Page 74 of Heavy is the Crown
He shrugs. “When His Grace says it is.”
That was not what I wanted to hear.
“Okay, thank you, Bart. You can go back to your post, but remember not to tell anyone I’m here, okay?” I say sweetly. He gives a curt nod and leaves.
Taking another breath, I move toward the outside of the crowd. There is no way I can walk directly up to Ava, but I can at least get close enough to try to catch her eye. Ciaran had been against her seeing me, but I had promised Shadow I would do what I could to see how she was doing before I left, so I am taking a risk. A very fucking calculated risk.
Onyx and Buttercup vibrate against my body as if they, too, can sense just how risky this endeavor has suddenly become. Weaving through couples and groups, I finally land off to the corner of the great dais Oisin erected to hold the massive thrones. Casually, I grab a drink from a waiter passing by and push my free hand into my pocket. Taking a sip, I walk out of the shadows, allowing my eyes to move up to catch Ava’s.
Her vacant expression guts me to the core. My once vivid friend looks as if her life has been sucked from her. Dark circles pop out against her skin at this proximity. The sheer dress they’ve put her in shows how much weight she’s lost. Oisin is currently peppering her shoulder with sloppy kisses. I want to vomit and impale him on one of my daggers. Her silver eyes scan the room and when they land on me, it’s the first flare of life I’ve seen. True fear passes through them. I hold her gaze for a moment, then two, before she leans in and whispers to Oisin.
“Ah, Harbinger, I was hoping you’d come.” Without even looking at me, Oisin stops the whole room in one single sentence.
Ciaran
I watch the glittering lights of the palace from the rooftop Drago, Shadow, and I are perched on. My anxiety presses in harder every moment Astrea is gone past when she was supposed to check in. The plan was simple. She was to get inand out. No more than an hour. Certainly not for the two hours that have slowly ticked by. Jackson and Dios left after an hour, saying something about attempting to contact the person he has stationed within the palace. But it’s doing nothing to help my fear.
“We shouldn’t have agreed to this,” Drago grumbles, all but ripping his hair out as he paces. “We should have just fucking stormed that place and burned it to the ground. Dealt with the aftermath later.”
The clicking of a lighter pulls my attention toward Shadow. The zippo opens and closes every few seconds, as if to quell whatever is pushing through his system. I turn my back on them and walk back to the edge, peering down at the crowds that haven’t dissipated.
“She should have been out by now,” I growl.
A deep sense of dread fills me, choking the air from my lungs and turning my stomach repeatedly. I can’t help but feel like we made a colossal error allowing her into that place with Ava.
FORTY-THREE
We met with the Lady of Souls today. She was not provided the ritual, but she knows enough that should they take one of the young, she could help her.
It kills me to write this, to know one of our own will be without support.
– Priestess Codex
Ava
(“Iris” – Tommee Profitt and Ruelle)
The world around me feels as though I’m interacting with it underwater. I’m aware of what’s happening and yet unable to stop it. As though I’ve been severed from my physical form, I’m watching my body move without my permission. I miss Buttercup now; the desire to send her away was truly out of preservation for her. With the collar around me, I had no guarantee Oisin couldn’t use her, or worse, access all of Astrea’s magic through her. Sending her away was what needed to happen, but now I am well and truly alone.
I am their puppet, controlled by a golden leash, its influence leeching my will away with each pull of my magic. Oisin has pushed the limits of what he can do, and my body has bent to his every whim. It's as though I’m permanently in a state of dissociation. Apathy washes over me like thick oil coating a surface. I’m not sure I’ll return from this. The fantasy of falling from the high window of my room flits through my mind regularly. I suddenly have more understanding of Shadow after these past few days. Frowning, I realize I don’t know if it’s been weeks or months since I last saw my mates. Even the grief of losing them has been cut off from me, drowning in that thick oil on the other side of that glass wall between my halves.
All around me, people laugh and smile, and I can’t remember what that feels like at this point. My eyes move over the crowd robotically, until they catch a familiar head of hair, for just a moment. My heart skips a beat, causing the smallest of fissures in the glass, and feelings suddenly begin seeping through from that glass room they’ve been shoved into.It can’t be.I drag my attention back to Oisin, who is allowing his hand to roam freely. Everywhere those fingers go becomes the path of a sickly fever burning its way through me.
Shifting on his lap, I feel the bone of my corset bite into my ribs. The gown I am dressed in tonight is objectively beautiful: the corset bodice is whirls of white lace with rose-gold patterns under it that bleed down into the white tulle skirt. A gold chain goes from the center of the breastplate up to a neck piece that covers the collar fully and flares out over my shoulders. The gold chain jets out across the chest to attach to the shoulder pieces, and off the arms flows more white tulle.
Tonight is our engagement party; we are to wed tomorrow. Fear, real fear, pools deep in me as it slowly trickles out of that small fissure in the glass wall that holds my true self back.
Because despite attempting to change the future, I’ve still ended up here. Ended up dooming us all because Oisin now has my magic. And if I could, I would scream in agony, knowing what happens at the end of it all. Because no matter how hard I fought taking the path unknown, I am somehow still barreling toward an ending that will break us all.
When I turn to reach for my champagne, I see two green eyes looking at me, fear and anger and sadness swimming in them. More emotion pushes through that fissure, making it a full crack now as I take in my friend.Astrea. Relief courses through me, followed swiftly by deep, horrifying fear that the Harbinger has walked right into this place.
I feel it the moment he takes control, my body snapping up to attention, a puppet being pulled by its master. My mouth moves to his ear without permission. He sips off my magic like one would sip off a fine wine, before he lets out a low laugh. “Ah, Harbinger, I was hoping you would come.”
(“Shattered Dreams (feat. VE)” – Hidden Citizens)
The room goes silent, everyone turning to look at my friend, who has kept her eyes firmly locked on me. She looks sad, as if she knows I had no choice but to betray her. I want to scream, tell her to run, but my voice is locked down now; Oisin has me firmly under his control.
Astrea’s magic unfolds around her, those two snakes ghosting from her body to form next to her. “Give me my friend back.” Her voice is hard, no waver, no fear.
