Page 95 of Crown of Darkness
Every head turns toward me.
“Give Iskvien the Palace of Many Moons,” Thalia says, “and then she can make the gardens bloom. The people want a bound queen? Then let’s give them a bound queen.”
Whoa. “I’m not the… queen. Thiago rules the kingdom. I don’t want this.”
“You’re my wife,” he says, taking my hand in his. “You rule at my side. I wanted this, Vi.” His eyes darken. “If anything ever happens to me, then my kingdom is safe in your hands.”
He’s talking about the curse.
“Nothing is going to happen to you—”
“Thorns, Vi!” Finn calls, brandishing a chair against a particularly virulent bramble.
“Stop doing that!” I tell the brambles in exasperation and they all slink against the floor like whipped puppies.
The doors bang open and Eris strides in, clad in leather boots up to her knees and wearing the happiest smile I’ve ever seen.
“You found them?” Thiago demands.
She tosses a golden sword on the table in front of us. The circle of thorns in the pommel winks at me.
“Queen Adaia’s Deathguard have been dealt with. I left two of them alive,” she says with a shrug. “They’re down in the dungeons and I promised I’d pay them a visit later, once they’ve had a chance to think about what they’ve done. One of them wanted to know if our little bitch-princess drowned, so I spent a good half hour showing him what it might have felt like, before I let him know ourqueenwas alive.” She sinks into her seat, her fingers curling over the arms of her chair as she shivers with delight. “Let’s just say, he was delighted to tell me everything. I have their names. I have all their names. Theron missed a few.”
Her smile is terrible.
Clearly she’s recovered from her near-drowning.
Thiago nods curtly. “Then give their names to Theron. Tell him I want their heads as well. In return, he can have all oftheirpalaces and guild halls.”
And then he heads for the doors, leaving them swinging shut behind him.
* * *
I findThiago on the parapets outside our bedchambers, staring down at the city. Enormous wings flare behind him, thick with glossy feathers. He’s no longer hiding himself.
I don’t know what that means.
Rain trickles down, the skies turning gray. In the distance, lighting flashes.
I thought at first it was his favorite place, where he can peacefully watch the bustle and flow of the city he loves, but I’ve come to realize over the months that he comes here because it’s safe here. He loves this city, this kingdom, but there’s a part of him that will always watch from a distance, uncertain of his welcome.
He’s still a young fae prince who was left alone on an altar in the woods, and no matter whether he wears a crown now, or surrounds himself with people who love him, there’s a part of him that doesn’t believe he deserves any of it.
It makes my heart break a little.
Wrapping my arms around his waist, I rest against his chest and close my eyes, listening to his heart beat.
I don’t know what yesterday meant.
Queen, they chanted.
And he called me his queen too, as he knelt to me in the streets.
Only a queen can truly rule the lands, my mother always says.
But I don’t want him to think that. I don’t want him to believe he is somehow unworthy of ruling this city, or that I tried to supplant him in some way.
“I love you,” I whisper. It’s getting easier every time. “I don’t want to rule.”
