Page 60 of Crownless King

The guard looked hesitant, and for a moment, I hoped he might listen.

“Please.” I gripped his hand. “Let me speak to the king. There has been a mistake.”

All I needed was to ask Voron one simple question. Did he really wish me gone? He wouldn’t even need to say anything. One look into his eyes, and I would know the truth. Despite all his experience, he wouldn’t be able to hide his feelings about something as enormous as this.

Six new guards descended from above. Instead of the silver-gray uniforms of the Elaros guards, they wore tan-and-white ones, in the colors of High Lord Pelargos’ household.

“We have an order.” Their leader stepped forward. “King Voron generously granted your wish. Are you ungratefully refusing it?”

“I just need to speak to him. Please. To thank him for hisgenerosity.” I tried not to sound sarcastic but failed.

The guard’s stern expression didn’t change.

“The king gave an order. And we’re here to make sure it’s executed properly.”

Someone led a horse to us.

A royal guard grabbed my waist. “If you won’t let us fly you, you’ll have to ride.” He heaved me up and into the saddle. “This way, if you fall and crack your head open, it won’t be through our doing.”

I gripped the horn of the saddle with both hands as the guard kept the horse’s reins. He flew slightly ahead of me, leading the horse at a brisk pace. The rest of the guards followed, both those of the king and of the High Lord.

As we passed through the gate and headed down the windy road toward the Cloud River, I held on tight to stay on the horse. Hills covered in grass and low shrubs flanked the road. If I jumped off the saddle and ran, it’d be hard to get away. They’d easily spot me from the air.

Hope refused to die in my heart. And I waited.

All the way to the forest, I waited for the sound of horse’s hooves behind us. I kept looking back over my shoulder, searching the road for a horseman and scanning the sky for the crow, the horseman’s loyal companion.

Everything inside me rejected the idea of Voron giving me up so easily. I knew how much the Sky Crown meant to him. I knew it better than anyone else in the kingdom did. And I refused to believe he would abandon me for it. And still I waited for him to come for me.

Once we entered the forest, however, my hope withered. Fear took over, wrecking me with worry.

I couldn’t go back. I decided the last time I came to this bridge that my life was now here, in Sky Kingdom. And now, there was even more to that decision than before. An invisible but unbreakable thread stretched between Voron and me. I refused to believe in his betrayal, and I couldn’t leave this world just like this, without even a single word of goodbye between us.

As the trees closed in on us from both sides and their thick canopies obstructed the sky from view, the leader of the guards softly landed on the path in front of the horse. The rest of the guards walked behind us. There wasn’t much space left on either side of the horse for any of them to walk next to me.

Choosing a spot where the tree trunks were especially close to each other and the shrubs were tall enough to hide me, I jumped off the saddle and ran.

“Hey!” the guards yelled behind me.

But I didn’t stop. Crashing through the underbrush, I dashed between the trees, running deeper and deeper into the forest.

I had no plan, very little sense of direction, and only one goal—to get away from them. I wasn’t going to give up without trying.

I ran as fast as my legs and my lungs would let me, away from the shouts and stomping of the guards behind me. I ran until the trees ended unexpectedly, and I found myself in a clearing.

“Got you,” came from the sky. Then, the leader of the High Lord’s guards dropped on top of me. “What a hellcat you are, feisty little human. Kings may love taming you, but I’ve got no fucking time for your mischief.”

I kicked and clawed at him as he crushed me to the ground. He hooked his arm around my throat from behind, and I bit into it. Sadly, my teeth weren’t sharp enough to pierce through the fabric of his uniform.

“Hush!” he snapped, landing a punch to the side of my head.

The blow rang like a bell inside my skull. Momentarily disoriented, I let go of his arm, allowing him to haul me up and fly back toward the road.

“That’s better,” he murmured approvingly. “I have my orders to get rid of you. And I’ll do it one way or another. Do you want to arrive in your world with a bloodied face and broken ribs? Because that’s what will happen if you try to run again. Do you hear me?”

I groaned something, my head feeling fuzzy and my vision blurry. He took my groan for a sign of confirmation of my cooperation.

“Good,” he said. “Here we are.”

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