Page 2 of Twin Crowns

Shen tugged on the end of her cloak. “Get down.”

She pointed toward the distant trellises. “Do you see that girl?”

Shen squinted. “What about her?”

“That’s her. That’s my sister.” Wren felt a strange pull in her heart, like a thread going taut. For a maddening second, she wanted to go barreling toward those golden gates. “That’s Rose.”

Shen stood up slowly. “Princess Rose wandering in her rose garden,” he said with a low chuckle. “I’d say that’s as sure a sign as any.... Well, that and the fact she appears to have your face.”

Wren was staring so hard she wasn’t blinking. She had grown upknowing she had a twin sister half a world away, but seeing her here in the flesh had rendered her speechless for the first time in her life.

Shen turned to her. “Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts about the plan?”

In the back of Wren’s mind, her grandmother’s face hardened.

“When you get to Anadawn, leave your heart in the forest. A moment of weakness will send us all to ruin.”

She set her jaw, her gaze still trained on Rose. “Never.”

2

Rose

Princess Rose Valhart was used to having eyes on her.

The palace guards were never far away, the gold buttons on their uniforms flashing in the sunlight. The servants watched her just as keenly, often anticipating her needs before she voiced them. Then there was Chapman, the palace steward, who was always flittering around her like a moth. He knew where she was every moment of every day and made sure Rose was never late, despite her tendency to dawdle and daydream.

Her subjects watched her, too, of course. On the rare occasions she ventured into the capital city of Eshlinn, they would line the streets to catch a glimpse of her. She was their beloved princess, after all, as fair as the flower after which she was named, and as sweet and pure as its scent.

At least Roseassumedthat was what they thought of her. She wasn’t allowed to speak to any of them, only flutter her lashes and waggle her fingers from afar. But that would all change when she became Queen. She was determined to visit even the most far-flung lands of her kingdom and to meet the people who lived there. To speak tothem and know them... to let them know her.

Sometimes Rose swore that even the starcrest birds watched her more closely than they should. But then, she’d always had a fanciful imagination. Chapman blamed Rose’s best friend, Celeste, for that. They enjoyed trading silly tales, making each one more outlandish than the last, until they collapsed into laughter. Sometimes, they would write their deepest desires on a piece of parchment and burn it by candlelight, casting the ashes of their wishes out into the night sky.

Rose always wished for love, while Celeste chose adventure. Sometimes, Rose wondered if she could have both. But a life of adventure was not fit for a queen. She would have to make do with the thrill of her daydreams and the wild beauty of her gardens. She smiled as she plucked a pink rose from her flower bed and cut it neatly at its stem. She reached for another... and then froze.

She suddenly had the distinct unsettling feeling that someone was watching her. Someonenew.She snapped her chin up, straining to see past the guards at the golden gates and into the shadowy woods beyond, where the setting sun had set the canopies ablaze.

An ache bloomed in her chest. She pressed her palm against it. Had she indulged in too many sugar buns this afternoon? Or perhaps it was simply nerves. With her coronation just around the corner, she did havequitea lot coming up.

“Rose!” A familiar voice cut through the quiet garden, startling her. “What are you doing out here all by yourself?”

Of all the people in her life, nobody watched Rose more carefully than the Kingsbreath. Willem Rathborne, the man who had saved her life when she was only minutes old, had been her guardian for almosteighteen years, and he certainly had enough gray hairs to show for it. He scowled as he stalked toward her now, his grimace so deep, it aged him awfully.

Rose dipped into a perfect curtsy by instinct, her pink dress billowing around her. “I was just collecting some fresh flowers for my bedroom.”

Willem’s sigh whistled through his nose. “That’s a servant’s job. You shouldn’t be out here in the dark.”

Rose laughed lightly, to set him at ease. “The sun has only just begun to set. And I’m hardly off gallivanting in the streets of Eshlinn. I’m perfectly safe in my gardens.”

Despite Willem being the closest thing she had to a father, there had always been a distance between them. All her life, Rose had craved his approval, and now more than ever, she wanted to show him that she was ready to be Queen. That she could be trusted with the kingdom, the future.

She reached for another flower. “You worry too much, dear Willem.”

The Kingsbreath regarded her sternly. “How many times do I have to tell you to pull your head from the clouds, Rose? Youmustbe alert at all times. Danger is lurking—”

“‘Everywhere, and nobody can be trusted.’” Rose finished the sentence for him with a sigh. Willem had been obsessive about her safety her entire life, but now that her coronation was looming, he’d become positively paranoid.

She reminded herself it was only because he cared about her that he worried so much. She rested a gentle hand on his arm. “Willem, youknow no harm can come to Anadawn under the Great Protector’s eye.”

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