Page 10 of A Crown of Darkness

And then she was gone.

Finn stared at the roof of the cell. Definitely a cell. Narrow, dark, the stonework exposed. He could hear Hestia shouting something through the whine in his head and his body felt strange. Yes there was pain, but also…wrong. He felt wrong.

Too tall, too thin, stretched out and…

He tried to pull himself up on his elbows and a sharp pain sent him back down with a gasp. It wrenched its way out of his throat and took with it all the air in his lungs.

Then Hestia was back, lifting a simple ceramic cup to his mouth. He drank deeply, the water fresh and cool, and oh so very welcome.

‘Take it slowly, Leander,’ she whispered. ‘It’s going to be all right.’

Leander?

Finn pushed her back in panic. The last thing he remembered was breaking the glass pendant and everything changing around him. He’d thought it was the spell to take him to Sidonia, but now…

He lifted hands that were not his hands and stared at them. Leander’s rings, and his perfectly manicured nails and his long fingers… He was wearing the remains of Leander’s clothes, all save the ones destroyed by blood and…

‘What…what happened?’ he whispered.

He had held his brother as he lay dying, tried to staunch the flow of blood, begged Wren to help. And Leander had spoken words of othertongue and…

He lifted those alien hands to his chest, to find the thick bandages expertly wound about him. But it wasn’t him. None of it was him.

‘The girl stabbed you. We couldn’t escape. They saved your life, Leander, at least there’s that. Please, you’ve got to think. They want information, things I don’t know. I don’t even know if you know the truth of it. But we’re in a terrible position. Wren is missing. The queen is enchanted. They…’

They…the Asterothians. They were still in Asteroth, in Pelias, and this cell lay far below the city, deep in the heart of the mountain. This was where people went when they were never going to be seen again.

‘Hestia, it’s me.’ His voice shook. Leander’s voice.

This couldn’t be real. It had to be a nightmare.

She stroked his hair again. She wasn’t doing much better herself, he thought, though she had been given some considerations as a lady and a member of a royal court. But still an enemy court. Had she been ministering to him? They wouldn’t leave her in a cell with him, would they?

But who was in charge now? Roland would never do this. Not to her, and not to him either.

But to Leander… maybe…

‘I know it’s you. Sweet darkness, you haven’t said a word in days, and that was the ravings of a fever. But it’s going to be all right, Leander.’

‘Not Leander, it’s me.Finn. Hestia, I’m Finn. Finnian Ward. Where is Roland? Where’s the queen?’

Hestia pulled back, staring at him now. ‘But you…’ Her eyes narrowed and peered in closer now. Her hands turned to iron against his head, holding him still so she could really study him. Whatever she saw turned her face even more pale and bloodless. ‘Great shadows, how is that possible?’

A noise outside brought their attention to the door of the cell. She released him and turned as if to shield him from whatever was coming.

‘Hestia? Where are we?’

‘Say nothing, do you hear me?’ she snapped. ‘Nothing at all. Not yet. I need to figure this out. I need to?—’

The door opened and a Maiden of the Aurum stood there, tall and imposing, wearing the expression of an executioner. Behind her were a dozen guards and two knights.

‘So he is awake,’ said Maryn. ‘Very well. Bring him. Send word to the regent.’

The guards filled the room, encircling him and Hestia.

‘No, please,’ Hestia protested. ‘He’s weak and I think still delirious. Just give us time to?—’

‘Enough, Lady Hestia, or you can take his place.’

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