Five Dark Fates (Three Dark Crowns, #4)(59)

‘We do not march on Sunpool.’

‘Then,’ Luca asks. ‘Where?’

‘We march on Bastian City.’ Katharine shoves her chair back and stands. ‘On the city of the warriors. We march on them now. So speaks the Queen Crowned!’ she shouts, furious that she must add it.

‘Yes, Queen Katharine,’ Antonin says.

‘Get out, all of you.’ She waves her hand. ‘Leave me alone with my commander.’

One by one they rise and hurry from the chamber. Mirabella is the last to go, and when she does, she crosses quietly behind.

‘She will not hurt him,’ she says quietly. ‘I am sure of it, Kat.’

Katharine closes her eyes. She almost reaches back and squeezes her sister’s hand. Instead, she growls low in her throat.

‘You had better be right.’

After Mirabella is gone, Rho rises and comes to Katharine’s side. She does not need to be told what is to happen. She accepts the gift of dead queens as if accepting a kiss.

Katharine allows more of them to flow out of her than she did before. Yet once inside of Rho, they bleed out of her less. They darken her eyes and add bulk to her shoulders. But except for a slight mottling of black veins in her neck, Rho still looks like Rho.

Until she smiles.

‘You are growing used to this,’ Katharine says.

‘Yes.’

‘Good. Then take my army. Go to Bastian City and raze it to the ground.’

When Rho walks out of the Black Council chamber, Luca is waiting for her in the hall.

‘She has ordered you to go, and so you must,’ Luca says, falling in beside her old friend. ‘But take care. The warriors may have fewer numbers, but no one knows what the war gift is capable of better than you.’

‘Do not worry, Luca. All will be well.’

Luca peers at the tall priestess from the corner of her eye. The war gift is upon her already. It changes her stride and the heft of her shoulders. It makes her voice lower and rough. When she tries to look closer, Rho jerks away.

‘Stop and face me,’ Luca says. ‘That is not a request.’ Reluctantly, Rho obeys and turns toward the High Priestess. What Luca sees in the warrior’s eyes fills her with horror. But she will not show it.

‘This rebellion has brought out another side of you, Rho. You flourish in it. No queen in the island’s history has ever had a finer commander.’

‘Thank you, Luca.’

The High Priestess nods.

‘You have climbed far higher in the Queen Crowned’s esteem than anyone could have guessed. And the silver armor does not look as out of place atop your priestess robes as I would have thought.’

To Luca’s displeasure, Rho’s lips curl in a sneer. ‘Speak plain.’

‘Very well,’ Luca says. Fast as a striking snake, she grasps one of Rho’s wrists and holds it up. ‘Do you see these black bracelets you wear? They are as permanent as the crown that I placed on her head.’ She lets go. ‘And you must not forget that.’

Rho lowers her head. She nods. Then she goes, to follow the queen’s orders, her steps far too fast for Luca to ever keep up.





SUNPOOL




Arsinoe leaves through the main gate and finds her bear surrounded by townsfolk. While they were away, Caragh used her gift to call him closer, and now he waits outside the walls for easy meals and a few pats from those who are bold enough to try. When the people see her coming, they bow and return to the city, leaving the bear to his queen.

‘Shall we go to the woods, boy?’ she asks, but Jules and Camden catch them before they can leave the road.

‘Can we join you?’ Jules asks. She has a huge silver fish in her arms and her cougar trotting beside, looking up at the fish with happy, slitted eyes.

‘Fine,’ says Arsinoe. They walk in silence out into the snow. When they reach the crest of a far-enough hill, Jules tosses the fish onto the ground and lets the bear and the cougar decide who gets which end.

Watching the two of them—Camden crouched, tail twitching, and Braddock on all fours with his head bobbing like a bird’s—Arsinoe almost smiles. But it is no good, being back in Sunpool without Mirabella. It is no good with Billy taken hostage.

‘Were you able to get some rest?’

‘Some,’ Arsinoe replies.

‘And something to eat?’

‘Plenty.’

‘Are you going to be mad at me for another day?’

‘I’m going to be mad at you for as long as I want,’ Arsinoe snaps. ‘You don’t just get to drag me out of places.’

‘Sometimes I have to. When you’re upset, you don’t always think clearly.’

‘You’re the one with the war-gifted legion curse. But I’m the one who doesn’t think clearly.’

‘That’s not fair.’

‘Well, what is?’ Arsinoe crosses her arms. ‘I can’t stop thinking about what Katharine is doing to him. I should never have come back here.’

‘I didn’t ask you to.’

‘I know!’

‘But I’m glad you are.’ Jules reaches out to tentatively tug on her sleeve. ‘I’m sorry about Billy. We’ll get him back.’

‘How?’ Arsinoe asks. However they manage it, it will not be soon enough.