, next to Nissa. Her blonde waves had grown out, reaching below her bosom. Her small waist was made tinier by a bone corset, and gray-and-blue fabric flourished out into a skirt.
I could hear scuffling in the distance; a few guards close by gripped the handles on their swords. Voices rose as my people grew restless.
Finally, the trumpets blew, and an organ played. When Adius emerged, a blood spatter on his red coat sent adrenaline coursing through me. I couldn’t react, not with them all looking at me.
I blew out a tense breath. It was time for me to address my court. Sitting on the throne my father had sat on for decades, a lump formed in my throat. I was stronger now, deadlier even, but something sinister bubbled beneath my calm exterior, wanting to claw its way out and lay waste to anything in my path.
“I thank you all for gathering today,” I announced to the crowd, and the chattering silenced. My voice was clear, my tone sharp. No one could detect the hesitance in my words as the threat of a war loomed over our heads. “We are—oh!”
Two guards rushed to my side. I caught Blaise’s worried look ahead of me. “This way, Majesty,” one said.
“Majesty.” The other urged me when I didn’t move. “Please, you must come with us.”
Adius nodded in my direction, so I went with them. Chatter rose as everyone watched us. Panic pinched through the air. I was hurried out the arched doorway and into the courtyard. Guards had gathered, all holding the hilts of their swords.
“What’s going on?”
“Intruders,” one said as they escorted me to a waiting carriage. “They were found with weapons, known to the Crown as belonging to a group who oppose your rule.”
“Oh.” They weren’t Kiros’s people. They were mine, and they wanted me dead.
“We’re not sure how they breached the castle’s walls.”
Only dignitaries had been invited. Someone from the inside must have let them in. The knowledge weighed heavily in my chest. “Where am I being taken to?”
I climbed the step and ducked inside the carriage. “To the manor house.”
Watching the castle grow smaller as we rode away, I let my tears fall. A guard in the carriage didn’t even look at me. I briefly touched my crown. It felt heavier than the last. I thought about Morgana locked away in the dungeons and wondered how I would manage without her. I needed her more than ever, but the necromancer had torn us apart, turning her into someone we couldn’t have faith in. She’d killed Marissa, and they wanted to execute her for it. I’d ordered her to be imprisoned only, but Lord Gregoir would demand her death—the victim was his niece—and other nobles at court would too. It was turning into a political disaster.
The wheels growled when we hit gravel. The road widened and we took a sharp left, turning out of the city. Obsidian buildings and slate roofs were replaced with thatched cottages, trees with low hanging fruits, and sprawling green fields. The smell of manure hit my nose as we were pulled up a hill. The winding dirt path bumped us along until the manor house came into view. Honeydew trees and hummingbirds brought the gardens to life.
Ivy vines sprawled along the house’s cracked front, strangling around the window arches and stone ledges. Gargoyle stone statues watched us, sitting on either side of the entrance. A weathered fountain stood in front of the coved doorway with an old stone knocker. The grass was luscious, greener than even the gardens at court. Trimmed hedges created an entrance into the grounds beyond, stretching as far as the eye could see. It was a home away from home, a place my father had taken André and me when we were children. It had been gifted to one of the lords. Gregoir, I think.
When we halted, I pulled down the handle of the door, my voice trapped. I cleared my throat, then stepped out. “Bring Adius!”
“He’s on his way already, Your Majesty,” the fair-headed guard said. He often stood station at my door. His red coat was pristine, unlike Adius’s. I’d seen the crimson, staining darker than the fabric, when he’d come back. Had he killed one of them, or was it his own blood?
I thought back to Morgana’s reading and how true it had been. Even in her deteriorating state, she’d known. One love gained: Blaise. One death: Marissa. One love lost: Cedric. The final, one traitor: Unknown.
She hadn’t been taking the potion. She’d been keeping the necromancer at bay using only her willpower, and I knew deep down I could never have done it for as long. She’d sacrificed herself so I could have the potion, all of it, because Magaelor needed a queen but also because she loved me. She had acted more like a caregiver to me over the years than my own parents ever had.
“Adius is close,” the guard said as I was escorted inside.
I looked out and saw three carriages on the horizon.
Adius jumped out when the carriage pulled up. His blood-stained jacket had been removed, revealing his white undershirt, which was relatively clean. It wasn’t his blood.
“Tell me everything,” I said.
His eyes scanned the area. He gave a brief nod to the other guards and they spaced out, their swords brandished. He took my arm in his and briskly walked me around the house. His light-brown hair was stuck around his forehead, and beads of sweat shone under the light glow of sunlight peeking through the cotton-candy-shaped clouds.
“There were five men,” he replied, his jaw sharp as he stared ahead, poised for an attack as if someone could jump out from behind the honey blossom bushes. “Their plan, as far as we could tell, was to attack you as the coronation ended, from the side of the red carpet.”
I gulped. “They were Magaelor’s men,” I stated. “Edgar’s? Hired assassins from one of my enemies?”
He shook his head. “Monarchists. Someone had helped them inside. We are still investigating who was a part of the plot.”
“If they were monarchists, then why would they try to kill me? Their monarch?”
He hesitated. “They were under the impression you had committed regicide.”
Every hair on my body stood on end. The fear swallowing my expression must have been apparent. I exhaled the breath I’d been holding, forcing as normal of a look as I could. “Why would they think that?”
“They were loyal to your father. Someone had told them you were behind his death.”
“How do they think I supposedly killed him?” I asked. “Considering I was a kingdom away.”
“I came straight here after the initial…” He paused, staring at his battered knuckles. “Questioning. I’m sure their unfounded accusations will be brought to light.”
My heart pounded, and bile bit up my throat. “It’s a surprise they would think it.” I clasped my fingers together. “If I could have a moment, Adius. Please, go arrange your men.”
“We are securing the area. The house is being searched. If you can stay in this area, in view, until the threat is stabilized.”
I nodded. “Of course.”
He walked away, and it took everything in me not to collapse into a hyperventilating mess. Someone had helped from the inside, and those men said they’d been told I was behind my father’s death, which means someone knew. Someone in the castle. Whoever it was wanted me dead. If the truth came out without proof, if wouldn’t be enough. If they had evidence, however, I’d lose a lot more than my crown.
After a few minutes of pacing and calming my breathing, I hurried to the entrance of the house. “Adius,” I called.
He turned from where he was, grouped with four guards.
“I need to go back to the castle.”
“We can’t have you go back there until we’ve secured it and found the culprit.”
I hated to do it, but I didn’t have time to argue. “Adius, it wasn’t a request. It’s an order by your queen. Return me to the castle now.”
“We can’t.”
My eyes widened. “Did you not hear me? It’s an order.”
“My job is to keep you safe. If you have me let go for not obeying your orders, then so be it, but you will not be leaving this manor until the threat is secured, Your Majesty.”
I took a step back. Shock stunned me. The final carriage growled to a stop. I didn’t notice him at first, as I was still staring at Adius, until he spoke.
“Love?”
TWENTY-ONE
With the house and gardens finally secured, I walked with some privacy. Blaise was at my side, the only one apart from Morgana who knew the truth of how I had acquired the throne so soon.
“You shouldn’t have come.” I paused. “But I don’t hate that you did.”
A ghost of a smile etched on his lips. “I told you before, I’m not going anywhere.”
The Fate of Crowns: The Complete Trilogy: A YA Epic Fantasy Boxset Page 69
