Crush the King (Crown of Shards #3)(102)

I scanned the still-churning water, but I didn’t see the magiers anywhere. The wave had probably crushed them against the deck, and their bodies were probably sinking to the bottom of the harbor along with the rest of the ship.

It was over. I had done it. I had saved us.

My body started violently shaking, and my arms went suddenly limp and numb and fell to my sides. I didn’t have the strength to hold them up anymore. I didn’t even feel them anymore, or my legs, and I would have crumpled to the flagstones if Paloma and Sullivan hadn’t still been holding on to me.

Slowly, the water stopped its violent churning, although ripples continued to shoot out in every direction, rocking the other boats and ships anchored closer to the shorelines. It would be quite some time before the harbor was completely calm again. More wind blew over the bridge, but this was a natural breeze, and not what the magiers had made, and it quickly swept away the last of the ugly dark purple storm clouds.

The wind whispered away, and I was suddenly aware of this strange loud buzzing in my ears. It took me a moment to realize that it was the screams and shouts of everyone on the bridge and the people on the boats, ships, and shorelines who had witnessed what had happened.

A couple of bright purple sparks caught my eye, and I slowly turned my head, looking back toward Fortuna Island.

Maximus was watching me.

The Mortan king was standing on a high rise along the waterfront that offered him a clear view of the Bellonan bridge, as well as where the Mortan ship had been. Despite the distance between us, I could see the magic burning in his purple eyes. I didn’t know if he had fed his power into the wave along with the other weather magiers’, but he was clearly furious that his contingency plan had failed.

Mercer and Nox were standing next to the king, both of them looking stunned, as if they didn’t understand why their bastard relatives were dead instead of me.

And then there was Maeven.

She too was standing on the rise, although she was slightly apart from her male relatives, just as she had been during the rest of the Regalia. Instead of being angry or shocked, Maeven seemed contemplative, as though she were thinking about far more important things than how I had survived this latest assassination attempt.

After a few seconds, she looked past me. I followed her gaze, and I realized that she was staring at Leonidas, who was still slumped against the bridge railing, cold, wet, and shaking just like everyone else was. I wondered if Maximus had told Maeven that he was going to kill Leonidas along with me. Probably. The Mortan king wouldn’t let something as insignificant as his nephew’s life stand in the way of murdering me.

Once Maeven was sure that her son was okay, she stared at me. Her features took on that contemplative look again, and she actually tipped her head. I wasn’t sure whether she was mocking or congratulating me. Probably both.

Maeven turned and vanished from sight, but Maximus, Mercer, and Nox stayed on the rise, still staring down at the bridge. After a few seconds, Nox noticed that Maeven had slipped away, and he did the same. I wondered if they wanted to get away from the king in order to avoid his wrath. Probably a good idea.

Mercer was glaring at me, but I ignored him and focused on Maximus. His eyes were still burning with magic, and I could have sworn I could smell his hot jalape?o rage all the way out here on the bridge.

If I’d had the strength left, I would have lifted my hand and snapped off a mocking salute, just to piss him off even more.

Paloma and Sullivan let go of my legs and got to their feet, although they were both shaking, just like I still was.

“Evie?” Paloma whispered. “Are you okay?”

I didn’t have the energy left to answer her. I glanced along the bridge. Serilda, Cho, Xenia, and Auster were all climbing to their feet. Leonidas was still sitting down, slumped against the railing, but the boy was in one piece, as was everyone else farther out on the bridge.

I looked toward the Bellonan end of the bridge. Everyone there was either climbing to their feet or standing in place, still shocked by what had just happened. But my countrymen all looked okay, and no one seemed to have gone into the water. The only ones who had been drowned by the wave had been the ship full of Mortans.

“Evie?” Sullivan said. “Evie, talk to me.”

I tried to smile at him, but I didn’t have the strength left for that either. Instead, my legs finally gave way, and I pitched backward.

This time, I couldn’t stop myself from collapsing. I heard my friends shout my name, but that strange buzzing filled my ears again, and the last thing I saw was the cold, wet flagstones rushing up to meet me.





Chapter Twenty-Three


The first thing I was aware of was the cold water slowly soaking into the side of my body.

I tried to squirm away, but it seemed to be everywhere. When that didn’t work, I cracked my eyes open. That’s when I realized that I wasn’t lying in water at all, but rather on a pile of snow near a campfire that was slowly melting the icy crystals, hence the cold wetness that had soaked into my dress.

Everything came rushing back to me. Meeting Rocinda and Caxton in the woods. Hearing their awful plans for me. Freeing the caged caladrius. Caxton hitting me in the face, Rocinda cutting me with her dagger, and the poison on the blade spreading through my body.

The one good thing about lying in the snow was that the cold had soaked into my cheek, which wasn’t throbbing quite as badly as before, although pain still rippled through my skull. I lay still and quiet, trying to figure out what was going on. We were still at the campsite, since I could see the caladrius’s empty cage hanging in the tree.