Page 142 of Cursed Crowns

Shen sloshed through the water, his dark eyes assessing her. “Are you hurt?”

Rose shook her head, but tears prickled in her eyes. She couldn’tshake the image of her sister floating dead in the water. The fight had gone out of her in that horrifying moment, the last of her hope extinguished. And yet here she stood, alive. Saved. “I can’t believe you came.”

“I couldn’t let you face this battle alone, Rose.” Shen came toward her, making a shield of his body as he pulled her close. “I never thought Barron would get this far, so soon.”

Rose looked up into his molten eyes. “I didn’t want to drag you into this, Shen.”

His brow furrowed as he traced the wound on her neck. “It’s a good thing Thea sent a note.”

“She did?”

“And so did Rowena.”

“What?”

“And also Tilda.” Shen paused. “Did you know her penmanship is terrible?”

Rose gaped at him. “I didn’t ask any of them to—”

“I know,” he said seriously. “But I’m glad they did. I had no idea it was this bad.”

“Even so,” said Rose with a sigh. “I know you didn’t want to march your people to war.”

“I didn’t have to,” he said with a shrug. “I just said I was going to fight and gave them the choice to follow.” His lips curled, revealing his dimple. “Turns out being trapped under the desert for eighteen years can get pretty boring. Most of them were up for a bit of action.”

They climbed out of the fountain. Rose’s throat tightened as Shen retrieved his dagger from Barron’s neck and cleaned it on the hem of his cloak. She avoided the Arrow’s unseeing gaze as she stepped over his dead body, but she couldn’t stop the shiver that crawled up her spine.

Death, no matter whose it was, didn’t sit right with her. It made her heart ache.

“It’s good timing, too. Considering all this extra power we’ve got to play around with.” Shen twisted his hand, lifting a nearby pear tree up by its roots. “Any idea where it came from?”

“Wren,” said Rose, craning her neck to see where her sister was. “She found a way to break Oonagh Starcrest’s ancient curse. It seems the strands of our magic are uniting once more.” Rose frowned. “But as to how she did it... that is another question entirely.”

Shen lifted the pear tree higher, angling it at a fleeing soldier. “If the Arrows didn’t like us before...”

“No,” said Rose, bracing her hand on his arm. “There is nousandthem.We must be a united Eana. It’s the only way forward.”

They looked out at the carnage beyond the gates, listening to the screams on the wind. Grandmother Lu had corralled a bunch of fleeing soldiers and was making them twirl round and round in an endless dance. Tilda was using sharp bursts of wind to spring higher in the air, only to somersault back down on unsuspecting Arrows. And even Celeste had picked up her discarded sword and was spinning it through the air, her delighted laughter soaring from her like a song.

“It might be a little late for that,” said Shen. “The witches want to explore their new power. They want to teach the Arrows a lesson. And who can blame them?”

Rose didn’t want to talk about blame. She wanted to talk about peace. She knew in her heart it was the only pathway to the future. But how could she get the others to see that?

Most of the Arrows were almost at the river now, slipping in the fresh mud as they looked fearfully over their shoulders. The rest hadfallen, dead or groaning, somewhere along the way. Rose knew if they fled now, they would only come back stronger and angrier to avenge Barron.

“This has to end,” she said, striding out past the gates.

Shen fell into step with her, idly spinning his saber in case a last-minute defector charged at them. “Looks like Wren and Lei Fan are hitting it off,” he said, gesturing to where the two witches stood down on the banks of the Silvertongue, their heads bent together. Rose regarded their matching smirks with rising apprehension. Wren as an enchanter was one thing. But Wren with all five strands of her magic and a rising thirst for revenge would be quite another.

Rose broke into a run, but long before she reached them, Wren and Lei Fan raised their hands in unison. There was an almightycrack!as they pulled a fork of lightning out of thin air. Lei Fan used it to set a discarded flag alight, the flames twisting and growing until they became a ball in the sky. More witches joined in, holding it steady, as Wren cast a fistful of earth and began to manipulate it.

In less than a minute, the flames had become a huge, writhing snake.

The Arrows screamed.

The witches roared in triumph.

“No!” cried Rose, running faster. She watched in horror as the snake opened its jaws and released a hiss of sparks and smoke. The Arrows fell back from the bridge, shrieking in fear. The snake dived at them, snapping at their ankles.

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