Page 121 of Twin Crowns

But Glenna shook her off. Her pale lips curled, and in the quiet of her smile, Wren saw hints of Banba. Before Wren could stop her, she began flinging open the birdcages, one by one.

“Stop!” Wren rushed to close them, but the starcrests screeched as they soared over her head, higher and higher, shriller and shriller. “Rathborne can’t know I’m up here!”

Glenna flung open another cage. “The Kingsbreath already knows you’re here, Wren Greenrock. He is coming to find you.” Another cage, another flurry of wings flapping around Wren. “You have brought death to this tower tonight.”

For every cage Wren slammed shut, Glenna ripped three more open. Within minutes, the starcrests were all free and screeching.

“Fly free at last! Go and find your way home!” Glenna raced to the window and threw it open. The birds flew over her head, launching themselves toward the moon. When the last starcrest had soared outinto the night, the seer turned her face to the stars. Her eyes glazed and she fell perfectly still.

“Come away from the window,” hissed Wren. “We have to hide.”

Glenna kept her gaze on the sky. “I have been hiding for far too long.”

Outside, Wren heard the echo of footsteps in the stairwell. Her heart thundered. He couldn’t be here already. The feast was still in full swing. It was too soon....

Glenna stared at her over her shoulder.“Run.”

The door to the tower swung open, and Willem Rathborne stepped through it. Rose whimpered in his grasp. He dragged her into the room with him, one hand twined roughly in her hair, the other pressing a silver dagger to her throat.

Wren froze.

“It appears the old witch was right,” he said in a low voice. “The enemy does indeed wear two faces. But they are much closer to me than she had me believe.”

Rose’s eyes filled with tears. “Chapman saw you,” she sobbed. “I wanted to warn you, but Willem caught me in the stairwell.”

“That’s enough out of you,” growled Rathborne, twisting her hair until she flinched.

Wren palmed her dagger. “I swear on Ortha Starcrest’s grave, if you hurt her one more time, I will tear you limb from limb, you sniveling son of a—”

“So,youare a witch,” interrupted Rathborne. “I had suspected this one was Rose, but thank you for making it so abundantly clear.” He leveled Wren with a dark look. “The question is, where did you come from?”

“Your nightmares,” said Wren as she rounded on him. “It looks as if you weren’t as thorough as you thought you were the night you murdered our parents.”

Rathborne’s nostrils flared as he made sense of the twins. Of his mistake. “I should have chased down that conniving midwife and killed her.”

“Your time is up, Rathborne,” said Wren. “You’ve long outstayed your welcome at Anadawn.”

“And yet I am the only one guaranteed to leave this tower alive.” He glared at Glenna, who had turned from the window to watch him. “Prophecies are ever-changing, are they not, witch? I think I will quite enjoy turning this one on its head.”

Wren’s mind reeled as she searched for an escape plan. A way to save all three of them. But the sight of Rose in pain—and that bead of blood already sliding down her neck—filled her with a pulsing panic that made it impossible to think straight.

“You can’t kill Rose. She’s your only way into Alarik’s good graces,” she said quickly. “And by the sound of things, you’re already hanging on by your grimy little fingernails.”

Rathborne’s lip curled. “You forget I only need one of you to play nice.”

“And you want it to beme?” Now it was Wren’s turn to smile. “Oh, you pathetic, hapless idiot.”

Rose’s eyes flared in warning.

A vein bulged in Rathborne’s forehead. “You can’t manipulate me, witch.” He moved the dagger underneath Rose’s chin, tilting her head back with its point.

“NO!” Wren’s panic erupted inside her, white-hot and blinding. At that same moment, Rose gasped.

“Ah!”Rathborne cursed as he snapped his hands away from her. “You burned me! How did you—?”

Rose slammed her elbow into his stomach and leaped out of his reach.

The seer crossed the room, flinging her finger back and forth. “Ortha and Oonagh! Oonagh and Ortha! The Starcrest sisters haunt this tower!”

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