Page 96 of A Crown of Darkness

Wren smiled softly, unable to find an argument he would listen to. It was a nice dream.

And when he kissed her, touched her, made her sigh against him again, she prayed it was a dream that would come true. But she didn’t believe it.

In the morning he would leave and so would she.

He would go with fanfare and ceremony. She would slip away in silence once she had explained herself to Elodie.

It had to be that way.

The twins were waiting for Wren on the road outside the lower city when she slipped away. Elodie had argued, of course. Told her not to be ridiculous, that she couldn’t leave them, that they were family and that she needed to take her time to explore the changes in her. With the help of Elodie and the Maidens of the Aurum, she could come to terms with the power inside her and find a way to control it.

But it wasn’t something to control. It justwasand Wren had no desire to develop ways of using it. She was not there to serve the Aurum.

The Aurum was gone.

Roland was quieter, calmer. He had already lost Finn. His dark eyes watched her as she told them of her plans. When Elodie had finished ranting about headstrong children, and stupid adventures, and all the other things she had to say, Roland just enfolded Wren in his warm embrace and told her to stay safe, to keep in touch, and that if she ever needed anything, they would be there for her.

Elodie scowled at him and called him a fool. But when Wren left the room she heard the tears and the words of comfort he spoke. She forced herself to keep going.

‘Hello, sister,’ said Lark brightly. She was spinning colourful flowers out of nothing on the edge of the road, dotting them among the grass around the spot where Robin sat, his long legs stretched out in the sun. A soft breeze stirred the air around them, and there were butterflies perched on his head, his shoulders and all down his legs. As he moved they took off like a burst of flower petals.

‘Are you going somewhere?’ he asked, artlessly. He knew full well that she was leaving. And he probably knew where she was going, too.

‘Cellandre,’ she told them and started walking.

‘Oh, good choice,’ said Lark, dancing around her as they walked. Robin matched her pace for pace and gave the impression of someone much older than he looked.

They were creatures of old magic too, of course. Like her. They always had been. Wren felt like the child beside them, despite appearances.

‘What about the others?’ Robin asked.

‘Roland and Elodie need to restore the kingdom to order. Maryn, Anselm and Olivier are working with the witchkind and the College to forge an agreement on their protection and future cooperation. Finn…’ Her voice failed her.

‘He’s already gone back to Ilanthus,’ Lark told her. ‘The ship sailed. He’ll have good winds and calm seas all the way. We’ll keep him safe, Wren.’

‘Thank you.’ What else could she say? Finn was gone. She didn’t want to think about that. ‘Why did you help?’ she asked after a long pause. ‘You didn’t have to.’

‘A long time ago,’ said Robin, ‘we were lost too. The darkwood had us. We had gone astray in those shadows and they were feeding on us. And oh it was strong. Until you arrived in Cellandre. You pushed it back, you and Elodie, and rescued us. So we returned the favour, sister.’

‘I’m not your sister.’

‘You are now,’ Lark replied with a laugh. ‘Or will be. Something like that. There are always three of us, you see. Eventually. Linear time is tricky.’

‘Lynette had two sisters,’ she said. ‘Alouette and Oriole. They were lost too and we found them.’

‘They never really understood,’ Robin replied. ‘We tried to help them, tried to teach them, but…they thought everything was about them. But it wasn’t.’

‘They thought it would make them more than hedge witches,’ Lark said, her voice suddenly heavy with sorrow. ‘They always wanted to be more. And nothing was ever enough.’

Wren didn’t quite know what to say to that so she kept walking.

Lynette had lost everything. She could have stopped, could have lived a life with Yvain and been happy. But she didn’t. She couldn’t.

That said, Wren was walking away from her family. And she had lost Finn.

‘What are you going to do in Cellandre?’ Robin asked after some time had passed.

‘I’m going to be what I was always meant to be, a hedge witch.’

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