Page 86 of Calling of the Crown

Swallowing down my rising nausea, I said, “We’ll discuss that later. I’m not going to talk war and battle while Marcus continues to rot right in front of us. We need to move his body and prepare a funeral.”

“He’s infected,” Jesiah stated bleakly. “To be safe, I think we’ll need to burn his body to avoid spreading the Nightbloom. If it gets on anyone else, I’m afraid of the damage it might cause.”

The mental image of Marcus’s body being charred made my stomach ripple with revulsion, but I also knew Jesiah was right. We couldn’t risk it infecting anyone else.

Glancing over Rune’s shoulder, I nodded toward the discarded blankets in Dax’s empty cell. “We’ll wrap him up with those for now.”

Rance and Dallas immediately went to work gathering the bedding and trying to get Marcus in it without touching any of the black poison. While they did that, I focused on the empty cell.

“What happened with Dax?” I asked.

Imani leaned against the bars of the hold and crossed her toned arms over her chest. “Someone broke him out, and I’m assuming it’s the same person who killed Marcus. The faction of Water Fae that had been against you and your pursuit of peace have all disappeared, as well. We believe Dax was freed and taken in by that group.” She swallowed hard, her eyes squeezing shut. “Angus is gone, too. I … I think he joined them.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Rune growled, his voice dangerously low.

Angus.

I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh, cry, or scream. Maybe I wanted to do all three. Angus had admittedly been about as lovely as a hangnail, and his obvious dislike of my plan for our Kingdom had been a constant frustration of mine. But he was also wise with valid opinions that I tried to consider, and he’d been loyal to Water Fae all this time. Had I driven him to the point of treason?

“Do you think he was the one who broke Dax out?” Rune asked Imani.

She nodded. “That’s my guess. Marcus was guarding his cell, and if Angus approached, Marcus wouldn’t have had his guard up.”

“But he was killed with something we’ve already established is a Land Fae power,” I argued. I passed a dumbfounded gaze around as I finished, “Why would Anugs have that? That would have to mean he’s working with Land Fae, and he hates Land Fae.”

Everyone suddenly avoided my eye contact, some choosing to look at the floor, others pretending to fiddle with the door to Dax’s room. Rune squeezed me tighter, and that’s when I knew what they were all thinking.

He hates me more.

Angus—and probably all the Water Fae who’d been against peace with Land Fae—had been so against me and my ideas that they’d joined the very people who they were supposed to loathe. They’d turned on their entire Kingdom, most likely because they felt any supporter of me was an enemy to them and their beliefs. And who else felt the same way? Elias and his followers. Nothing could join two groups of people that loathed each other like a common enemy.

Me.

Swallowing hard, I patted Rune’s arm to signal that he could let me down. He complied, and I said, “Prepare Marcus’s body for a funeral, then everyone get washed up. We need to call the Council of Doctrina and all high-ranking military officials to discuss the new turn-of-events.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Jesiah, Dallas, Rance, and Imani answered in unison.

I spun on my heel with Rune right behind me and left the dungeon as quickly as I’d entered.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

I WAS LIKE A ZOMBIE as I shed my travel clothes and stepped into the shower in the bathroom I shared with Rune. The warm water beat into my skin, but not even that seemed to soothe me at the moment. Emotion built inside of me, ugly and heavy, but it clung to my mind, refusing to break through the surface.

My world was crumbling.

People were turning against me.

Marcus was dead.

War was on the horizon.

And I somehow had to tell all my people this. I had to confess that I’d failed to convince Elias to end things peacefully. I had to look Rune in the eye, knowing I’d failed to prevent a fight where he’d have to face his mother. Everything felt broken, hopeless, and ruined.

A warm hand found the small of my back and coasted up to my shoulder. Rune kissed the top of my head and whispered, “It’s okay to cry.”

His words smashed like a wrecking ball against the dam holding everything inside me. My eyes squeezed shut, and I buried my face in my hands as tears rolled down my cheeks. Sobs filled the bathroom, and tears got lost among the drops of water that cascaded toward the drain. Rune turned me around to face him and pulled me into his arms where he held me tightly.

“I’m so sorry,” I croaked. “I’m so sorry that I couldn’t stop this war. I’ve failed you. I’ve failed everyone.”

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