Page 7 of Burning Crowns

‘Hissing seaweed.’

She rolled her sleeve to her elbow, inspecting the jagged silver crescent. It glowed softly in the fractured moonlight, the pale skin around it reddening as it burned.

Wren cursed again. This was not the first time the scar had caused her pain, but it had never been this bad before. She grabbed a fistful of dirt and smeared it on her wrist to cool her skin. Her stomach lurched and she vomited again.

She crawled to a nearby tree, pressing her forehead to the trunk.

Help me, Eana, first witch of this land.

Let this horror pass.

Wren didn’t know how much time went by as she knelt by the tree or how many breaths it took to calm the poker-hot pain in her arm, but after a while, the leaves around her rustled and a familiar voice rang out.

‘Wren? What’s going on?’ Shen Lo came through the trees like a brisk wind, making no sound at all. A determinedcrunchannounced the presence of Rose, who was following close behind.

‘Wren! Oh, thank the stars you’re safe. I was afraid …’ Rose’s voice wobbled as she held up Wren’s crown, which she must have plucked from the grass. Now that she could see her sister was all right, Rose’s concern quickly turned to anger. ‘What are you doing hiding in here? You completely abandoned me out there!’

‘Sorry,’ said Wren, pulling herself to her feet. ‘I … needed a minute.’

Rose folded her arms, glaring at her sister. ‘Well, I neededyou. And you disappeared. Again.’

Wren knew Rose still hadn’t forgiven her for sneaking off to Gevra in the dead of night all those months ago. And she didn’t know the half of what had happened there.

‘She’s been sick,’ said Shen, coming to Wren. His eyes were filled with concern. ‘You don’t look well.’

‘I’m all right.’ Wren wished her hair was loose so she could pull it around her face. Shen was doing that annoying thing again, where he saw right through her. ‘It was Cam’s chocolate stars. They were so rich.’

Rose wrinkled her nose. ‘I did say you’d regret eating seven in a row.’

Wren forced a chuckle. ‘Banba always said my eyes were bigger than my stomach.’

Shen was still frowning. Wren wanted to shoo him away and tell him to mind his own damned business. He was too nosy for his own good, and it didn’t help that as her best friend, he knew Wren better than anyone. He knew the cadence of her lies, the sound of the truth in her mouth.

He knew she was lying now.

‘What about the crowd?’ said Wren, quickly changing the subject. ‘Did you manage to calm them?’

‘Once the smoke cleared,’ said Rose, with a sigh. ‘I had to ask Rowena to help. You know how I struggle to harness the wind.’ Wren heard the unsaid accusation in her sister’s voice: that if she had been there, Wren could have helped Rose banish the smoke. ‘But we got through it.’

‘Good,’ said Wren, looking everywhere but at Shen.

Rose frowned as she went on. ‘The spell must have grown too big. It became unwieldy.’

‘That must be it,’ said Wren, trying to keep the guilt from her voice.

‘But it was brilliant, wasn’t it?’ said Rose, with an uncertain smile. ‘At least for a while.’

‘It really was,’ said Wren, relieved to have found a kernel of truth in this moment.

Rose was finally softening but much to Wren’s annoyance, Shen was growing more suspicious. ‘Uh-huh,’ he muttered, his gaze falling to the scar on her wrist. Wren tugged her sleeve down but it was too late. He opened his mouth to speak.

‘Don’t,’ she hissed. ‘Not here.’

‘Wren,’ said Shen, sternly.

‘What is it?’ said Rose, coming over.

Wren grabbed Shen’s shoulders and turned him around. ‘Hey, do you hear that?’ She gestured back towards the lake. ‘The minstrels have started playing again. Youlovethis tune, Rose. If only you had someone to dance with.’

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