Page 78 of Burning Crowns

Shen glanced sidelong at Rose. ‘Seems like Celeste is smitten.’

‘So it does,’ said Rose, watching her friend laugh with Anika. ‘I’m pleased for her.’

‘How do you think they’ll make that work?’ he pondered. ‘It’s a long way from Eana to Gevra.’

‘Celeste will find a way, I’m sure of it,’ said Rose, hoping it would be true. ‘I’ve never seen her so bewitched.If Anika wasn’t Gevran, I’d swear she had cast a spell on her.’

‘Well, it seems Anika is just as taken with Celeste,’ said Shen, his smile twitching. ‘Love is certainly in the air tonight.’ Rose blushed as he caught her hand and kissed it. ‘If Celeste and Anika can find a way to be together, then surely you and I can figure something out,’ he went on. ‘After all, the desert is not so far from Anadawn.’

‘I wish it were closer. I wish …’ She sighed. ‘Oh, never mind.’ There weren’t enough hours left in the night to unpick her desires, her dreams for the future. And even if there were, it was not the right time. ‘Let’s focus on the bigger problem for now. Perhaps after Oonagh is no longer a threat, we can find a way for us.’

‘To be … what?’

Rose gave him a smile. ‘To be together, of course.’

Shen’s eyes danced, and Rose suddenly wished that it were just the two of them. Alone. And that they only had each other to think about, not worrying about finding weapons and preparing for war. She imagined Shen clearing the table of daggers, laying her down upon it and—

Suddenly a scream of pure terror rang out, followed quickly by another. Shen whipped his head around, as an entire chorus of shouts erupted. They were coming from the main courtyard. ‘Something’s wrong.’

And then the very ground itself began to shake.

Celeste and Anika stumbled from the shadows of the archery cabinet, eyes wide with fear.

‘What’s going on?’ said Celeste, who was clutching a beautifully carved bow, and had a quiver of arrows slung on her back.

‘I don’t know. But we need to find out,’ said Shen. ‘Grab your weapons.’

Anika hoisted a slim battle axe over her shoulder. ‘I’m glad we came via the armoury.’

Rose slipped Daybreak into its sheath and ran towards the screams.

Rose had seen her fair share of horrors. But as they rounded the corner on their way back to the courtyard, she skidded to a stop, gasping as she beheld the monstrosity that stood before her.

It was a creature of bone and shadow. At first glance, it looked like a horse, but it was something else entirely. Smoke poured from the gaping holes of its long white skull, and it possessed a wide mouth full of needle-like teeth. The rest of its body was made of jutting bones and writhing darkness, and its hooves were thick and smouldering.

Rose’s heart thundered as she snapped her chin up. There were hundreds of them stampeding through the courtyard, and down the alleyways. They looked like smoke, but Rose felt the ground tremble. She saw how they were knocking down anything and anyone in their way, kicking up dust and sand as they went. These creatures were smoke made flesh.

Nightmares made real.

While Shen scanned the stampede in mounting horror, a creature bolted from a nearby alley and careened straight for him. Rose pulled him out of harm’s way and all four of them flattened themselves against the wall, narrowly avoiding another hundred or so that went thundering past.

Revellers screamed as they ran, taking cover wherever they could.Those that couldn’t reach the palace in time scaled the walls instead, finding refuge on the roofs. Others dived into the bushes and trees, hoping the branches would protect them.

And still the creatures came.

Once he caught his breath, Shen drew his weapons and jumped into their path, his daggers slicing through the air, but the blades found no mark on the creatures. It was as if he were cutting smoke.

Anika pulled Celeste into a nearby alcove while Rose summoned a gust of wind, hoping she could blow them back, but it only seemed to enrage the beasts further. When some of them broke off from the herd and came for her, she had to clamber up a nearby trellis to safety.

‘Let them pass!’ cried a hoarse voice. Rose looked up to find Grandmother Lu shouting down from a nearby roof. ‘Let them pass!’

And so they did. The creatures thundered through the Sunkissed Kingdom, leaving a cloud of destruction in their wake, and then, as swiftly as they had arrived, they were gone.

The ground stopped trembling and, at last, silence fell.

With remarkable speed, Shen scaled a nearby wall and stared into the distance. ‘They’re gone,’ he said. ‘Towards the east.’

Rose’s legs shook as she climbed down from the trellis. Shen jumped down to help her.

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