Page 153 of Cursed Crowns

“No, you don’t.” She pulled her arms around herself to hold the awful truth of what she had done inside. The blood spells and the sacrifice, the way she had thrown herself at Alarik, how sometimes, in the dead of night, she still dreamed of that blizzard, that frenzied kiss. “I’m not a good person, Tor.”

“So what is it that you want, Wren?” Tor stepped toward her, and she let him. He braced his hands on the railings, blocking out the rest of the world. “Absolution?”

Wren swallowed thickly. “Don’t you want to know what I’ve done first?”

“I want to know what you need, Wren.” He tilted his chin down until they shared the same breath. “And I want to be the one to give it to you.”

She looked up, losing herself in the storm of his eyes. Desire nudged her closer, until her hands were on the lapels of his coat, tugging him in.

He leaned down, kissing the sensitive spot beneath her ear. “I wish we were a hundred miles from here.”

Wren smiled against him. “In the Turcah Valley?”

Another kiss, his breath feathering her cheek. “Yes,” he whispered. “All day. All night.”

“Tor.” She rose to her tiptoes.

He brushed his nose against hers. “Wren.”

“WREN!” shouted Rose, her voice echoing all around them. “Where are you?”

Tor pulled back from Wren just as her sister came stalking through the mist. Rose’s eyes were glassy, and her cheeks were pale.

Celeste was with her. “Rose is finished. It’s done. Whatever this is, wrap it up.”

“We were just talking about... Elske,” said Wren, knowing nobody believed her and not really caring. She went to her sister, taking her elbow to steady her. “Are you all right? How did it go?”

“I’m fine. And Ansel is at peace.” Rose’s smile was shaky. “I’d like to go home now.”

“Of course.”

They made their way back to the gangway, with Tor following closebehind. This time, Rose went first, supported by Celeste. Tor helped Wren climb up last, his hands lingering on her waist, his eyes saying the goodbye that he couldn’t voice out loud.

Wren wanted to say something, too—to tell him that she would write, that they would see each other again, but she couldn’t make a promise without merit. Not with him. She had no idea what the future held, or whether they might ever see each other again. So instead, she smiled, saying nothing as she stepped onto the narrow wooden bridge.

It was then that she saw him, a figure taking shape in the silver mist. King Alarik had appeared on deck. His blue eyes were rimmed in red, and his face was drawn, as if he hadn’t slept in days. As if he might never sleep again. She could tell he had been crying and hated how something inside her lurched at the thought.

“It seems our bargain is finally at an end.” He offered the ghost of a smile, but his voice was ragged. She hated that, too. He came to stand beside Tor. Wren’s cheeks burned under the spotlight of their gazes. The moment was so acutely awkward that a small part of her wanted to laugh. The rest of her wanted to fling herself into the sea, where the cold water would soothe the sting of her guilt and destroy the twin flames of her desire.

She didn’t trust herself to speak, so instead she waved a clumsy goodbye, before turning abruptly on her heel and scurrying back toward theSiren’s Secret.

The king’s voice followed her through the mist. “Until next time, Wren.”

62

Rose

Rose perched on the velvet bench of the royal tour carriage, carefully adjusting her crown.

“It is straight?” she asked her sister. “I don’t know why, but it feels heavier.”

“Must be all the responsibility,” said Wren, brushing a stray curl off her sister’s forehead. “You look perfect.”

Rose smoothed her skirts, trying to settle the flutter of nerves in her stomach. “I just want the tour to go well this time.”

“It will go well,” Wren assured her. “And we’ll both be thoroughly bored by the end of it.”

Six weeks had passed since the battle at Anadawn Palace, where the witches had inherited the fullness of their power and the people of the Sunkissed Kingdom had come to their aid. Since then word had spread throughout Eana of the lost desert kingdom, as well as the twins’ mercy at the golden gates, how they had spared the frightened soldiers and repentant Arrows who had turned against the witches, in the hope of forging a future where they could all live together in harmony.

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