Page 88 of A Crown of Darkness

Her heart trembled in her chest.

Oh he was still consumed by the Aurum, but that power had no reason to save an Ilanthian boy, or to keep Wren from killing him and compounding the Nox’s power over her.

No, that was all Finn.

And now he was at his brother’s mercy once again.

Leander took his time approaching him, his triumph assured now. He wielded the royal sword of Ilanthus like a toy, spinning it in his hands as if this was just a game or an exhibition match.

Strength seeped out of Wren’s body with growing horror. She braced her arms on the throne, forcing herself to stay upright.

‘I don’t know why you bother, little brother,’ he sneered. ‘I always win. I always will. This has always been inevitable. This time we finish it.’

‘No,’ Wren cried. But there was nothing she could do now. She didn’t have the power of the Nox at her fingertips and even if she did, it wouldn’t cooperate with her. Finn had sacrificed hisonly defence to stop it, for her. Because even with all the power of the Aurum driving him, he would always sacrifice himself for her.

He couldn’t help it.

She threw herself forward, but Gaius caught her. She didn’t see where the general had come from. ‘Don’t look,’ he whispered harshly.

Even he had given up. He was a general of Ilanthus, Leander’s general, and he was trying to be kind to her at this last moment. It was almost too much to bear.

‘Finn!’ she screamed, trying to tear herself free. She couldn’t see him, not around Gaius’s broad chest, but she saw Leander.

He grinned at her. ‘Be ready, my queen. This ends now. You and I will be one and all this fruitless struggle will come to an end. Time for my bastard brother to finally die.’

The sound of battle seeped into the Sanctum from outside but it seemed so distant and empty, echoing from a hundred miles away. All she could see was Leander’s face and the sword. Wren shoved Gaius aside and this time he released her. Finn knelt while Leander bore down on him in a rush of movement and finality, his head bowed as if accepting all this, just waiting.

Her mind screamed, and she did what Elodie had always told her. She reached for the light with everything she had left in her.

It had to help him. It had to.

‘Ward!’ a great voice roared from the entrance to the Sacrum and something bright as the sun arced through the air. Finn reached out without looking and snatched Nightbreaker from the air. The sword was a line of fire in his hand, an extension of the fire in his heart. It belonged there. It had always belonged there.

With the simplest of movements, an almost casual twist, he brought the great sword of the Grandmaster of the Aurum inagainst his own chest as if praying over it and then thrust it upwards.

Straight into the body of King Leander of Ilanthus.

CHAPTER 51

FINN

For a moment it was almost as if nothing had happened. Leander still glared down at him, still held the royal sword of Ilanthus poised over him, ready to deal the death blow.

But no one moved. No one could. Finn felt a great rush of light flow through him, heard the Aurum’s voice as if a choir sang in the back of his mind. He felt his body respond to it, vibrating from within with the sheer force of the power flowing through him. He was burned away by it, his very being scored from his veins, leaving him nothing but a speck of consciousness clinging to the edge of the world.

He rose slowly to his feet and Leander slid off Nightbreaker to crumple on the blood-slicked marble floor of the Sacrum. He still wore an expression of complete confusion.

The light of life, if it was truly light, had fled from Leander’s eyes.

No one would miss him, Finn thought vaguely. How could they?

Around them everything had gone very still. The battle which had been about to spill in through the doors to the Sacrum seemed to have stopped as the shockwave of what had just happened spread through the remaining Ilanthian ranks.

General Gaius was the first to recover. He dropped to one knee, head bowed.

‘The king is dead. Long live the king. Men of Ilanthus, heed him and obey his word.’

No one moved. Finn turned to look over his shoulder, almost casually. ‘Stand down,’ he said in a voice that carried through the shocked silence. ‘All of you. This is over.’

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