Crystal Kingdom

by Amanda Hocking

  The walls were a pale blue with clouds on them, and Finn had told me that Ember had been the one to paint the room this way when she’d been ten. I remembered her telling me about her childhood, when she would lay awake at night plotting her escape from this small boring house and her boring life. Ember had been determined to escape and have an adventure.

  Now I couldn’t help but feel a certain kinship to her, lying awake the way she had, wishing for an escape. Of course, I would happily trade all the troubles that were stretched out before me for a boring life with my friends and family again.

  As soon as I thought it, I wondered if that was entirely true. Obviously, I would gladly get rid of Mina and Viktor and all the dangers that went along with them. But would I ever be content to just settle down and lead a normal life the way Finn and Mia had?

  Before everything had completely gone to hell, Ridley and I had made plans to be together when this was all over. Of course, now it seemed impossible. I wasn’t even sure if I’d ever be able to see him again.

  But for a brief moment I allowed myself to fantasize about the life we might have led together. It wouldn’t be exactly like Finn and Mia’s life, since I wasn’t sold on the idea of having kids myself. Staying at home and raising a family was great for people who wanted it, the way Mia so obviously did, but I wanted something different.

  I could work as a tracker for a few more years, traveling and seeing the world. When I came home, Ridley would be there waiting for me, pulling me into his arms. Sipping wine by the fireplace in the winter, and riding the horses out to the bay in the summer. Arguing about the politics in Doldastam, or what movie to watch. And falling asleep at night in each other’s arms.

  We could have a life together.

  Or at least we could’ve, before I’d been accused of treason.

  But still, when I drifted off to sleep, I couldn’t help but imagine the life that Ridley and I had almost had together. How we’d so nearly made it.

  In the morning, I awoke to a little boy standing next to the bed, staring right at me. When I opened my eyes, there he was, and I almost screamed. Funny that after everything I’d seen lately, it was a two-year-old boy that nearly gave me a heart attack.

  I wasn’t sure how Liam would react to me picking him up, but I decided to give it a go anyway. When he didn’t scream, I took that as a good sign, and proceeded to carry him out to the kitchen, where Mia was making breakfast.

  She immediately apologized for him waking me, but I brushed it off. Besides, I honestly felt better than I had in a while. Getting a decent meal and a good night’s sleep did wonders for the body.

  I didn’t even mind that since I’d picked Liam up, he refused to let go of me. Eventually, when he began tugging on my hair with his pudgy hands and poking me in the eyes, I realized where all his fascination came from—he hadn’t seen many people who looked like me in his life.

  After breakfast, I finally managed to detangle myself from Liam and headed outside to work out. I’d been trying to work out every chance I’d gotten, but since Konstantin and I had been on the move, and I’d been starving, exhausted, and anxious the whole time, I hadn’t gotten as much done as I’d have liked.

  Finn and Mia’s house sat on a plateau, with a small field of grassy flat land extending out over the bluff. A split-rail wooden fence wrapped around it, preventing any animals or small children from tumbling over the edge.

  Finn and Ember’s mom used to use the land to raise angora goats, but since their parents moved, taking the goats with them, Finn hadn’t picked up the tradition. The only animal he and Mia had was a solitary pony that Finn had apparently gotten as a birthday gift for Hanna.

  The pony, rather inexplicably named Calvin, came over to investigate what I was up to. It was dark gray, with a long mane and fur around his hooves, so in many ways he appeared to be a miniature version of my Tralla horse Bloom, admittedly a much stouter version. He only came up to my shoulder, and he appeared bemused behind his thick bangs as he watched me stretch.

  When I started running laps along the fence, Calvin trotted along with me, his short legs hurrying to keep up. But he quickly grew bored of that and went back to nibbling at the grass and flowers.

  Eventually, I’d moved on to doing burpees—which was dropping down to a squat, getting in a push-up position, and then immediately jumping back to the squatting position and standing up again. I’d done about a million of them when I’d been in tracker school, but the last few weeks had taken their toll on me, and I was going way too slow.

