Page 77 of Heavy is the Crown
For a second, I think I gave her enough time to run, but I see vines of golden magic start to pepper the ground around her. When one attaches to her leg, she screams in agony before sending her magic slicing through another that was attempting to latch to her arm. Vine after vine appears until they manage to tether both legs and both arms.
More of her magic flares out as she fights off the containment, while Onyx and Buttercup attempt to intercept the witches crowding around her. Then another loop appears around Astrea’s throat, and the two snakes instantly mist awayand reappear solid on her body again. I watch as my best friend thrashes against the spelled vines to no avail, and my heart drops to the floor when I realize we are losing.
Shadow
(“Voices” – Hidden Citizens)
Ciaran walks forward, toward the back entrance Jackson directed us to. Off to the side and covered by shrubs, the gate has been all but forgotten, only used now as a way for servants to send trash in and out. Even from here, I can feel the wards rolling, black eels alive and well. Ciaran lifts his hand, his gold magic wrapping around them, and the magic drops out, our path suddenly clear.
As we move to walk forward, Ciaran stumbles, clutching his chest.
“Ciaran?”
He growls. “It’s Astrea. Something is wrong.” For a beat, he holds his chest, before righting himself. “We need to hurry.” He pulls his sword off his back, and flames wreath my hand as we walk in. The halls are quiet compared to the screams outside. The passage has low light, cool stone and marble lining the walkway. Shimmering torchlike lamps hang low, giving an eerie feel. Our footsteps are loud, echoing off the walls as we push forward.
“The passage lets out in a closet, he said,” Ciaran repeats to me, as if I hadn’t been there when he told us. “Just a little further. We can make it.”
I’m not sure who he is trying to convince, me or himself.
FORTY-SIX
We will return.
-Mori Family Grimoire
Ava
(“This Is Where It Ends” – Hidden Citizens)
Oisin circles Astrea. My own exhausted body lies in a pile next to the thrones he created. His voice seems distant as he talks with my mother and the decaying coven. My eyes stay locked on my friend, an apology hopefully evident in them. Oisin erected a shield of my creation around the palace, blocking Drago out and presumably Shadow, and he seems confident that the magic will hold against my mates. The way I feel right now, I am hopeful that confidence is misplaced.
I hope Shadow is safe.My heart stutters at the reasons Shadow wouldn’t be with Drago.
No. Just because you haven’t heard him or heard anyone talk about another dragon doesn’t mean something bad has happened to him. If Ciaran and Astrea are here, he is to.
Cordelia’s reentrance to the room stops the conversations. My mouth goes dry at what she holds in her hands. The samegolden collar that I have on. They are going to collar Astrea. Her eyes flare wide at the same moment the realization hits me. Rage and fear are painted across my friend’s face.
It all happens in slow motion, Cordelia nearing Astrea, Oisin smiling in victory, and the door bursting open to reveal Ciaran and Shadow.
Shadow
(“Don’t Speak” – Hidden Citizens)
I zero in on Ava’s crumpled form near the gawdy thrones of gold. Nothing else exists as I see her pale body, shoved into that wedding dress. I don’t hear anything other than her broken sob of relief as she locks eyes with me. Relief unfurls in my chest, too, but at the same time, I’m consumed with rage.
“Astrea!” Ciaran bellows, pulling my gaze from my mate to my friend's mate, who is bound in the center of the room.
Astrea thrashes against those magical bindings, her own gaze pulled to us and those green eyes seeming to switch from black to green and back to black all in the span of a second. Her dark magic flickers like a candle flame as the magic holding her tightens its hold, drawing her body closer to the ground.
“Ciaran, go! Get Ava and go!” she screams. “He’s got more collars!”
Oisin’s cackling laughter echoes in the room. “Hello, brother. I was hoping you would come. It’s so lovely to finally have you home.”
Ciaran growls, and his golden magic snaps at Oisin. “I will fucking gut you,brother.” The magic slams into the wards erected between us and them. Oisin’s face pales slightly, the smile sliding from it as the wards seem to falter under the strain of Ciaran’s magic.
Ava
I laugh in shocked delight as hope fills me. “You are so fucked.”
