Her Crown of Fire by Renee April

Author:Renee April
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SkyNation Publishing
Published: 2019-10-28T11:57:19+00:00

The Halvers aren’t the only people we meet on the road. Families flee the north, and traffic thickens as we near Riverdoor. It hampers our progress, and by the time the small city dimples the horizon, Petre’s gaze is dark with frustration.

We crest a slight rise, and Petre’s home city sprawls before us. Riverdoor, according to Orin’s almost encyclopaedic knowledge of Lotheria, is famous for its quarries. Here they mine silverstone, a mix of granite and platinum unlike anything found in Gardhillan. The city is built from it except the Lyon estate, which crowns the city as a sandstone jewel. The hills are carved deep, and silver dust covers everything. Luckily, the tacky rain has traveled with us and plasters the loose dust to the cobblestones.

I wonder if the base metals for the Academy Silver Wings come from Riverdoor.

Petre leads a fast pace through the streets, and people get out of the way. Five cloaked strangers on horseback means trouble. I see the fear in a woman’s eyes as she takes us in, scooping her children from the road.

The Lyon estate gates remain closed for about five seconds before a small team of manservants opens them. The drive up to the sandstone manor is layered in silverstone gravel, the trees that line it nothing more than sticks. The lawns grow wild, and Echo strains for them. I almost let her; it’s been a hard ride.

Inside, the manor shows more signs of disrepair. The ground floor windows are boarded up, and the rich burgundy carpet reveals our footprints in a layer of silver dust. I cough into my sleeve as we follow the housekeeper into the main hall.

We let Petre greet his family first. Orin examines the artwork on the walls, though their canvases are stained and worn. Amisha sketches in the corner, mapping the road we used. Tyson, however, looks as lost as I do.

“You all right?” he asks. We close the door between us and the parlour, but the main hall is just as eerie and sets my teeth on edge.

“Just jittery. We need to have bread and mead with them before the Headmasters catch up with us.”

He looks around, then plops into an armchair and sprawls when no one stops him, stretching his legs one at a time. “A few days ago, I went out to return Amisha’s gift. I was going to spend the rest of the night knitting.”

“Yet here you are,” I say, sitting in the other chair.

My mind wanders back to the Halvers, and I rub my chest absentmindedly. “Wonder what’s it like having a soulmate.”

“Probably annoying as all shit.”

I grin. “Yeah, I have no idea what it’d be like having some dork sharing almost every aspect of my life.”

“Oh, come off it,” he retorts, but he’s smiling too. “Why, you thinking what it’s going to be like with your own?”

That isn’t what’s on my mind, but I push the one-eyed Halver from my thoughts. “I guess. Just wondering what magic I have to look forward to.

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