  Whenever I’d drop to the ground, Calvin would sniff my hair, as if it to make sure I was okay. I was on about my twentieth burpee when I heard the gate to Finn’s property swing open. I stopped what I was doing long enough to look over and see the Chancellor, Bain Ottesen, standing just inside the gate.

  “Finn’s inside the house,” I told him, wiping the sweat off my brow with the back of my arm.

  “Actually,” Bain said with a sheepish expression, “I’m here to see you.”

  TWENTY-FOUR

  hunted

  With my heart pounding in my chest, I walked across the field to meet Bain. There weren’t guards with him, so it felt safe to assume that the Queen hadn’t decided to recant her amnesty and arrest me. But that didn’t mean that she hadn’t decided that it might be better for her kingdom if she sent me away.

  Bain stepped carefully toward me, avoiding particularly muddy spots in the yard since he was barefoot. Because they had nicer weather in Förening than we did in Doldastam, the Trylle got to spend a lot more time free from footwear.

  He was dressed nicely in black slacks and a dress shirt with a tie, and his brown hair was styled off his forehead. With his earnest expression and clean-cut appearance, Bain reminded me of those guys who went door-to-door dropping off religious pamphlets.

  “What’d you want to see me about?” I asked when I reached him.

  He pursed his lips for a moment. “I have some strange questions to ask you, and I don’t know if you’ll be able to answer them. But it would be helpful to us if you did.”

  “I’ll do the best I can,” I replied carefully.

  Calvin had followed me over, and he began sniffing Bain. When Bain spoke, he began absently petting the pony.

  “What do you know about what’s happening in your kingdom?” Bain asked.

  My stomach clenched, and I shook my head. “Not much. I haven’t really been in contact with anyone there since I left. I briefly talked to the Överste, Ridley Dresden, but he wouldn’t say much beyond the fact that everything is falling apart there.”

  “Did he tell you that King Evert was dead?” Bain asked, watching for my reaction.

  “Yes, he did.”

  “And I am assuming that you had nothing to do with Evert’s death?” he asked, and it did sound more like a formality than a serious inquisition.

  “No, of course not!” I said, probably too forcefully. “I was in—” I stopped myself before I accidently let it slip that I’d been locked up in the Omte palace when Evert had died. “I was long gone by then.”

  “I thought as much.” Bain looked away from me, staring out at the river below, and a warm breeze blew past us. “The Kanin Queen has begun acting very … strangely.”

  I tensed up. “How so?”

  “About a week and a half ago, your kingdom sent out a blast of WANTED posters.” He glanced back over at me. “Of you, obviously. But along with them was a letter stating that Doldastam would no longer be allowing visitors of any kind.”

  “That’s insane. Did the letter say why?” I asked.

  “Just that they were running an investigation. But that’s not the really strange part,” Bain went on. “It was signed by Queen Mina. And with the Kanin, every official letter or decree I’ve ever seen from them has been signed by the King. Sometimes the Queen cosigns, but she’s never alone.”

  I shook my head. “The Queen is never allowed to make pronouncements like that, not on her own.�
��

  “When King Evert died, our Queen Wendy called to offer her condolences,” Bain said. “Mina talked to her briefly, but she also informed her that, unlike every other royal funeral I’ve heard of, no other royalty was allowed to attend. Only those already living in Doldastam could go.

  “Mina cited safety being her priority, but it all felt off to Wendy,” he concluded.

  “Holy shit.” I exhaled shakily. “She has them completely isolated and totally dependent on her. Everyone in Doldastam is trapped.”

  “Which brings us to this morning and the strangest part about all of this.” He reached into his back pocket, where he’d tucked a rolled-up tube of paper out of sight. “We received these, along with a lengthy letter.”

  He handed a tube to me, and I unrolled it to reveal two sheets of paper. The top one was a black-and-white poster of myself. The photo was the official tracker picture taken every three months. In it, I stared grimly ahead, my eyes gray and blank.

