Five Dark Fates (Three Dark Crowns, #4)(25)

‘Uncared for?’

‘She said something to me once. That she had never had friends like you and Arsinoe had. She only had the Arrons.’

‘And they are a cold lot, to be sure,’ Elizabeth adds. Mirabella looks at them quietly. ‘She has won you over by degrees. Even though she murdered a boy right before your eyes. Even though she cut Madrigal Milone’s throat.’

Bree’s mouth tightens guiltily, but she does not deny it. What else can they do? The Queen Crowned is the Queen Crowned. And no matter which queen they wanted to see on the throne, eventually the island comes to love the one they have.

‘We would never choose her over you,’ Bree says. ‘We would never let her hurt you. Maybe in bringing you here, she has begun to show the better part of herself.’

Mirabella nods. Part of her cannot help but feel betrayed, even though she left her friends behind to make her way in another place. It is not fair to be hurt that they have done the best that they can. They are still her Bree and her Elizabeth. They always will be.

‘Besides,’ says Elizabeth, ‘you’re here now. You’ve turned away from the rebellion and made peace with the crown. So why should we not be fond of the queen?’

Mirabella looks to the northwest. From this height, it seems she can see all the way across the island straight to Sunpool, and to Arsinoe. Or at least she could if the blasted peak of Mount Horn did not rise up directly in between.

‘I am no more for the crown than I am for the rebellion,’ Mirabella corrects her. ‘I fought my way free of that once, and I’ll not be dragged back in again. Not by a Legion Queen, nor by my baby sister.’

‘Then why have you come?’ Elizabeth asks cautiously. Mirabella sighs. Their lives have changed so much since Rolanth. It feels wrong to ask them to split their loyalties. When she brought them up to the battlements, she intended to tell them everything. But now she knows that she cannot. Whatever Katharine is hiding, it is something she will have to discover for herself, without confidants.

‘I came for the island,’ she says, and at least that is not a lie. ‘And I came for you. We should go back down. Katharine may have returned from Greavesdrake Manor, and I do not want her to search for me.’

Elizabeth grins and shivers, and the woodpecker beak inside her hood clicks open and shut. ‘You do not have to tell me twice. Let’s go down to the kitchens and find something warm to eat.’

They go, but Mirabella lingers a moment. She steps to the edge and wraps her fingers around the cold stone, then calls up one last gust to whisk away her words.

‘I did not want to leave you, Arsinoe. But I had to. I had to come here to find what is wrong with our sister, because she is the darkness the mist reaches for.’

On the way down to the kitchens, they cross paths with Katharine.

‘Queen Katharine.’ Elizabeth curtsies. ‘You have been at Greavesdrake? How is your Pietyr?’

‘My Pietyr is unchanged,’ Katharine replies, and her mouth tightens. ‘But thank you for asking. There are many here in the Volroy who would no doubt prefer to see him lie in that bed forever. Some even within his own family.’

‘Because they disapprove of his appointment to the council?’ asks Mirabella.

‘And of his closeness to me.’ Katharine cocks her head. ‘Of course, you would never have done something so controversial.’

Mirabella shrugs. ‘I have no boy to appoint.’ She steels herself, waiting for Katharine to say something cruel about Joseph, but she does not. ‘And besides, it would be my Black Council, as it is yours. Their disapproval . . . they will get over it.’

Katharine’s brows rise. ‘I hope you are right.’

‘If you will excuse us,’ Bree says, and she and Elizabeth take their leave.

‘That was abrupt,’ Katharine says. ‘I would not expect them to leave you so readily. Especially in my company.’

‘They want us to be friends.’ Mirabella watches them go, heads bent together. ‘You would think they were leaving me alone with a suitor, rather than my little sister. I am surprised they did not break out in a fit of giggles.’

Katharine looks after them thoughtfully. ‘I was going to dismiss them anyway. I am taking you on a tour of the capital. Of course we will have to take a covered carriage, and you must wear a veil to hide your face. A white veil. I trust that will not bother you?’

‘They are only colors, Katharine.’

‘Not here they are not.’

Outside, Katharine has ordered a black carriage drawn by two high-stepping black horses, their heads adorned with black plumes.

‘I thought you wanted us to be disguised,’ Mirabella says. ‘I wanted you to be disguised.’ Katharine hands her a veil, and they climb into the carriage. The driver snaps the reins, and the horses take off, clip-clopping across the cobblestones. Soon enough, they have left the Volroy grounds and made their way through the city streets to the heart of Indrid Down. Mirabella presses to the window, gazing up at the buildings as they go by. They pass Indrid Down Temple, so dark and near to the Volroy that it is like a second shadow, and she twists her head to look up at the spitting, winged gargoyles.

‘Are there stairs to go closer?’

‘To the gargoyles?’

‘Of course.’ Mirabella grins. ‘Willa used to show us drawings of them; do you not remember? Delicate sketchings of charcoal and ink. We had names for every one. Moondragon, she was the largest, with wings outstretched. There.’ Mirabella points back as the carriage continues on. ‘And she was my favorite. Arsinoe preferred the ones with their tongues sticking out.’