Page 151 of Crown of Darkness
This was the one crown Mother never let us near.
She wears it on her head every day, and I’ve even seen her sleeping with it in her bed sometimes, like a child clutching its most precious toy.
I never, ever suspected.
“Don’t touch it directly,” Thiago warns, pacing toward it.
“I didn’t intend to,” I mutter, pulling on a set of thin leather gloves that I’d tucked behind my belt.
“Vi.” There’s something about his voice that warns me.
“What?”
I wave the faelight closer, and its then that I realize what’s wrong.
A gold, faceless head sits within the nook, but there’s nothing on its head. No crown. No wards. Merely an empty space where the crown should lie.
No.No!Where is it?
“A little thief,” something whispers behind us. “Come in the night for a crown. How extraordinary.”
Both of us freeze.
“I wonder…, should I alert the guards?” It’s the doorknob that speaks. “Or should I call for my queen?”
“Run,” Thiago says, shoving me toward the door.
It slams in my face, and I hammer at the beaten gold, before turning around with a frustrated hiss. Curse it. My heart rabbits in my chest as I face the inevitable truth. “It’s a trap.”
And the only one who knew we were coming was my sister.
The doorknob chuckles and then it starts screaming.
I shove Thiago in the chest. “Leave!”
I’ve seen him turn as insubstantial as shadow and know he can pass through solid stone if he has a mind.
“Do you honestly think I’m going to leave you behind? I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t you come with me?”
I gesture to the door.
Thiago merely smiles. “I thought I’d make my own.”
And then he turns and presses his fingers to the wall, and with a punch of raw power, stone explodes through the night.
* * *
“What partof ‘do not use your magic’ do you not understand?”
He can’t face her. Not here. Not now.
Not with Mother’s curse twisting him on edge.
We steal from the castle just as the guards sprint toward the tower behind us. Yells echo through the night and the portcullis slams down.
Too late.
We’re already in the woods.
