Five Dark Fates (Three Dark Crowns, #4)(79)

‘Be glad of that.’ Arsinoe clenches her teeth and looks at her with dead black eyes. ‘I only have one left. And not for long.’ She turns back to the water, and Jules looks out to sea as well. When the mist appears, hanging in the distance like a swirling, white curtain, she grabs Arsinoe by the arm. But Arsinoe smiles.

‘Don’t be afraid. It won’t hurt us.’

‘How do you know?’

‘Because she’s a part of it now,’ Arsinoe whispers. ‘And she’s only here to say goodbye.’





THE QUEENS’ WAR





INDRID DOWN TEMPLE




Bree and Elizabeth make their way up the many stairs that lead to Luca’s rooms atop Indrid Down Temple. Elizabeth goes first, carrying bowls and a pitcher of hot soup. Bree follows with a loaf of bread and nearly drops it when Elizabeth stumbles.

‘Take care; the stairs are steep.’ She grimaces as Elizabeth sets down the pitcher and shakes spilled soup off her scalded hand. ‘Are you all right?’

‘I’m fine.’ The priestess sucks on her reddened thumb. ‘The heat feels good, really.’

Bree smiles. ‘Our Elizabeth. Able to find a bright spot in anything, even a burned finger.’

‘Almost anything,’ Elizabeth says softly.

They reach the door to Luca’s rooms, and Bree directs the guards to let them in. The guards have not been too much trouble. At least some in the queen’s service still revere the temple, and the High Priestess, regardless of the charge.

‘You girls have to stop coming here,’ Luca says when they are inside. She embraces them both and squeezes Bree so hard that she nearly crushes the bread.

‘You say that every time.’ Elizabeth takes the bread from Bree and busily sets the table, wiping the surface with the sleeve of her robe and pulling the High Priestess’s chair out.

‘I know,’ says Luca, sitting. ‘But I do not expect you to listen. When have you girls ever done anything that I have asked?’

‘Here.’ Elizabeth pours a bowl of soup and tears off a chunk of bread. ‘It’s chicken and carrot, with a little cream. I made it this morning.’

‘I made the bread,’ says Bree, sitting down and tearing off her own piece.

Luca snorts. ‘You did not.’

Bree smiles at her.

‘Of course she didn’t,’ Elizabeth says. ‘Bree is no use in a kitchen.’

‘I am of no use anywhere,’ she says. ‘Except as a queen’s companion. It is what I was raised for. And now . . .’

Luca dips her spoon into the soup.

‘Blow on it first,’ Elizabeth cautions. ‘We have to keep it near to boiling for it to stay warm up in these rooms. I don’t know why you prefer them. So high and drafty.’

‘I liked them because I could see,’ Luca says. ‘But I could not see enough.’

Bree watches the High Priestess quietly. Bree had been so angry when Luca crowned Katharine. When she pronounced Mirabella’s execution. But those feelings seem far away. She and Luca and Elizabeth, they are all who remain, the only ones who can truly remember Mirabella from that time before the Ascension.

Bree dips her bread into her bowl and takes a warm bite. Spring has come to the capital. The passes through the mountains are opening. New shoots of grass have begun to sprout. It is just taking longer for the air up here to realize it.

‘What word is there from the Black Council?’ Luca asks, and Bree clucks her tongue.

‘You know I cannot tell you. The guards outside your door might be kind, but they are still always listening.’

Luca chuckles. She seems much the same, but if Bree looks closely, she can see that the edges of her pristine white robes are marred by dust. Her silver hair is clean and combed, but it has thinned, and the pink of her scalp has started to show. Once, Bree and Mirabella had sworn that Luca had been born old and therefore would never grow older.

‘She will keep me here until I am dead,’ Luca says, and Bree gives a start, worried that her face was too readable. ‘Or they will execute me. Those are my outcomes, and the only thing to be determined is the method of my downfall. Shamed publicly in the square? Or killed quietly and my body burned among the priestesses of Indrid Down Temple?’

‘Those are not the only ways,’ says Elizabeth, but her bright voice is unconvincing. She reaches into her hood for Pepper, like she always does when she is afraid or uncomfortable. But Pepper is not there. He is somewhere between the capital and Sunpool, on a pointless errand for a fallen queen. Perhaps he beat Billy’s horse and delivered the letter before Arsinoe knew Mirabella was dead. Bree hopes so. Delivering it now seems too unkind.

‘Maybe the rebellion will win,’ says Bree. ‘Maybe the Legion Queen will rule and let you go.’

‘Katharine will send someone here to kill me if it looks like things are going badly. I can assure you of that.’ Luca grabs Bree’s hand and lowers her voice to a whisper. ‘And do not speak so unless you want to find yourself in the Volroy cells!’

Bree’s eyes burn. She focuses hard to keep her gift from affecting the torches and scorching the walls.

‘I believed her when she spoke of the truce. I had even come to like her.’

‘So had Mirabella,’ Luca says. ‘So had we all.’