Page 93 of Cursed Crowns

“Long years passed, and the country grew to welcome others. Eana took on lovers, and had many children, all of whom inherited her magic. She lived and loved freely, the way she had always wanted, but everymorning she rose to watch the sun rise. And in those quiet moments when the rest of the world was still in slumber, her heart ached for her greatest love.”

So softly that Rose almost thought she was imagining it, Shen brushed his hand against hers. She glanced sidelong at him, but his eyes were on the storyteller.

“And then one day the sky went dark.” All at once, the flames shrank to the size of a single peppercorn. The courtyard dimmed. “When Eana looked up, she saw that the moon had passed in front of the sun, blocking its light. It was the first morning of her new life that she had not gazed upon her love, and so she knelt in her garden and wept. Where her tears fell, white orchids bloomed.”

Shen’s fingers tangled in Rose’s. She closed her eyes, lost to the tale and his touch.

“A man approached Eana and asked why she was weeping. There was something familiar about his voice. When Eana looked up, she cried out, barely able to believe her own eyes. For standing before her was the Sun himself, remade into a man and wearing a band of glimmering gold.”

The flames erupted once more, this time sculpting themselves into the towering figure of a man. And though Rose couldn’t trace his face in the firelight, she knew at once that he had been beautiful. Radiant.

“‘I could not bear to be away from you a moment longer,’ said the Sun Walker, lifting Eana from her knees and pulling her into his embrace. ‘I have come to be with you. And while I am here, there will be no light in the world. My sister, the Moon, will hide my absence. And for as long as she does, I will stay.’

“Eana rejoiced in the return of her true love. She welcomed thenight, and in it showed him the great pleasures of mortality—they feasted and they danced, and when they retired to bed, they loved each other, wholly, in a new way.”

The flames separated, becoming two people, entwined. For a moment, the shape of Eana and her lover was so intimate Rose had to look away. Shen caught her gaze and held it. His fingers brushed the delicate spot inside her wrist, his thumb tracing patterns on her palm.

“For a time, the world was dark. Eana and her lover lived in its shadow, where she bore his children, each one blessed with ancient magic,” Daiyu went on. “But while love is eternal, so, too, is light. The Sun Walker knew he had to relinquish his human form and return to his home in the heavens. And for the good of the world, and the land she had cultivated, Eana knew she had to let him go. When the Sun kissed Eana goodbye for the last time, he left her with a parting gift. A ruby ring that glowed with a heart of fire. A symbol of his everlasting love and the key to what he would give to their children.”

Shen dropped Rose’s hand to clasp the ring beneath his shirt, his eyes wide with wonder.

“To his children, the Sun gifted a city that would always protect them. One that could move wherever it pleased in the desert and hide itself when under threat. One that would always provide for its people. And so, not long after the land of Eana was made from the enchanted bones of a bird, the Sunkissed Kingdom was born.” The flames arced across the courtyard, becoming a flickering outline of the very kingdom in which they now stood.

The crowd raised their hands as if to touch it.

“The children of Eana and the Sun are our ancestors,” said the storyteller proudly. “The Sun is in our blood, and so we can survive therestless sands. Live above them, and below them. We have been blessed by the Sun’s golden light, and tonight we dance and feast in his honor.” She brought her hands together in a steeple and pointed them right at Shen. The crowds parted around him. “Our crown prince used Eana’s ruby to unbury us from the sands, and now that he has returned, he will take his rightful place on the throne as the Sun Crowned King!”

The crowd erupted in cheers. The storyteller crooked her finger, and Shen went to her without looking back. He reached the steps and turned to face his people, the fire dancing above his head like a crown.

Rose pressed a hand to her chest to quell her thundering heart.

“In the name of my father, Gao, and my mother, Ai Li, and all the great kings and queens that came before them, I promise to bring honor to our kingdom,” said Shen. “I promise to protect you from danger and hardship. I promise that you will always sleep under the stars and wake to see the sun risen in the sky.”

Rose stared up at Shen Lo in disbelief. He was speaking like a king. Helookedlike a king.

Hewasa king.

The moment he finished speaking, fireworks exploded in the sky, showering everyone in streams of golden light. And as another cheer went up, Rose knew, with a sudden aching certainty, that Shen Lo would never come back to Anadawn.

The revelry went on for hours. There was little time to broach the topic of Shen’s army again. Rose found solace in her food, gobbling up two servings of roasted pork belly with crunchy crackling, a mountain of springy noodles and an entire decadently spiced aubergine.

She was quite certain she couldn’t eat another bite, when the serversbrought out the candied fruit Shen loved so much. There were pears and apples and bright red hawthorn berries.

“Go on,” urged Grandmother Lu, heaping some onto Rose’s plate. “You must taste my cooking.”

Rose popped a hawthorn berry in her mouth, feeling a rush of giddiness as the hardened sugar cracked between her teeth, before wincing at the sourness of the berry.

“See,” said Grandmother Lu proudly. “A symphony of flavor.”

After the feast, there was dancing. Rose had never moved so wildly before. Without a partner, without steps, without propriety, with only the music to lead her. She felt like a spinning top as her skirts swirled around her, changing colors in the flickering firelight. The drums echoed her rioting heartbeat, and she laughed as she threw her head back, feeling like the stars themselves were watching her dance.

But it wasn’t only them. Rose felt Shen’s gaze before she caught it. He was standing to the side of the courtyard, watching her dance, but instead of making her feel shy, she felt bold and beautiful. Holding his gaze, she tossed her hair and swung her hips, letting his dark eyes drink her in.

She desperately wanted him to join her, to dance with her until they could no longer stand, but just as she reached out to him, Feng appeared at his side and whispered something in his ear.

Shen glanced up at the sky. It was nearly dawn. Nearly time for him to take his place as the Sun Crowned King.

Something snuffled at Rose’s skirts, pulling her attention away. She looked down and laughed. “Elske! Are you trying to join the party?”

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