Page 74 of A Crown of Darkness

They were too well trained to disobey a direct order from the Grandmaster. Roland listened calmly as they told him about Wren’s capture, about finding Laurence and the crown gone and about his injury. He remembered the two witchkind children and took the news of their help calmly enough. The argument of ‘They’re just children’ was never said aloud. Roland didn’t seem even faintly surprised at Robin’s prediction, but nodded slowly and his frown deepened. He eyed the two of them carefully, but didn’t shoo them away as they nestled in against him.

Olivier made his report like a confession and it was Roland who absolved him. Perhaps the only one he would ever accept it from.

‘You did what you had to,’ the Grandmaster said. ‘It’s all an act of service, Olivier. The Aurum wouldn’t have allowed it otherwise.’

Inside Finn, he felt the Aurum purr in agreement but he didn’t want to share that. It felt far too strange.

‘But what am I now?’

‘You?’ Roland gave one of his rare smiles. It was bleak and brief, but it was a smile. ‘I don’t believe you’ve broken your vows. You are a Knight of the Aurum, and the queen would agree. We’ll ask her, when we free her. Let her decide.’

Then he turned his attention to Anselm who reported that Pelias had surrendered, that the knights had been ordered to stand down by the regents’ council and the Grandmaster.

‘Yvain?’ Roland said, and Anselm nodded solemnly. ‘Why would he do such a thing?’

‘I don’t know. Leander had Wren, I suppose. It’s the only reason I can think of but it doesn’t make sense. He won’t kill her. He can’t. He needs her as the Nox. And he wants her as his queen. He always has done. Yvain would surely know that.’

The thought of that sent a chill of alarm through Finn. He had failed her again, hadn’t he?

‘Where are the knights?’ he asked.

‘In the prisons beneath the mountain with half the city guard. The rest are…there were some who fought back of course. He had one in ten put to the sword and…well, that stopped any more thoughts of resistance for now, I suppose. He plans to marry Wren and rule both kingdoms. She has apparently consented. No one appears to have seen her though. Or the queen.’

‘Then we need to get into the palace first,’ Roland said firmly. ‘Finn, you’re with me. Anselm and Olivier, you’ll rouse the knights, set them free and get that resistance back into force. And you two?’ He addressed Robin and Lark who tilted their heads to listen in that unnerving way of theirs. ‘I need you to take word to the witchkind. To anyone who will listen. Bring help. Can you do that?’

Robin grinned.

‘That,’ said Lark as if speaking to an idiot, ‘is why we’re here in the first place.’

CHAPTER 42

ROLAND

What had happened to Yvain? He would never have surrendered the city, surely? Roland had trusted his old friend in that one thing above all else, his loyalty to the Aurum, to their duty, their people. But Pelias had been given over to Leander…

Roland couldn’t focus on the shock of the news which was only part of what was making his head swim. He still felt as if only part of him belonged in the world, as if he had been dragged back by the scruff of his neck. Olivier looked wrung out, and these newfound powers didn’t seem to have done him any favours. And yet, he was aglow from within, as if something which had been integral to him had not just been restored but amplified. The thought that for all these years knights had been forced to give up something so vital in service of the Aurum, despite the strategic advantage it might have given them, made no sense at all. Roland didn’t know why, that was the worst thing. He was supposed to be the Grandmaster of the Knights of the Aurum and even he didn’t know.

The change in Finn was no more comforting. The Aurum filled him like a Paladin under an Aurum-raised beacon all the time. It glowed beneath his skin, illuminating him like a lantern, bright and beautiful.

With nightfall, they armoured themselves – Finn wearing that black armour once more despite the light now coursing through him – and followed Anselm through the secret ways of House Tarryn into the city. Roland had always known that the Tarryn family had their own paths they could use, that they had ruled the lower city for generations and made it their own. Now, he realised it had gone much further than anyone had known. It was only a grace that until Anselm’s father they had been loyal to the crown and that Anselm had rejected such treachery.

Anger simmered beneath Anselm’s skin like the light beneath Olivier’s. Roland supposed that he was the Earl of Sassone now, but no one had said it out loud except for Alouette and that had been a taunt. Sassone had betrayed them all and no one would want to take on that title, especially not now. Roland would have to watch Anselm, he realised. The young knight still wanted to prove himself loyal and that could drive him to anything.

But as Earl of Sassone, he was bound to defend Pelias. And Pelias, his city, was devastated.

His concern for Olivier’s transformation was only part of it.

As they moved to part ways, Roland held his shoulders and fixed him with a stern look. ‘Nothing stupid, Anselm. Find the knights, and free them. We will need every man we can get.’

Anselm frowned but then nodded slowly. ‘Yes, Grandmaster.’

He really ought to correct him. That wasn’t his title, not anymore.

He wasn’t sure what he was now. But his people needed him. And so did Elodie and Wren.

‘Finn?’ he prompted as the other two left. ‘We’re heading for the palace. Are you going to be—’ He wasn’t sure what he was asking. All right? Himself? Able to control the Aurum inside him? Perhaps all of it. His brother was in Sacrum and surely the need to revenge himself on Leander was powerful. And the magic in his body would want to attack the Nox. When theAurum descended on the knights in battle, Roland knew there was no control available, barely any conscious thought. It was the need for battle, the desire to destroy their enemies. The Aurum was all.

It had brought them all to their knees when Elodie last wielded it, and when she lost control of it he had thought they would burn.

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