  LARGE REWARD IF FOUND

  WANTED: BRYN DEL AVEN

  AGE: 19

  HEIGHT: 5'5"

  HAIR/EYES: BLOND, BLUE

  COMMITTED CRIMES AGAINST THE KANIN AND SKOJARE

  INCLUDING CONSPIRING TO KILL THE KANIN KING AND SKOJARE PRINCE

  SUSPECTED OF WORKING WITH KONSTANTIN BLACK

  The beginning wasn’t much of a surprise, but it was the last line that made my heart stop cold.

  Mina knew that we’d been together. She knew that he’d helped me.

  My hands were trembling slightly when I moved my WANTED poster to see the one behind it. And as soon as I saw Konstantin’s face staring up at me in harsh black-and-white, my stomach lurched.

  KANIN’S #1 MOST WANTED

  HUGE REWARD FOR ANY INFORMATION

  KONSTANTIN ELIS BLACK

  And I didn’t need to read anything beyond that.

  They’d turned on him. They’d figured out that Konstantin had defected, and now they were sending everyone after him. It wouldn’t just be Dålig and his men—it would be the entire troll community.

  “But this doesn’t make any sense,” I said, trying to stop my hands from shaking. “Viktor Dålig is supposed to be the most wanted man. He already tried to kill the King.”

  “Not according to the letter Mina sent this morning,” Bain said, and my eyes shot up. “She claims it’s all a massive frame job perpetrated by Konstantin Black and you.”

  “What?” I shook my head. “No, that’s not true at all. I mean, Konstantin—” I didn’t know what to say about him, so I skipped over it. “I’ve only been trying to protect the kingdom! I would never do anything to hurt it!”

  Bain held up his hand toward me. “Calm down. I didn’t say that I believed Queen Mina. I just told you what she’s saying.”

  I rolled the posters back up, since I hated looking at them. “I’m sorry. It’s just … it’s not true.”

  “Mina also said that she called off the war against Viktor Dålig,” Bain said. I could only gape at him, so he went on. “She says that it’s all smoke and mirrors put on by you and Konstantin, and that too many people have died. So she’s just keeping Doldastam on lockdown until you and Konstantin are brought to justice.”

  “But…” I shook my head, not comprehending. “That doesn’t make sense.”

  Konstantin and I had thought the plan was for Viktor Dålig and his army to attack Doldastam, and then Mina would come in and save the day, thus becoming an indispensable savior, so she wouldn’t be dethroned.

  But if she was eliminating the threat of Viktor, then how would she become a necessary hero? And what was even the point of building up the Viktor threat in the first place? And why was she so insistent on keeping the town locked down?

  “The behavior of the Kanin royalty is increasingly erratic,” Bain said. “So Wendy doesn’t plan to tell them that you’re here, and she’s agreed to grant you amnesty as long as you need it.”

  That should have been a relief, but I barely even registered what Bain had said. My mind was racing to figure out what Mina was plotting, and what that would mean for everyone in Doldastam, along with myself and Konstantin.

  “It’s not the royalty—it’s Mina,” I said, and I looked up at Bain, imploring him to understand and believe me. “Mina is behind all these crazy things. She killed King Evert.”

  Bain took a step back. “We may not entirely trust the Kanin Queen right now, but that’s a harsh accusation. You can’t just go throwing that around.”

  “I’m not trying to stir up trouble,” I persisted. “I’m saying that the people of Doldastam are trapped under the rule of an unfit and tyrannical ruler. They need help. You can help them. The Trylle have a great army.”

  “Slow down, Bryn.” Bain shook his head. “Wendy granted you amnesty. That doesn’t mean she’s going to go to war based on your word.”

  “It’s not just my word! You’ve seen what Mina is doing!”

  “We’ve seen Mina acting in a paranoid fashion, but she’s also under a great deal of stress,” Bain allowed. “And even if she is acting in ways that you or I or even Queen Wendy would think were wrong, Mina is still the acting monarch of the largest kingdom, with the largest army, and the largest wealth behind it. She is well within her rights. Not only are we outmatched, but action is unwarranted.”

  “What if I could prove it?” I asked, almost desperately. “If I could prove that Mina killed Evert, then she’s not the rightful ruler. Which means that Wendy—as a Queen and an upholder of the troll kingdom at large—would not only be within her rights to deal with Mina, she would be obligated to.”

