Page 24 of A Crown of Darkness
Finn lifted his head, staring at the general. ‘What are her demands?’ he asked.
Gaius curled his lip. It was not a comforting expression but, then again, it wasn’t meant to be. He was not like Roland. Therewas a cruel streak to him, especially when it came to those beneath him.
‘As the Nox, she holds the crown in her gift. She knows it and so does the realm as a whole. Many will choose her over the king and why wouldn’t they? She is a living power, magic itself in human form. Without her agreement to his rule – her signature on it, as it were – your brother will never be secure. She has a price.’
A chill crept up Finn’s spine as he guessed where this was going.
A price…
‘And what’s that?’
‘The sacrifice promised to her twenty years ago. You.’ He nodded to the guards behind him. ‘Bring him.’
PROPHECY OF VARIANA OF ILANTHUS
In the darkest realm a light will grow,
In the flames a shadow lies,
The forsaken shall be restored to us,
And the dark queen shall rise.
CHAPTER 13
ELODIE
The world shook and trembled. Flames leaped up around her and Elodie shied back, raising her hands to protect herself.
She had never needed to protect herself before. Not from the Aurum.
But here, here in this place of dreams and nightmares, everything was different.
What have you done?
The voice boomed through the Sanctum, shaking the stones themselves.
Done? She had done nothing. She could do nothing. The power she had managed to steal in order to help Finnian and Hestia escape had vanished now and she was lost again. Flames surrounded her and light beat down on her relentlessly, and she was helpless before it.
For a moment she had been free, and part of her had been everywhere, in the wind and the water, in the earth itself. She had sensed them – Finn and Hestia hurtling through the shadows as they travelled by the dark ways of magic, just as she had once travelled through the light; Roland, travelling through a tangle of ancient forest, his sombre mood tearing at her heart;and Wren…terrified and confused, with the darkness closing in all around her.
But then the flames surrounded Elodie again, dragging her back into this prison between the worlds of life and death.
The Aurum was furious.
‘Why are you doing this?’ Elodie asked, her voice shaking. If it was really her voice. Her mind needed to create a reality around her, to keep the fragile threads of her sanity intact. Or so she believed. So she saw the chamber of the Aurum, the Sacrum, and she felt herself there in body as well as mind, even if she knew her body lay still and silent in a bedchamber, as helpless there as she was here.
If anyone had a mind to do away with her now, she wouldn’t be able to defend herself. She would be lost.
She was lost.
Rage ripped through her again and she forced herself up from her knees. This was not happening. She would not allow it to happen. The Aurum was powerful and determined, she knew that of old, but so was she.
‘Who has done this?’ she yelled. ‘Who is behind it all? You have to know. You’re meant to know everything!’
That was what she had always been told. That was what the Aurum wanted her and everyone else to believe.
A figure formed before her, one made of flickering light, candle flames and stars, reflections on glass and polished silver. There were no features to be discerned, not really. They were fleeting and quick, moments caught in the light.
