Page 20 of Burning Crowns

Wren flinched as she traced the jagged mark with the pad of her thumb.

‘I can’t believe you hid this from me forthree months. Goodness, Wren. What were you thinking?’

‘It’sbarelynoticeable.’

Rose’s nostrils flared. ‘You clearly didn’t want me to scold you.’

‘That may have been part of it,’ Wren admitted. ‘I thought if I ignored it, it might go away.’

Rose lowered her voice. ‘What happened in Gevra – with Ansel, with that blood spell – it wounded you.’ She returned her gaze to the scar, her frown deepening. ‘We have to fix this.’

‘You mean fixme,’ muttered Wren. She couldn’t help the sour taste – the sour feeling – in her heart. All she had ever done was try to help Prince Ansel and rescue Banba, but the blood spell she had performed with King Alarik had twisted something inside her. Not only had she accidentally woken Oonagh Starcrest, but she had woken something inside herself, too. A dark and angry creature that refused to go back to sleep.

Every time the pain in Wren’s scar flared, she was reminded of her mistake. Her own searing stupidity. And worse still, it had all been for nothing. Prince Ansel was dead and so was Banba. Wren’s grandmother had never made it out of the Fovarr Mountains. Instead, it was Oonagh who’d escaped.

She blinked again, determined not to cry. ‘What if I can’t be fixed, Rose?’ she said, voicing her deepest fear aloud for the first time.

Rose’s voice softened, the dent between her brows disappearing. ‘Hush now,’ she said gently. ‘Let me try to heal the wound.’

She laid her hand on Wren’s scar, her fingers circling her wrist. She closed her eyes, and a dent appeared between her brows. Wren closed her eyes, too. Her wrist began to tingle. She could feel Rose’s magic brushing against her own, like a breath of warm wind. Searching, careful.

‘Hmm,’ said Rose, after a moment. ‘It’s not a flesh wound. It feels …deeperthan that …’

Wren felt a strange pressure. Rose was beginning to prod, making her magic go deeper. Under the surface of Wren’s skin. Under blood and bone. And still she prodded.

The pain in Wren’s wrist flared. ‘Rose.’

‘I can see your magic,’ Rose murmured. ‘There’s something wrong …something …’

The pain flared again, only it was worse now. Wren’s breath grew shallow in her chest and her head began to spin. Something inside her was bucking, trying to push Rose away, but Rose held her wrist in a vice-like grip, refusing to let go.

Wren slumped to the floor, pulling Rose with her. The pain was becoming unbearable. Rose’s magic had burrowed deep inside her.Now it felt as if it was plucking at the strings of her soul, trying to find the broken one.

‘Stop,’ Wren begged.

Rose’s breathing grew laboured, and she began to sway. ‘I almost have it …’ She gasped suddenly, her grip tightening. ‘There.’

Wren lurched. A blinding heat tore through her body, wrenching a scream from her.

‘No!’ cried Rose.

Wren snapped her eyes open.

Rose’s mouth slackened in horror as she watched a plume of smoke seep from the scar on Wren’s wrist. ‘It’spoison,’ she gasped, as tears streamed down her face. ‘I have to get it out.’

Words had deserted Wren. She could only watch in utter dread as the smoke twisted between them, growing thicker, darker. She heard Oonagh’s terrible laugh in her head.

Rose whimpered, and Wren knew she could hear it, too.

The smoke kept rising. She could feel it swelling between her ribcage now, pushing her breath from her lungs. There was too much poisoned magic to extract. Too much to heal. It was already hurting Rose. She was trembling on the floor. Her lids were heavy, her breathing, too. ‘I c-can’t. I …I …’

‘Stop,’ Wren managed to grit out. ‘Let go.’

Rose’s hand fell away as she lost consciousness. She collapsed, her head falling against Wren’s shoulder. Without the pull of her healing magic, the smoke had nowhere to go. It hissed as it rushed back inside Wren.

The pain tore another strangled scream from Wren. She felt as if someone was stabbing her with a white-hot poker, skewering the deepest, darkest part of her soul. And then everything went black,a familiar darkness crowding in on her and whisking her far, far away.

This time, she welcomed it.

---