Page 123 of Burning Crowns

And then there was just Wren and Oonagh, and the sea wind howling between them. Oonagh raised her hands, summoning her own violent gust. Wren pitched forward, planting her feet to keep from losing her footing. She used her sword as a staff, stabbing the earth as she inched towards Oonagh. It would take more than the wind to stop her now.

‘Determined little creature, aren’t you?’ sneered Oonagh. She raised her hand, pulling a streak of lightning from the cloudless sky.

Wren leaped out of the way just as it struck, burning a hole in the earth. Smoke curled up from the grass, making her wheeze.

But still, she crawled. Little by little, hand over foot. Oonagh cast another bolt and without thinking, Wren raised her sword. She screamed as the lightning bounced off the blade, creating a blinding flash. It ricocheted back at Oonagh. This time, it was she who had to leap away.

Oonagh fell to the ground and Wren seized the moment, lunging at her ancestor. She was on Oonagh in the next heartbeat, her knees pitched either side of her ribcage, the point of Night’s Edge at her throat. Oonagh froze, her red eyes going wide. She blinked and they turned green. For a moment, she looked so like Rose that Wren hesitated. But the wind roared, and she remembered Banba and everything else Oonagh had taken from her. Everything she still sought to steal.

She leaned on her sword, drawing blood. ‘Any last words?’

Oonagh’s lips curled. ‘Cease.’

Wren froze without meaning to, a sudden terrible coldness sweeping through her body. When Oonagh spoke again, the words echoed in her head.Stand up.

To Wren’s horror, she stood up. The sword fell slack at her side, as though she had forgotten what to do with it. She tried to fight the voice inside her but it was not hers to command. And neither was her own body.

Oonagh laughed as she rolled to her feet. She came to Wren’s side, her bony hand resting heavy on her shoulder. For a distressing moment, Wren thought Oonagh was going to walk her off the cliff and send her plummeting to her death, but instead she turned her around and made her walk back towards the Weeping Forest.

When Rose appeared through the trees, Wren’s heart dropped.

‘Wren!’ she cried, with such relief Wren wanted to sob.

‘Good puppet,’ crooned Oonagh, as she made Wren raise Night’s Edge and angle the point at her sister. ‘Now the real fun begins.’

Rose

CHAPTER 42

When the corpses erupted from the ground, Rose barely had time to leap out of the way. She fell to her knees and rolled over as a bony hand tried to snatch at her. Unscathed and panting, she scrambled to her feet. She whipped her head around, searching frantically for Wren. Her sister had been here just a moment ago but the forest had swelled and she couldn’t hear a thing over the sudden sound of screaming.

Then Rose caught sight of something that made her heart jump into her throat. There, in the middle of the clearing, was Shen. He was lying on his back in the dirt, desperately trying to wrestle the snow tiger that had landed on top of him. The beast was three times his size and its fangs were terrifyingly close to his neck.

‘Shen!’ Adrenaline flooded Rose and sent her charging into the fray. She hopped over a pair of grappling wolves, then lunged to the left, narrowly avoiding an eyeless corpse. She kept her dagger high and poised to strike but when a pair of skeletons lunged towards her, she used her tempest magic, sending out a gust so strong it flung them into a nearby tree, sending a crack right up the middle.

When she reached Shen, Rose cast another gust, but a tiger had dug its claws into his shoulders. Shen was losing his fight against the beast.It opened its mighty jaws, releasing a deafening roar as it bored down on him.

Rose leaped on to the tiger’s back. Before she could second guess herself, she brought Daybreak down, skewering the beast between its exposed shoulder blades. She held on tight, squeezing her eyes shut as she pushed the dagger deeper, until finally, she felt the creature shudder underneath her. It released a keening groan as it slumped on to its side.

Rose slid off the beast’s back and then, entirely without meaning to be, she was on top of Shen, now straddling him herself.

He stared up at her with wide unblinking eyes. ‘Rose?’ he said, breathlessly. ‘What in stars’ name are you doing?’

‘Saving your life,’ she said, with a huff. ‘Isn’t it obvious?’

‘I … I’m …’ He blinked, searching for the right word.

‘Eternally grateful?’ Rose swept the hair from her face, taking a closer look at him. When she spotted the blood seeping through his shirt, her own blood went cold. ‘You’re hurt!’

‘I’m all right,’ said Shen, flinching as he tried to sit up.

Rose gently pushed him back down. ‘Let me heal you.’

‘Rose, we’re in the middle of a battle! I have to fight.’

‘First, you need to heal,’ she said, firmly. ‘Hush now.’ She closed her eyes, resting her hands against the puncture wounds in his shoulders. They were deeper than she thought, scouring through muscle and bone. But she was a practised healer and despite the screams in their midst, she sank into a quiet calmness and set her magic to work. It tingled as it brushed against Shen’s.

She heard him groan, softly. ‘That’s nice.’

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