Kendare, Blake - Three Dark Crowns 04 - Five Dark Fates by Kendare Blake

Author:Kendare, Blake [Kendare, Blake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-07-05T00:00:00+00:00

INDRID DOWN

Genevieve goes with Rho to oversee the release of the war-gifted at the ruins of the old city wall. She rides behind them in the dark as Rho rides before, their way lit by fewer and fewer streetlamps.

Let them go, Mirabella said, and Katharine did, as if Mirabella had enchanted her. As if she were the Queen Crowned instead.

“This is far enough.” Rho halts the prisoners and moves her horse out of the way. It will be just that easy. They will return to the rebellion alive and well, free to fight another day.

“Wait.” Genevieve draws long strips of fabric from the pocket of her coat. “I would have them return gagged. We do not need them raising the alarm for any possible counterattack.”

Rho arches her brow but says nothing as Genevieve stuffs the cloth between the warriors’ teeth and ties each tight behind their heads. Through it all, they barely acknowledge that they are being touched, their swollen and blackened eyes trained on the road ahead. After she is finished, she nods, and they nudge their horses with their heels. They ride away at a trot, straight down the road they were brought to, relying on their horses’ eyes to take them through the night.

“They will turn off the road as soon as we can no longer see them,” says Rho. “Lose themselves in the woods.”

“Do you think there is a support party waiting for them outside the city?”

“I do. Though not in great enough a number to mount any sort of ‘counterattack,’” Rho snorts.

“I hope they are not too far away.”

Rho turns in the saddle, and her eyes fill with understanding. “What was on those gags?” she asks.

“Just a little something,” says Genevieve, “to rectify the queen’s mistake.”

At the makeshift camp outside the city, nestled in a clearing in the trees, Jules puts on a show of trying to sleep in the hopes that Arsinoe will follow her lead. So far it has not worked. Arsinoe sits at the edge of the camp, where she has been for hours, no doubt staring down the hill at the road, though it is far too dark to see anyone coming. If Jules strains, she can hear her whispering. Come back. Come back now.

But Billy and the others have not returned, and the thought that they never will sits heavy as a stone in Jules’s gut. Below, to the east, the capital lies quiet: no strange sounds and no hint of upset. Nothing out of the ordinary after the celebratory noise of the parade had subsided. She wants to go to Arsinoe and sit up with her, but instead she stays on her side next to Emilia, getting rest in case they have to fight, or run. She has not mentioned the solid weight in her stomach. Emilia would only tell her that it is what being a queen feels like.

Jules snakes a hand out to ruffle Camden’s shoulder fur. The cat is not sleeping either; her head is up, gaze fixed on the spot where Arsinoe must be.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.