Page 95 of A Crown of Darkness
Finn found her anyway, because he always did. He always would. She knew that with every beat of her heart. And the way it jumped into her throat when she heard his footsteps behind her.
She didn’t have to look. She knew. Just knew.
His scent, the way he moved, even the slight hitch in his breath…she knew.
She leaned on the windowsill and stared off into the distance, out across the city and north to the edge of the great forest, a soft green line on the horizon. Her hair moved with the breeze, softly whispering against her skin. She had taken a knife to it the first chance she got, cutting it back to her jawline, and no one had dared to stop her. It still stirred with magic, but magic of a different kind now. The Nox was gone.
She didn’t know what that meant.
Finn’s hand came to rest on her shoulder, squeezing gently, carefully.
‘I’ll have to leave soon,’ he said and she heard the way his throat tightened on the words, as if even his own body wanted to stop him saying them.
‘We stood here before and you told me that,’ she sighed. He was only going to the Ilanthian embassy in the city below them then. This time…this time…
He would be half the world away.
Perhaps he smiled. Perhaps he didn’t. She couldn’t bring herself to look. ‘Wren, I…’ His voice failed him. ‘Please, look at me.’
They’d found him a change of clothes befitting a king. There was even a sleek band of gold on his head, gleaming against his brown hair. It was a practical crown, that of a soldier, or a knight. It suited him.
And she hated it.
‘I can’t go to Ilanthus with you.’ She blurted out the words. ‘I can’t go back there.’
He flinched as if she had slapped him, but didn’t pull away. Slowly, he let out his breath and then inhaled carefully before he tried to speak again. ‘I know. I understand. I don’t exactly want to go back there myself. There isn’t anyone else and the kingdom is in chaos. The sisterhood is broken thanks to Oriole’s actions and the army is demoralised thanks to Leander. There are already many nobles vying for position and saying things like we should be declaring an all-out war of vengeance against Asteroth, the College and anyone else in our way. It needs a firm hand, a calm mind.’
But why does it have to be you?
That was what she wanted to say. To scream it, to howl it. Like a child denied what she wanted. She bit her lower lip instead.
‘I’ll come back,’ he said. ‘I swear I’ll come back.’
Wren just nodded and let the sting in her eyes distract her from the pain everywhere else. He couldn’t promise that. They both knew it.
If he was king of Ilanthus he was never going to escape that. And she…she didn’t even know what she was anymore. Not the Nox, thank all the powers for that.
But she wasn’t quite herself either.
Wren threaded her fingers with his and brought his hand to her lips, running the lightest of kisses over the tops of his knuckles. He sucked in a breath and she felt his body react. In a moment, he would sweep her up into his arms and carry her off if she gave him even the slightest indication that she would let him.
She couldn’t. She was losing him and the pain of that was intense. They could put off the recognition of that with sex, but eventually they would still have to face it, and it would be all the more difficult for that shared intimacy and attempted escape.
‘I will never love anyone but you,’ she told him. ‘Wherever I am, whatever happens…no one but you. I’ll wait. If you will truly come back…’
‘Wren, my love, my heart, I promise—’ She lifted her finger to his lips to silence him, a small surge of this new magic that flowed through her veins rippling against his skin.
‘Don’t make promises, Finn. It’s too hard to keep them.’
He shook off the urge to be quiet she had tried to lay on him. She hadn’t even been aware she was doing it. The magic flowing through her now was new and untried. But so very powerful. And so was Finn, it seemed.
He was not going to be silenced now. It was a testament to the power in him as well that he could do it. Did he realise? she wondered. That the old magic had marked him as well? Oh, most of it flowed in her veins now, because she had been created to hold power, a vessel for the Nox to one day fill. But in the end something far greater needed to be contained and she had offered herself up.
Finn Ward had been right there with her, with his forsaken heritage, and his bloodline and his truest of hearts. And now, that Finn was no more. King Finnian of Ilanthus was needed elsewhere. He had to leave. But still he tried to make her a promise. More than a promise. A vow.
‘I swear on the light and the dark, on all the old magic and the powers that live within us, I will find you again. I will dedicate myself to restoring peace to Ilanthus, find a way to build a secure future for my people and a ruler who will care as I care. And then I will find you again. Trust me, Wren. Believe me. No matter how long it takes, I will find you again.’
The air around them shivered and glowed. Somewhere, far off, she heard birdsong.
