Crown of Gold and Ruin by Hiru Moth

Author:Hiru Moth [Moth, Hiru]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ingram Sparks
Published: 2023-07-01T16:00:00+00:00

A few days later, the silence between her and Jaime stretching taut and unending, Diana’s heartbeat picked up as her gaze dropped from the snow-swathed summit of Mount Faneia to the shadowed base, where the great castle rose from the earth. And even from here, through the thin veil of snow slowly floating down, they could smell the smoldering of smoke and the sickly scent of burned flesh.

* * *

Proud do we march, to the crowned lion golden serveth we … Jaden’s gaze traced the runic saying engraved upon Faneia’s great iron gate in black curlicues. At Scythe’s touch, it swung open, the frosted hinges creaking. Flakes of ash mingled with the purer snow as they trekked inside, Jaden’s heart pounding. Smoke spiraled from piles of burned bodies, and trapped under fallen slabs of stone, still smoldering fires gave off rotting odors. Carrion crows should have been here, feasting on the dead, but their absence said Faneia had been in ruins for at least a month. The scavengers had already eaten their fill.

The others were so quiet that every sighing breath of wind was heard, every bit of ice striking against the cobblestones like glass shattering. The front yard was vast, and Jaden could almost see the ghosts of hundreds of soldiers, doing their drills, practicing their swordplay and swapping jokes. Before the oak door that led into the great hall where the soldiers would have taken their meals, maliciously grinning skulls were heaped in a warning pile. Upon the stout battlements, five severed, decaying heads had been mounted on spikes. Jaden thought these had probably belonged to the commander general and his senior officers. All noble warriors loyal to Eria and the crown, warriors who had been Jaden’s last hope, had all been slaughtered by the Lionsbane.

“You see? You see?”

Jaden closed his eyes, struggling to stop all the dark emotions inside, disappointment, fear, hopelessness, from imploding into a fury. Having mastered a semblance of control, he turned to face a sneering Trystan. But it wasn’t just him.

Scythe’s face was graver than he had ever seen it. “We should have listened to Drast. We should have known.”

Diana came to Jaden, placing a soothing hand on his sleeve. “We made a—”

“What, a mistake?” Trystan snorted derisively. “One day, the mistakes our Royal Highness decides upon are going to put us all in our graves! You, Jaden, flounder and brood and are terrible at making good decision, which is why I always said you were never suited to be king!”

“And who should take my place, you?” Jaden barked. “Everything you say revolves around to find this stale argument, again and again, Trystan. Whatever happens, all you want is my title. You’ve always been jealous!”

Scythe rolled her eyes and snapped. “Trystan is right. Not about you not being king, but about you not facing up to the past or the present. It is true we all agreed to come here, and it was a terrible mistake that cost us precious time. But, even now, I can see you, Jaden, making up yet more excuses to avoid Carthage.

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