Page 111 of Once Upon a Crown
Aries’ guards had their weapons ready and held out towards me.
“Don’t think about doing anything stupid,” Aries said, almost sounding bored.
He was right. I had nothing on me to defend myself, not to mention fighting off a group of his guards to free Cordelia.
“You monster,” I cried out.
Aries must have sent a group of his men to Everness to find her. He’d had this planned all along. His soldiers had been hiding in the catacombs of the palace just waiting for the right moment and I had walked right into his trap.
“As I understand, she is a close friend of yours.” Aries walked around the table, making his way to Cordelia. “It would be a terrible shame for her to get hurt.”
“If you so much as lay a hand on her.”
I didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know how to get myself out of this or how I would save the both of us.
“If you don’t help me find the Myrgonite stones, then I’ll have no choice but to use your little friend here to convince you.”
He trailed a finger up her neck and to her jawline. Cordelia tried to pull away but the guard’s grip on her remained firm. It took everything in me not to launch myself at Aries.
“And what if I don’t know where the stones are?”
In a second, Aries was upon me, his hand wrapped around my throat.
“Do you take me for a fool?” he ground out. I clawed at his arm.
“You’re a smart girl. And we both know that you have all the answers I’m looking for.”
Air, I needed air. My nails dug into his wrist so hard I almost drew blood.
“So, it’s time to stop playing your childish little games and do your duty as queen.”
His calloused hand released my throat, and I gasped and coughed, not being able to fill my lungs up fast enough.
I was hunched forward, with my hands on my knees as I tried to return my breathing to normal.
“So, do we have a deal, Queen of Everness?”
He would kill Cordelia, and if I continued to refuse him, he would only keep finding more people I cared about, until I was surrounded by the corpses of my friends and family. This had to end. I had to find a way to stop him.
“Yes,” I said through ragged breaths, glaring up at him. “We have a deal.”
Chapter 44
Cai
I hadn’t been in the armoury of the palace since the last time we’d prepared to leave for battle against Argon. The room had a low ceiling, every inch of the walls lined with swords, knives and other sharp weapons. There were a few shields with my family’s crest embellished on the steel, all specially made for the royal family. At the far end of the room, the armour pieces were stored on racks.
The armoury didn’t have any windows, so I had no idea what time of day it was or how many hours had passed since I’d come down here.
The low-burning candles suggested it had been a while. In a few hours, we would march to the valley and face Aries and the Argonian army. My people were relying on me to lead them to victory, to free us from the clutches of Argon. Instead, it felt as though I was leading them all to their deaths. We would walk into a massacre, entirely outnumbered.
Our impending doom lay like a heavy weight on my chest, outweighing the strongest armour. I picked up my sword from the table in the middle of the room. It had been sharpened and cleaned, ready for battle. The steel glinted in the candlelight as I turned it in my hands. My father had gifted me the sword when I was much younger. It had been everywhere with me, to Argon and to Everness. He’d told me that I would do great things with it someday.
What I would give to have him here now.He always knew the right thing to say.
I’d come to the armoury in search of some privacy, a moment of peace as I tried to ready myself for what was to come.
We had run out of options. Aries had Elara now. There was no time to wait for more reinforcements or answers about the Myrgonite objects.
