Page 75 of A Crown of Darkness

And Finn had not been raised as its chosen. The Aurum had picked him because of Wren. And it might destroy him just to get to her, especially if Wren had lost her battle with the Nox.

‘We must find the queen and Wren,’ said Finn solemnly. ‘Get them to safety. Everything else is secondary. I know my duty, Roland. My brother can wait.’

Roland only hoped that the Aurum agreed.

The lower city was eerily quiet, far worse than when Sassone had kidnapped Elodie and the knights had ridden to her rescue. Now there was no sign of anyone, and nothing moved. If there was still anyone hiding here, they were hiding well and not planning on stirring abroad if they could help it. The city gates had been shattered. Houses along the main road were little more than blackened ruins now. But there was a sense of being watched as they passed, even while making their way to the palace along secret ways. While Olivier and Anselm headed for the prisons where Anselm had learned the knights were being kept, Roland and Finn found themselves alone in the square where the palace deliveries were normally inspected.

There were bodies scattered everywhere. Roland stopped, taking in the scene, assessing it with caution. Some were his knights, some city guards, but far more of them were civilians.Mostly men, but a number of women as well. Far too many. Makeshift weapons lay scattered about, alongside swords, axes and pikes. They had tried to defend their homes.

‘How long ago?’ Finn asked, his voice unexpectedly shaken.

‘Four or five days, perhaps. Not long after we left the College.’

‘And no one moved the bodies? No one came for their dead?’ He sounded startled, and it made Roland wonder again who he was talking to. Finn knew things like this happened in war. He knew the methods the Ilanthians used, but perhaps the Aurum did not. It was all about the glory of battle. The aftermath…it had nothing to do with that, did it? So how much of the man with him was still Finnian Ward?

Roland winced. ‘It’s a message to everyone else. And trying to take the bodies would just mean more death. Come, we can’t do anything else here.’

Elodie and Wren. They were all that mattered right now. Without the two of them, Leander had no leverage here. That was what the logical part of his brain was saying anyway.

They accessed the narrow passageway which led them through the cellars and up towards the kitchens, encountering no one on the way. The echoing silence continued, the people scarce. There were no servants and no guards and everything felt wrong.

So very wrong.

Pelias had never been this quiet. It grated on his every nerve.

It didn’t last and when they heard the approaching patrol it was almost a relief. Swords in hand, they waited.

The Ilanthians were laughing about something that had happened with a servant, their tone cruel and mocking. Roland steeled himself.

‘Should have just let us have their bitch queen,’ the first one scoffed. ‘But they had to be all noble. Not so noble now, are they?’

‘Maybe, but the king said no. Everyone else is fair game but not her. Said he owes her.’

That produced a filthy-sounding chuckle. ‘Oh really? Owes her what?’

Roland glanced at Finn, whose eyes were blazing again, his mouth the same hard line as Roland’s. He nodded.

Everything became a blur of movement as the Aurum roared through Roland’s veins. With Finn so close, opening himself to its power was effortless. Not that the Ilanthians would have stood a chance anyway. They were just grunts really, half drunk on the power of conquest and stupid with it. Roland grabbed the leader by the throat and slammed him back against the wall, while Finn took care of the rest. He moved like a dancer, his sword a line of light. Moments later, six bodies lay sprawled on the floor of the corridor.

And when they were all dead, Finn still moved, looking for someone else to fight, someone else to kill. He lunged towards the last Ilanthian who shrank back from him in horror, almost ready to hide behind Roland.

‘Your highness! Prince Finnian!’

Finn froze, staring at the man, his expression a hostile mask.

‘Stand down, Finn,’ Roland barked, and training won out, for which there were not enough prayers of thanks in the world.

‘What…what happened to him?’ the guard stammered.

Roland lifted his eyebrow. ‘You invaded his home.’

‘But he…he’s one of us.’

‘I’m really not. I never was,’ Finn snarled. ‘You all made sure of that.’

Roland turned on their prisoner. ‘Where are they keeping the queen?’

CHAPTER 43

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