Page 57 of A Crown of Darkness

Not your father, not really, a vicious whisper told her. The Nox didn’t want to lose its grip on her. She pushed it away ruthlessly.You’re part of me, little vestige. And I am part of you. In the end, we will be one. That is how it will always end.

The Nox was already unravelling again away from the caves. It didn’t matter, the things it said. It was nothing. She had to remember that. The further it got from the caves, from the centre of its remaining power, the worse it would be. The less sanity it would cling to until its bloodlust overwhelmed it again.

And her.

The sobs came before she could stop them and she hardly heard what Roland was saying as he led her to the edge of the garden, finding a stone bench which she sank onto without releasing him.

Safe. Hestia had told her the spell would bring her somewhere safe. There was nowhere safer than with Roland. Nowhere in the world. She realised that now.

What a fool she had been to ever doubt him.

People scrambled out of Finn’s way as he moved soundlessly to her side, his eyes scanning all around. And poor Laurence trailed behind him, clutching the crown so tightly that blood ran from his palms. His hands were shaking and his face was pale.

‘Laurence,’ Wren managed to say. She wanted to apologise, to tell him it would be all right, that nothing bad would happen.

But it already had, and he had done it.

‘I…I didn’t…I couldn’t…they made me do it, my…my lady.’ The words spilled out, halting at first and then in a rush of emotion. He dropped to his knees in front of her, as if he didn’t have the strength to stand, and she tried to catch him.

Finn watched without comment or reaction. It was so unlike him to see another in obvious pain and do nothing. Roland saw it too and she noticed him nod to Anselm and Olivier, who took up positions where they could intercept Finn in a moment.

This was not good.

‘It wasn’t your fault,’ she murmured to the boy and reached out her hand in an effort to comfort him. Instead, he handed her the crown and she recoiled, almost dropping it. The cursed thing vibrated in her hands, recognising her. She pushed it back into Laurence’s grip.

‘What happened?’ Roland asked. ‘Wren, I need to know everything.’

‘Leander happened,’ she said bitterly. ‘Hasn’t he always happened? He killed Alessander and framed Finn. He’s king now and he…’ She glanced down at Laurence again. He was staring at the ground, broken. ‘He bespelled Laurence and killed Hestia.’

Roland sucked in a breath. Inexorably, his gaze fell onto the boy and he saw everything. Because Roland always knew.

‘This young man needs food and rest,’ he said softly. ‘And we need?—’

‘We need to get back to Pelias,’ Wren said. ‘Now. He’s going to attack. He’s probably already unleashing his army and he knows the city is undefended. He said the knights can’t stand without the Aurum. What does that mean, Roland? What happened to Elodie? They said she was sleeping, that she was enchanted.’

‘And the Aurum sleeps with her,’ said Finn in that soft monotone. ‘You are the queen now, my lady. You should take this.’ He scooped the crown out of Laurence’s unresisting grip and offered it to her again.

‘No.’ Her hair whispered around her shoulders as she shook her head, the sound like the laughter of the Nox, and Wren wanted to cry again.

But she couldn’t. Not just because it would not help. There were no tears left.

Finn seemed unmoved. ‘Then Pelias will fall. Who else can stop my brother now?’

The silence was bitter and awful. Everyone was looking at them. No, at her.

Anselm laid his hand on Finn’s armoured shoulder, pushing slightly and yet gently to get his attention. Finn’s lips curled back as if he might snarl.

‘We can, Finn. All of us. Don’t make her destroy herself and you. Come back to yourself, my friend.’

For a moment Finn’s expression stayed as still as stone, but then he frowned. Just a little, just a crack in the unyielding mask. He lowered the crown, and as he did so the confusion grew more clear. The Nox’s spell peeled back just a little. Enough.

‘Wren?’ he whispered. ‘I…I don’t know what…’

Wren rose to her feet and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him against her and holding him close. It was like embracing stone.

‘You need to rest, all of you,’ Roland told them, the tone of command unmistakable. ‘I will look after Laurence. Chancellor, can one of your people find us all rooms and a change of clothes for my daughter and my ward.’

His daughter, his ward.He was claiming them both again, making sure everyone knew they belonged to him. And not just the people of the College of Winter. Wren and Finn as well.

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