Page 113 of Twin Crowns

“Where should I be?” said Wren, just as softly. They both knew there was no place for her at Anadawn. At least not yet. “My sister and I can’t exactly dance with Ansel at the same time,” she said as she peeled off another strand of bark. Beside Rathborne’s golden key in her lap, a strip of rosewood lay twisted into a near-perfect imitation—close but not close enough. “I think that might give the game away.”

“You look different tonight,” said Tor, his gaze roaming. Wren was wearing her old shirt and fitted trousers—the ones she’d hidden in Rose’s room on her first night in Anadawn. Her face was bare, and her hair was pulled into a simple trailing braid. Tonight, beauty didn’t matter to her. She needed to move swiftly and freely.

“Now you truly have discovered the real me.” She flicked her braid, ignoring the unwelcome flicker of her self-consciousness. “Do you like what you see?”

“Always,” said Tor.

Wren bit back her smile.

“You’re doing magic again.” There was a note of caution in his voice as he drifted into the orchard, his wolf padding softly at his side. “Show me.”

“Say please.”

He hunkered down beside Wren, and she was struck by the freshness of his alpine scent and the memory it conjured. She tried not to think of him shirtless in the library, crushing his lips against hers. “Please,” he said in a low rumble.

The word rippled down Wren’s spine. She glanced sidelong at Elske.“I don’t want your wolf to eat me.”

Tor patted the wolf’s head. “She’s just curious.”

“Like her master.”

“Yes.”

“Fine,” said Wren. “But only because I feel like showing off.”

Tor’s lips twitched. “I’m glad you’re feeling like yourself.”

“Hush.” She closed her eyes, trying not to smile. “I need to focus.”

He went so still so quickly, Wren half wondered if he had evaporated into thin air until she heard Elske sniffing about beside him. Wren held the strip of bark in her hand and the golden key in the other. To offer earth in exchange for a spell was one thing but to mold somethingfromthe earth was quite another. It was a more complicated kind of enchantment.

She began to whisper, feeling the tendrils of her magic gathering in her palm. The enchantment set itself to work, twisting and bending the bark until it took on the shape of the key.

Wren snapped her eyes open. And frowned.“Hissing seaweed.”

Tor plucked the rosewood key from her hand. He traced the grooves with the pad of his thumb. “The indent is weak. It needs to be—”

“I know,” groaned Wren. “The spell is perfect. For some reason my power is stronger than it’s ever been, but the stupid wood won’t hold the enchantment.” She curled the golden key in her fist until her palm ached. “I don’t understand why it’s so hard.”

“Actually, it’s too soft.” Tor adjusted his sword and sat back on the grass, kicking his legs out until his thigh brushed against her knee. Elske padded once in a circle before dropping her head into his lap. “It doesn’t matter how many times you try. The wood won’t keep its shape.”

Wren scowled. “It’s the strongest wood in Eana. Yes, it will.”

Tor crossed one ankle over the other. “It won’t.”

“Whatever,” she mumbled. “What do you even know?”

“I know the difference between wood and metal.” He plucked the golden key from her hand. “I know this key opens the west tower. And I know that it belongs to the Kingsbreath. He wears it around his neck.”

Wren was forced to concede her surprise. “Wrangler indeed.”

He grinned at her and the unexpectedness of it—the pearly glint of his teeth and the wideness of his smile—nearly knocked her sideways.

A shiver of wind rattled the leaves, allowing a shard of moonlight to slip through. They sat in a puddle of it, sizing each other up.

“So, it’s not just me you were watching,” said Wren. “Now I don’t feel half as special.”

Tor turned his gaze to the white walls of Anadawn. “Alarik sent me here to keep a close eye on Ansel, but it was the Kingsbreath he was most wary of. He struck him as agitated and desperate in their correspondence. And a man who does not possess full control of himself cannot be trusted.”

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