Page 124 of A Crown of Deceit & Ruin

Kestrel had never seen her look more serious, more afraid.

Nodding, she took a step back, and it felt as if she were severing something inside her. But she gave the princess enough room so that she would feel comfortable to remove her own bejeweled shackles, to claim her own freedom for the first time in who knew how many years.

Elora unlatched the chain around her neckfirst, a subtle gasp blowing past her lips as the fresh air grazed her raw skin. Kestrel tried not to wince at the purple bruising beneath it. This was supposed to be a happy moment for Elora. She wouldn’t ruin it. Then Elora removed each of the shackles around her wrists, rubbing the bare skin there once it was freed.

She looked up at Kestrel, her magenta eyes aglow with disbelief and joy.

“Step back,” one of the guards barked. “I need to collect those.”

Kestrel and Elora looked to the ground where he was pointing at her discarded chains.

Elora did as she was told, and the guard retrieved her manacles before shoving them into a satchel. Kestrel noted how he was one of the few who hovered near the princess at all times, clearly charged with her punishment, should she step out of line. It boiled her insides to know just how much they all distrusted Elora. Disdained her, really. Even though she had never wronged any of them, at least not that Kestrel was aware.

“Wonderful,” the queen announced with a jovial clap of her hands. “Now that that’s settled, Kestrel, would you mind coming this way and telling our men exactly where you spotted this lake?”

Kestrel didn’t want to leave Elora alone, but she was also eager to embark on this voyage, to be useful for once. So she did as she was told and came at the queen’s beckoning.

Her aunt slid her free arm around her shoulders and guided her to the men at the front of the line.

“Now, spare no detail. Give them as much direction and description as you can recall.”

Kestrel opened her mouth, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible so the queen would stop holding onto her, but then she stopped. Everything would change once they entered the Hollows, once they collected that blue light. And Kestrelneeded security. Reassurances that her role in all of this would be well-compensated—and not in terms of wealth.

“I will,” Kestrel said softly. But like Elora said, she had power by title and blood now; she just needed to learn how to use it. So she steeled herself the way she had seen the queen and princess do dozens of times. “But I have one condition.”

“Oh?” the queen asked, and despite her fragile smile, Kestrel heard the impatience simmering beneath it.

“I want Darius freed after this. Please,” she added, just so her aunt wouldn’t feel like this was a threat. “He’s the closest thing to a father I have, and we can leave Irongate if you’d like—or stay. I don’t care. I just need to know he won’t be—that nothing bad will happen to him.”

Queen Signe’s expression softened, as if she had been expecting this and was relieved that Kestrel wasn’t demanding something more. “It will entirely depend on what we find, I’m afraid. If this endeavor winds up being for nothing?—”

“It won’t be. I promise you,” Kestrel blurted, cutting the queen off. But she didn’t care. She didn’t want to hear about the what ifs. Kestrel knew this was going to work. It had to. “So if we find magic or the answer to the curse inside the Hollows, you will release him and drop his charges?”

“Certainly. It would be the least I could do to thank you for ending such a terrible time in our collective history.”

Kestrel beamed and began sharing every little detail she could think of with the knights who were going to be leading them into the Hollows. It wasn’t much, unfortunately, just the same vague landmarks that had already been shared. But they appeared earnest as they listened, and conversed quietly amongst themselves afterward, strategizing their path forward.

And when they were finally ready, they motioned everyone to follow as they began their trek into the ominous forest.

The minute they set foot on the other side of the boundary,the silence that had surrounded the Hollows was replaced with skittering. Kestrel could hear them, the monsters Micah had warned her about when they’d passed by this place on their way to Irongate. If she hadn’t known any better, she might’ve mistaken the unnerving creaking of limbs for the mundane sounds that trees made as they swayed.

But underneath the creaking, she heard them.

The clawing.

The scratching.

Creatures climbing up from the earth and thrashing about the forest as they stalked their prey.

The roaring clouds overhead only served to add to the frightful tension. Every blast of lightning illuminated the path but somehow darkened the forest’s shadows.

Micah had told her about two kinds of monsters here: the gravemoors and the rootless. And Kestrel wasn’t sure which she feared more, the ones who would grab them from the ground and pull them under, or the ones who were able to roam freely and snatch them away to do who knew what.

The knights who were clustered nearby shook in their armor. Everyone did. The royal party huddled closer.

Elora kept her distance from them all though. She stepped into the Hollows, her periwinkle gown like a beacon of hope amidst so much gloom. She was forging a path near the front, Kestrel realized, whether intentionally or by default of the knights who parted in her wake. It made Kestrel’s throat tighten, thinking about her without the protection of the army to surround her, so Kestrel started to push forward too.

“Kestrel,” the queen hissed in warning.

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