Page 84 of Burning Crowns

Willa shifted in her seat. ‘Oonagh Starcrest walks this earth just as she did over a thousand years ago. Your ancestor’s curse lives inside you becauseshelives. You woke her up. To break the curse and set things right, you must kill her.’

‘Fine,’ said Wren at once. ‘I was going to do that anyway.’

‘We have to find her first,’ said Alarik.

‘And best her,’ said Willa, grimly.

‘With pleasure.’ Tor cracked his knuckles, readying himself for the task.

Willa rose from her seat, looking down on each one of them in turn. ‘There is your cure, though the cost is great. If Oonagh dies, for good this time, the blood debt will be repaid and the curse will shatter.’

Wren frowned as something else occurred to her. The healer’s promise reminded her of another – a prophecy once uttered by a dying seer called Glenna. ‘Break the ice to free the curse,’ she recalled. ‘Kill one twin to save another …’

They all looked at her.

A wash of understanding came over Wren. The day Oonagh Starcrest broke out of her icy tomb in Gevra, her curse was freed, too. That much was certain. But Wren had been grappling with the second part of the prophecy ever since.Kill one twin to save another. ‘It was never about me and Rose,’ she said, more to herself than to the others. ‘It’s Oonagh who must die. She is Ortha’s sister, one of the original twin queens of Eana.’ She clapped her hands together, a laugh springing from her before she could stop it. ‘Rose will live and so will I! Once we kill Oonagh, all will be well again.’

Alarik regarded her as though she had just sprouted horns. ‘Have you forgotten we have no idea where your wayward ancestor is? Or indeed how to kill her?’

Wren batted his concern away, the flood of her relief momentarily buoying her spirits. ‘So, we’ll look for her. And sooner or later, we’ll find her.’

‘How simple you make it sound,’ mused Alarik.

‘Well, it’s a lot simpler than killing each other. Don’t you think?’

He offered the ghost of a smile. ‘I want to know what Iversen thinks.’

Tor was already on his feet. ‘I think it’s time to go hunting.’

Rose

CHAPTER 26

The last time Rose had seen Shen’s cousin Kai Lo, he had been knocked out by Grandmother Lu.

Along with his father, Shen’s uncle Feng, Kai had attempted to murder Shen, and when that plan had been foiled by Rose, he had come after her with a vengeance. He had caught up with her in the desert, and Rose had truly thought he was going to kill her – until Grandmother Lu appeared with her cane. After that, he had been arrested and placed under guard in the Sunkissed Kingdom.

This is why Rose was expecting Shen to lead them to a heavily guarded dungeon hidden somewhere deep beneath the sands. Instead, he brought them to a small squat building not too far from the stables. Though it was surrounded by guards, the sloping red roof, ivy-covered walls and flickering everlights made it look remarkably … pleasant.

‘Thisis the dungeon?’ Rose said, frowning.

‘In a matter of speaking,’ said Shen, nodding at one of the guards, who unlocked the heavy wooden doors, and handed Shen the set of keys.

They made their way down a lavishly decorated hallway, with polished tiles and a vaulted ceiling, where Shen paused in front of another thicker wooden door that was bolt-locked from the outside.

‘Are you sure you’re ready to see Kai?’ he said, turning to Rose. ‘I can go in without you, if you’d prefer.’

Rose straightened her skirts and her spine. ‘Shen, I am a queen. I can face a prisoner, you know. And it is a favour for me, after all. Oonagh Starcrest is my problem.’

Shen caught her hand and raised it to his lips. ‘You know as well as I do that any problem of yours is one that I will gladly take on.’

‘Me, too,’ said Celeste, who was standing just behind them. ‘You aren’t facing Oonagh alone, Rose.’

Anika let out a dramatic sigh. ‘I suppose this is the part where you all expect me to make a declaration of my loyalty to Rose.’ She swept her hair from her face, fixing her tiara. ‘I will remind you that I am the princess of a different nation.’ She paused, meaningfully. ‘But for the good of Gevra and your country, I will stand by you in your fight against Oonagh.’ She glanced uncertainly at the locked door. ‘I’ll admit I am curious why we are coming to fetch what sounds like a deliciously dangerous man, though.’

‘Because he’s the best fighter I’ve ever seen,’ said Rose, grimly. ‘And I know we’ll have a better chance of killing Oonagh with him on board.’

‘Better than King Shen?’ said Anika. ‘Truly?’

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