Page 104 of Once Upon a Crown
“And while you’re at it, try not to kill my brother if you can.”
He gave me half a smile. “I can’t make any promises.” He pressed a kiss to my temple, sparing me a last glance before leaving the room. We’d managed to reconcile and yet I still felt unnerved. Like there was something between us, unresolved. A lingering force that nagged at my subconscious, except I couldn’t tell what it wanted. Only that it was not to be ignored.
* * *
The library was deathly quiet apart from the peaceful crackling of the fire and the turning of pages.
Mistwood’s library had endless rows of shelves, filled with countless books. Dust hung in the air, suggesting the library hadn’t been cleaned or used very often in the past few months. There was a large wooden table close to the fireplace where I had King Evrin’s diary laid out in front of me.
Candles decorated the rest of the table, to provide better light for reading in the dark. The sun set early in winter and there weren’t many hours in the day when one could read by sunlight.
I stood up from the table to add another few logs to the fire, suspecting that I was going to be there for a good few more hours. The wooden chair creaked under me as I returned to my seat, forcing my eyes to focus on the diary in front of me. I’d had little sleep in the last few days and my eyes strained with every word that I read. But this was important. Rhen had workedthrough much of the diary and made lots of notes, but I had a few hours free tonight and could go through a bit of it myself. See if I could find anything that perhaps he might have missed.
The pages of the diary were old and delicate, and I winced every time I had to turn a page, praying that I wouldn’t damage it somehow. In some parts, the ink was faded and barely readable. It took an insurmountable amount of time to make any decent progress.
At the very least we now suspected the objects were all linked to each other. But I found myself worrying about what could happen when and if we did manage to have all three Myrgonite objects in our possession. If they truly were as dangerous as the king said, we needed to stay as far away from them as possible. But in doing that we also needed to keep them far away from King Aries. I carefully turned a page. It was the start of a new entry, after the king had searched the goldsmith’s forge.
I miss her terribly some days. But then I remember the person she was in the end. No longer the woman I had married but a monster, corrupted by the dark magic of the stones. I’ve been going through more of the writings we’d found in the goldsmith’s forge. Most of it is incomprehensible, scribblings and sentences that make no sense and have no order. Perhaps the use of so much magic had caught up to the goldsmith himself, driving him mad in the end. I used to think he’d killed himself for fear of what I might do to him once I found him. Now I wonder if maybe he simply wasn’t able to live with himself after what he’d done.
Riona was a clever woman, and she knew I would eventually figure out that two of the stones were in her necklace and dagger. She’d always been too fond of carrying them around, refusing to take them off for fear of being parted from her precious objects. She knew I would try and stop her if I had all three objects, so I suspect she’s hidden the third Myrgonite stone somewhere I’ll never think to look. It has to be in the palace somewhere. Riona could never be parted from the stones. She’d want it somewhere she’d be able to keep an eye on it.
I found something interesting among the notes of the goldsmith. Not only could the magic be a link between the objects, but if that is the case, the objects can be used to destroy each other. Destroy one and you destroy them all. But the objects need to be in close range of each other to achieve this. And then there was still the destruction it would cause if someone tried to destroy it.
I looked up from the page, eyes wide. This was something. The objects could be used not only to find each other but also to destroy each other. But we still didn’t have a safe way of destroying one of them, not without killing anyone, at least. I delicately turned the page to start reading the next entry.
I’d warned her that she was meddling with something which she did not understand. But nothing was ever enough for Riona. Nothing could satisfy her endless greed. And it cost her life. I mourn the girl who was once my wife, a very long time ago. But she has been gone for awhile now. I fear it is a stranger that I buried in the forest. I had hidden the necklace with all the other royal jewels, undetectable and not to be used for a long time, as there is no queen. The dagger I buried in the forest with her, and I hope that time will continue to keep it hidden. But the third object is yet to be uncovered. It is close to me. I can feel it. It whispers to me like a voice in my head. It calls to me in the middle of the night, urging me to retrieve the dagger and the necklace. To use them in order to find the last Myrgonite object.
Months ago, I would have jumped at the chance. But now, I do not think myself safe from the effects of the magic. I want to think of myself as a virtuous man, but temptation is a strong motivator, and once I have all three objects, I might not have the strength to destroy them. This kind of magic sows destruction. And once it has you in its clutches, you can never be free. Destroying the objects will not come without sacrifice and I believe it would have to be the ultimate price. As king to my people, I cannot risk it. I can only hope that if I continue to keep the objects far away from each other, the magic will fall into a slumber, and all will grow forgetful that it even existed at all.
It was a lot to take in. The king was clearly fighting an internal battle, which meant the third object had to be among his royal possessions. But after so much time, there was no way of knowing if the object was even in the palace. If the necklace had managed to travel from Everness into the hands of Norrandale,then the third object could be anywhere. Whatever grasp it had on him, the king understood the danger of the objects, and not only that, but that there would be a consequence to trying to destroy the magic. I closed the diary knowing I had to inform the others of my latest find sooner rather than later, but it wasn’t exactly the hopeful news I wanted to bring. I knew it wouldn’t be easy. But this war and these stones had already cost everyone so much. What did we have left to sacrifice?
Chapter 41
Lance
“With the men we’ve gathered so far, we have enough archers to create a strong line of attack.”
A map had been laid out on the table in the council room and Alastor gestured to the valley where the battle would be taking place.
“The hills are going to be a massive advantage to us during the initial attack.” Cai stood next to Alastor, explaining his battle plans to everyone in the room. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was doing there but I suspected it had something to do with Elara. For whatever reason, she seemed to trust my opinion when it came to certain things.
Taking on the throne after a rebellion was a massive responsibility, but Elara had risen to the occasion and grown into a very good queen, if I had to say so myself. But the truth remained that she had not grown up at court, and I thought she sometimes doubted herself. It helped to have someone around to guide her every now and then. And I was happy to do it. Her over me in that position any day.
“If Mannik’s and Ryker’s men arrive on time, we can put some of them on the left and right flanks to try and split up Aries’ army,” Cai continued.
“You’ve been in contact with Olwin and Donald. How are numbers looking over there?” Elara asked Alastor.
“I haven’t heard much recently but our last correspondence consisted of their reports on their growing numbers. They’ve roped in a few of the other bandit groups in Everness, but this means nothing if we cannot get them to Norrandale in time,” Alastor replied.
I saw the look of worry on Elara’s face. We needed the men, and every person counted. But more importantly we needed them here on time, and this seemed to be our biggest problem.
The meeting continued for another hour as plans were discussed, and more plans in case those plans didn’t work. Relief flooded me when it finally came to an end. Just the topic of discussing war was incredibly morbid when all of us in the room knew the costs and sacrifices that were going to be made. People were going to die out there, and no matter what Elara and Cai did, neither of them could stop it.
I left the council room, eager to get my mind off the matter. And I knew exactly what I needed.
My feet carried me through the hallways to the other side of the palace. I gently knocked on Gwen’s door until I heard her call out, “Come in.” She sat in a comfortable-looking chair with a thick book in her lap.
Gwen looked up and a smile crossed her face as she took in my figure. “Hey, you. Aren’t you supposed to be in some meeting?”
