Page 129 of A War of Crowns

Candle lit, Olivia hunched over the little flame and cracked open the seal on that latest report from one of her contacts strategically positioned throughout Elmoria. She had agents posted in all the major port cities. She wanted to be the first to know should the worst ever happen.

Unfolding the missive, Olivia skimmed the document. She recognized Bernard’s scrawl at once. He was her agent embedded within Arlund—the viscounty just south of Goldreach. The land owned by the queen’s Master of Ceremonies.

Usually, it would have taken her a few moments to decode such a letter, but Bernard hadn’t even bothered encoding this one. Olivia’s eyes frantically devoured the smudged words penned upon the page, trying to make sense of why her spy had broken protocol.

Her heart skipped a full beat as the gravity of the moment fully settled over her. The worst had finally happened.

“Get out of here,” Olivia snarled at Sal when she turned around to find the boy still loitering about, clearly entranced by the sight of all the strange odds and ends lining her shelves. “I said out!”

Sal scampered to comply and soon disappeared through the secret passageway hidden behind one of her many bookcases.

Olivia limped toward her shelves.

Her left leg screamed at her with every step. But she ignored the Pain as best she ever could while making for the cage holding her pet Elmorian harlequin viper, Minerva.

There were lots of misconceptions within the medical and alchemical communities when it came to harlequin vipers. Many recognized they were among the most poisonous snakes in all of Avirel. And Olivia wasn’t about to argue against that point.

She quite agreed.

But people failed to recognize harlequin viper venom was also among the mostusefulin the world. One could utilize it in themost interesting ways if they were clever enough…or perhaps mad enough. And had access to the antidote.

Luckily, Olivia met all three of those conditions.

“Hello, darling,” she cooed, fishing the viper out of her cage. She pinched her fingers just behind Minerva’s head to keep the snake from striking out until she was good and ready for it. “I need a little bit of help this morning.”

Olivia guided the thrashing viper down to her left leg, positioned Minerva’s head over her thigh, and let the angry beastie loose.

Fangs punched through her trouser leg and into the already aching flesh beneath, and a rush of liquid fire soon followed. Throwing back her head, Olivia let herself scream from the misery of it all.

No one could hear her down there at any rate—no one but the rats and the criminals lining the dungeon further below.

Neither party cared about her screams.

When she finally pried Minerva from her thigh, Olivia was left shaking. Her heart raced. Her breath rattled in shallow gasps. But she wasalive. Strength coursed through her veins, racing on the tail end of that liquid fire.

“Thank you, darling,” she panted, gently depositing Minerva back in her cage.

She had anywhere between ten minutes and a half hour before her heart exploded.

With the letter tucked up her sleeve, feet shoved into her boots, and her bag of medical supplies tossed over her shoulder, Oliviahurried from her room. Her cane, she snatched on her way out the door as a reluctant afterthought.

That cane was the prettiest thing she owned—simple but pretty, and ultimately functional. Carved from ebonwood with a polished rat crouched atop for a handle, it seemed innocuous enough…until one realized it housed a slender rapier within its depths.

A gift from Her Majesty herself when she was still but a princess. A dangerous present to give to a commoner, since in Elmoria only nobles and knights could legally wield swords.

She hated using it, that cane. She was far too young to need a cane simply to walk. Even holding it made her feel like ol’ Percy hobbling about the palace.

But she needed it that morning to make it up the stairs, unmedicated as she was. She didn’t have time for her usual pain relief measures. She had a letter to deliver.

Normally, she would have gone the way of Sal—winding her way through the many hidden passages lining the walls of the palace. But those stairs were narrow and steep, and Olivia didn’t trust her body to navigate them safely that early morning.

No, she’d have to do things the proper way: stamping her way through the halls and climbing all the grand staircases toward Her Majesty’s chambers on the upper floors of the palace.

The hour was exceedingly late—or early, depending on how one wished to look at it. She didn’t expect to encounter another living soul until she reached the wing containing the queen’s apartments.

The Queensguard never slept.

But when she had only reached the first floor of the palace, she heard the thunder of bootsteps racing toward her down the shadowed hallway. Curiosity mingled with trepidation deep in her gut when she recognized the man flying through the corridor, making straight for her.

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