Page 113 of Burning Crowns

‘I’ll send word to Anika,’ said Celeste, who was halfway to the door already.

Wren made a beeline for the balcony. She closed the door behind her but Shen didn’t raise his head. If he sensed her there, he made no sign of it.

Kai looked at Wren over his shoulder, brows raised.

‘I need a moment with Shen.’

To her surprise, Kai didn’t argue. He stepped away, leaving them alone on the balcony together.

‘I’m sorry for shouting at you,’ said Wren, breaking the stony silence. ‘What happened to Rose wasn’t your fault. The truth is, I’m angry at myself for leaving her in the first place.’ She bit her lip. ‘For always leaving her. I haven’t been a good sister these past few months.’

Shen turned around to face her. ‘I was there, Wren. And she slipped through my fingers.’ He bit off a curse. ‘You were right to yell at me.Hell, you should have skewered me with that fancy new sword of yours. I deserve it.’

‘No, you don’t,’ said Wren, and she meant it. ‘You’re the only person in this world who loves Rose as much as I do.’ She grabbed his arms, trying to tug him from his cloud of melancholy. ‘You have to help me save her, Shen.’

He frowned. ‘But she’s gone.’

‘Not yet,’ said Wren, hoping she was right. ‘Oonagh is going to the Weeping Forest. I think she’s taking Rose with her.’

Shen’s mouth was a hard line. ‘And what if you’re wrong?’ he said, clearly not wanting to raise his hopes in vain.

‘Then we go anyway,’ said Wren. ‘Rose would want us to fight, Shen. For Eana. For the witches. Forher.’

Shen’s eyes flashed, determination straightening his spine. He looked past Wren, to the sun climbing over the distant trees. ‘You’re right,’ he said, more to himself than to her. ‘Let’s cut that vicious creature down once and for all. For Rose. For Banba.’ He returned his gaze to Wren. ‘For you.’

Wren gripped the hilt of her sword, summoning the ghost of a smile. ‘There’s my best friend.’

‘Always,’ said Shen, returning it. ‘Now we fight. And we don’t stop until the war is won.’

Rose

CHAPTER 36

Rose opened her eyes and knew she had drowned. She was dead. She had to be.

All around her was cold, dark water. The world had turned hazy and slow, and she felt strangely weightless. Numb. She drifted past kelp and seaweed while fish nibbled at her toes.

Her body had fallen deep beneath the waves, far from where anyone would ever see or find her. Far below where she could ever hope to return from. She twisted in the water, noticing the hand curled around her wrist. Something else belatedly occurred to her. She was not alone down here. Oonagh Starcrest was dragging her through the deep and endless waters of her own kingdom.

But the water wasn’t choking Rose. She was cold, so cold she couldn’t feel her fingers or her toes, but she knew she was breathing.Without opening her mouth, without filling her lungs with air, somehow she could breathe.

But … wait. If she was breathing, then maybe she wasn’t dead after all?

She blinked, trying to remember how she came to be trapped down here. A memory stirred in the far reaches of her mind. Wishbone Bay glimmering in the distance, the cry of the gulls as they circled the strand … Oonagh leaping from the water,dragging her down, down, down. The seabed rising to meet them. Then Oonagh came again, clawing at her neck. Rose remembered the pain, the awful searing in her neck, the burning in her lungs and then the welcome sensation of relief. Of breathing as she was now.

She brushed her fingers along her neck, finding three deep ridges – Oonagh had given her gills when she’d scratched her! That was why the marks had not healed. She looked ahead to find the same markings on her ancestor. She closed her eyes, trying to calm her rioting mind. She was not dead, after all. She was living, swimming. No, that wasn’t right either. She was being kidnapped!Again.Rose ground her teeth in frustration.

It seemed no matter what she did or how determinedly she tried to take control of her own destiny, someone always had other plans for her. And now Oonagh was taking her far from her friends, her people. But she wanted Rose alive. Which meant her ancestor needed something from her. And that scared Rose most of all.

Rose tried to struggle out of Oonagh’s vicelike grip but her fingers were a manacle around her wrist. Oonagh didn’t even turn around, barely noticing Rose’s feeble attempts to flee. She kept her gaze forward, darting onward like a shark.

The water rippled around Rose, alerting her to shadows moving in the deep. There were other creatures down here. Huge, terrible things with snapping teeth and grasping claws. Red eyes that shone like blood. Sharks? Whales? Monsters? Rose squinted but couldn’t make them out.

Then came a flash of silver up ahead. For a moment, Rose thought she glimpsed a tail and then a mournful face looking back at her.Was that Marino’s mermaid, after all? Would she ever see Marino again so she could tell him what she’d seen?

Oonagh turned sharply, tugging Rose away from the haunting creature. ‘Help me!’ Rose tried to cry but the plea disappeared in a stream of bubbles. She flailed desperately, using her free hand to try to wrench herself out of Oonagh’s iron grip, but it was no use. Rose might as well have been a piece of driftwood down here.

And still her chest rose and fell, her heart thundering fearfully inside her chest. On and on they went, until time lost all meaning and Rose surrendered her senses. Her body stilled, slowly turning numb, and as hard as she tried to fight her exhaustion, her lids grew heavy until the darkness came to claim her once again.

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