Page 9 of Calling of the Crown

“We’re absolutely lost,” I huffed.

“No, we’re just … taking the scenic route to the dining hall.”

I shook my head at Rune’s optimism. Or rather his denial, because we were totally lost. We’d been wandering the halls for the past ten minutes. Getting off our floor was the easy part. Once we were within the larger corridors of the palace, everything looked the same, and we’d taken a wrong turn somewhere.

“We’re going to be late. And on my first official day of the job to boot,” I grumbled with a humorless laugh.

“We won’t be—Ahh! Found the stairs.”

Seeing the familiar grand staircase and balcony, I let out a sigh of relief and quickly raced down the steps with Rune by my side. Bassel, Carlos, Avana, Marlow, Ardley, Alvaro, and the twins waited there, chatting amongst themselves.

“Look who finally decided to grace us with their presence,” Ardley laughed. He clapped Rune on the shoulder with his clawed hand and gave him a cheeky look that showed off his sharp canines. “Late night?”

Rune narrowed his eyes at his cousin, but before Rune could respond, Avana said, “He’s only teasing, Rune. The rest of us just got down here.” Avana’s brown eyes suddenly widened as she turned to me. “Bria, your—”

“Our room was so cool,” Greshim interrupted, running up to Rune and me. “There was a small pool in the corner!”

“We got t-t-to swim,” Newt added brightly, his fox tail practically wagging.

Seeing the twins so euphoric was a refreshing sight. They’d been oppressed and abused by their mother, Myra, for who knew how long. To have them here now, away from her, safe and seemingly happy, was more than I could’ve hoped for.

“I’m glad the two of you liked your room,” I said. Looking over their heads at Alvaro, their dad and Rune’s stepfather, I nodded at him. “Good morning, Alvaro.”

He cocked his head ever so slightly, “Buenos días, Brienna.”

I fought my eye twitch. “It’s Bria.” For the dozenth time. “I hope you found your room to be suitable.”

“It was. I actually shared the room with the boys. Even though I chose to come along, I don’t trust anyone here. I’m not leaving them without someone whom I know can protect them.”

“No one here would hurt them.”

Alvaro tipped his head just a notch higher. “I hope that is the case for everyone’s sake. I do rather enjoy killing slowly.”

Alvaro was someone I could never get a solid read on. He genuinely loved his sons, yet he’d stood by while Myra blatantly physically and mentally abused them, especially Newt. I never understood why he did nothing if he cared so much, but after dealing with Myra myself, I wondered if perhaps he had found that doing nothing worked better than trying to intervene.

Rune had once mentioned that Myra would use the twins to hurt him and vice versa. If Rune got out of line, she took it out on Newt and Greshim to ensure she got what she wanted. Maybe that was exactly what she did to Alvaro, too.

Even so, having him join me and my crew did leave me slightly on edge. I wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted or what he might be planning.

“Bria,” Dallas called as she came down the hall to place a hand on my arm. “How’d you sleep? Was your first night here okay?”

I could see what she really wanted to ask churning within her green eyes. She was desperate to know what I found in the nursery and if I was okay. And she was probably eager to know details of my first night in the palace with Rune. I squeezed her hand and gave her a reassuring smile. “All is well.”

Relief swept over her whole body before disappearing like the switch of a light. Her mouth gaped. “Your—Your hair …”

I grabbed at the long, blonde strands. “What? What is it?” Looking down, I realized what the fuss was about. “Oh, that. Yeah, I was hoping someone could explain what this is and why it’s happening. It started earlier this week while I was on the trip with Rune. One morning, I woke up, and there was a small clump of my hair that had blue tips. Each morning when I wake up, I find even more hair with blue tips.”

Dallas stared dumbfounded for a few moments, and just as her lips started to move, Imani, Jesiah, Akira, and Rance appeared from the hallway she’d just come from.

Imani clapped her hands and declared, “Breakfast is ready! Come on everyone. We’ll all need the energy for what today has in store.”

Dallas swallowed and whispered, “Later.”

I wasn’t sure why we needed to talk about my hair later, but she was already turning on her heel. She raced ahead and leaned in to whisper something to Jesiah.

Jesiah glanced over his shoulder at me, and despite his clear effort to keep his expression even, I could see the slight tightening around the lines of his mouth and eyes.

“Does blue hair mean I’m gonna go crazy and murder everyone?” I whispered to Rune as we followed everyone down the large hallway.

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