  Bain raised an eyebrow. “Can you prove it?”

  “Not yet,” I admitted. “But I’ll figure out how.”

  TWENTY-FIVE

  strategy

  “How well do you know Queen Wendy?” I asked Finn directly.

  He’d been doing the dishes when I came into the house, but he leaned back against the counter, arms folded over his chest, to talk with me for a minute. Mia had been putting down the kids for a nap in the master bedroom, and she walked out just as I asked the question.

  He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and glanced over at his wife. “I know Wendy fairly well,” he said finally.

  “What will it take to get her to declare war on the Kanin?” I asked.

  Finn leaned away from me, his eyes wide with surprise. “What? I thought you were trying to help your kingdom, not destroy it.”

  “I am trying,” I insisted. “The Kanin Queen, Mina, is the one who wants to destroy it, and I’m trying to figure out a way to get her out of power so she can’t do any more damage.”

  Finn rubbed his temple. “You’re trying to overthrow your Queen. I can see why she charged with you treason.”

  “I know how it sounds, but you have to believe me.” I looked from him to Mia, but she just stood with one hand pressed against her lower back, looking nervous about the entire conversation.

  “It’s not that I don’t believe you—I’ve been at the briefings with the Queen and the Chancellor. I know there’s something sketchy going on in Doldastam,” he explained. “It’s just that I don’t really know what the Trylle can do about it.”

  “You guys are so powerful! You can bring the hammer down on Mina!” I slammed my fist against my palm to demonstrate, and Mia held her finger up to her lips and motioned to the kids’ rooms behind her. “Sorry.”

  “The Kanin have a huge army, and with Mina commanding them, they’d be fighting against us,” Finn pointed out. “That means lots of innocent people—including my sister—would be hurt or killed.”

  “I don’t want a civil war,” I corrected him. “I want Mina deposed. Your kingdom has an army that’s powerful and skilled enough that we’d only need a small number to pull off a covert mission. Maybe ten, twenty of your people could sneak into Doldastam and arrest her.”

  “And you think Mina would just acquiesce to the Trylle’s authority?” Finn asked with a raised
eyebrow. “That she wouldn’t fight back and summon her guards to slaughter the twenty troops that had come in to capture her?”

  “Then they could assassinate her,” I replied simply, and Mia actually gasped at the mere mention of killing the Kanin Queen.

  Finn exhaled heavily, looking rather grim. “Now you’ve stepped it up to murder?”

  “It’s not murder,” I insisted. “Not when it’s done in protection of the kingdom. If it’s the only way to get Mina out of power, then so be it.”

  “I understand your anger and frustration, but that seems rather drastic and dangerous,” Finn said.

  “Your family is trapped in Doldastam, under Mina’s cruel reign. Do you really want them to stay like that?” I asked.

  “Of course I don’t,” he snapped. “But I’m also not going to suggest that the Trylle start a Kanin civil war when we have no grounds for it.”

  “What would be grounds enough?” I asked. “What do I need to find to sway Wendy into thinking that this is a good idea?”

  “Short of the Kanin declaring war on the Trylle?” Finn shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “What do you have on the Kanin Queen?” Mia asked. “Do you have any evidence to tie her to any of the shady things that have been going on?”

  “Not really,” I said sadly. “There’s stuff that Wendy already knows—like how Mina is acting strange and paranoid. But that’s not enough in and of itself. I think she killed the King, but I can’t go back to Doldastam to find out anything more.”

  “What about confidants or cohorts?” Mia asked. “The Queen can’t be causing all this trouble entirely on her own. She has to have people working for her or at least a friend that she’s telling all her secrets to.”

  Kennet Biâelse knew what was going on, but he was dead. Viktor Dålig would be far too dangerous for me to confront on my own, and I didn’t have any idea about who might be working for him.

  There was always Konstantin Black, but he wasn’t a source that anybody would believe. He’d need evidence to corroborate what he was saying, and I knew he had none.