Page 30 of A Crown of Darkness

SECRET PLACES OF ILANTHUS BY ANOTH TRINITAS

There are many sacred places beneath the city of Sidonia, all governed by the Sisterhood of the Nox. To pass through these caves is to encounter the Nox in all her forms and to lay oneself bare before her. The goddess sees all in this total darkness. No one can enter and return unchanged. Secrets lie there that cannot be revealed.

And as always, such a journey must end in blood.

Blood spilled, blood sacrificed, blood which creates something new, or brings forth something so very old.

CHAPTER 16

WREN

‘Do you think it will work?’ Wren asked again, pacing across the floor with her hands knotting together in front of her. The light from the stained-glass windows fell in a blur of colours on the flagstones beneath her feet, and shadows danced with firelight on the walls, but otherwise the room was dark. Lady Oriole sat by the fire, her eyes fixed on the flames as if to burn them from her head. She clearly did not approve of Hestia’s plan, but now she was restored to them, Hestia Rayden outranked her. And perhaps Oriole was not so terribly overjoyed about that, though she tried to hide it. They were part of a hierarchy, after all.

‘It’s all we can hope for at the moment,’ Hestia replied. She still looked washed out and exhausted, dark circles staining the skin beneath her eyes. She sat in the chair opposite Oriole, wrapped in furs but she still shivered though the room was sweltering. ‘If not, we’ll have to try something else. Leander has to believe that you have fully embraced the Nox.’

‘And perhaps she should,’ Oriole interrupted. ‘It does not do to make mockery of such powers, Hestia. Not even for you. Either of you. No good will come of it. You are asking her to walk the sacred path. The Nox will demand a price for that.’

‘I understand, Oriole, and I promise we are not taking any of this for granted. The Nox will have her due. Isn’t that right, Wren?’

Wren swallowed hard on her suddenly tight throat. That was another thing she didn’t want to consider.

‘And we will make Leander king of Ilanthus?’ she asked, hoping to change the subject.

‘So long as we save Finnian, that’s all that matters,’ Hestia replied coldly. ‘If Leander wears the crown it won’t be for long. I have seen?—’

‘I know what you’ve seen,’ Oriole snapped irritably. ‘We all know. But this is not the way of our people. The Nox chooses the king. We do not trade the crown away for our own ends.’

Hestia waved an elegant hand at Wren. ‘And she is the Nox. And that crown he would wear is a mere trinket. He wants the Crown of the Nox, doesn’t he? To place onherhead and make her his.’

‘Would that be a bad thing? Having a channel for its power, focusing it? The Nox is not…not entirely sane, Hestia. Not anymore. That makes her dangerous. Not this girl, the Nox. You know that to be true.’

‘The Crown of the Nox was put out of their reach long ago,’ Hestia countered. ‘And for good reason. The line of Sidon abused the power of our goddess for their own ends. With it they can control her, perhaps even make her little more than a slave. It’s a blasphemy. We act as intermediaries between the king and the goddess. That’s the way it should be. Would you inflict that on Wren?’

‘Better it be inflicted on one than on us all, Hestia. Surely you can see that if we do not do something, the Nox will only become more volatile?’

But seeing Hestia was unaffected by this prospect, Oriole changed tack, glancing at Wren, a dismissive look which cut herto the core. ‘Much good it would do if we could use it anyway. The crown is lost and she is not the Nox. Not yet. She’s just a girl. She begged my help. Mine, Hestia, and I gave it. Now she is denying her own fate, as well as ours. This will all come to ruin.’

Wren shifted uncomfortably. Oriole spoke about her as if she wasn’t here and Wren didn’t like that, or the way she talked about controlling the Nox. She sounded almost eager. She sounded afraid of the goddess they all claimed to love. And, from what Wren had experienced of the Nox, maybe she was right to be afraid.

Hestia sighed and her hands trembled against the black fabric she wore. At the doorway to her cosy little study, lined with books and warmed by the open hearth, Laurence stirred, his eyes fixed on his mother, his mouth a hard line. Whenever she looked for anything he was there in an instant and Hestia invariably waved him away. He ignored that as well, which Wren admired. This apple had not fallen far from the tree, it seemed.

‘What kind of ruin?’ he asked in that gentle voice.

Oriole’s expression softened. All the sisterhood had a soft spot for Hestia’s son. He was of the line of Sidon as well, or so they said. Cousin to kings and princes, and the son of a sorceress. There was far more to Laurence than being a mere boy.

‘So far,’ Oriole continued, ‘Wren has withstood the Nox and held herself apart, whole and stable. This is admirable and shows her strength of will.’

Wren frowned. ‘But I thought you wanted – the sisterhood, I mean, and the Ilanthians – I thought you wanted her back, possessing me.’

Oriole gave a dismissive snort. ‘We serve the Nox in all things but these past twenty years…well, let’s just say it is somewhat easier when she is distanced from our world. A lot less death andsacrifice for one thing. Politically speaking, though we worship and adore the queen of the darkest night?—’

‘Oriole,’ Hestia said with a note of warning in her voice. She had been the one to bring up blasphemy. It was a dangerous charge in a world such as theirs.

‘Oh hush, the girl has a right to know.’ She fixed Wren with her darkest glare. ‘The Nox unbound is a terror for a tale of the darkest night. Some say our royal family wronged her, and others that she simply went mad with power. Or that she was ever thus. We had ways to control her, mitigate her powers and keep her controlled, happy.’

‘The sacrifices?’

‘Among others. There are artefacts of power hidden in the deepest caves with good reason. If you touch the wrong treasure, or walk the wrong path, or make the slightest misstep… Once, all men with magic died for the Nox, and not so long ago either. Far too many. Perhaps Leander should have been the one to be sacrificed but Alessander adored him, so much so that he sired another to take his place. And look where that got him. The blood of Sidon is eternally drawn to kill each other, thanks to the Nox’s own curse on them. And if Leander has his way, she will answer only to him. However, I don’t think he has the strength. The Nox must be controlled and brought to heel, but it will take more than just brute force. I for one do not want to go back to the days of blood and death. Neither does she.’ Oriole gave Hestia a brief nod. ‘Not with a young son of the blood royal.’

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