Seeker of the Crown by Ruth Lauren

Author:Ruth Lauren
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

CHAPTER 13

I call out Anastasia’s name before I’ve ordered the thoughts in my head. Anatol is already on his feet. I dropped my torch when I fell, and it hisses a thin trail of smoke into the air, but the cavern is lit by other torches. Anatol’s face is drawn. He takes a step forward, and I pull him back. His foot is right at the edge of a steep drop into black water that quietly laps against the stone.

His sister’s form throws a huge shadow onto the back wall of the cavern, but she stands as still as a statue of a saint, her hands held neatly in front of her. I stare around the cavern, greedy for a glimpse of the queen, excitement rising after the shock of coming face-to-face with the princess.

This is my chance to make everything right. I can capture Anastasia and rescue the queen. When I do that, everything else in Demidova will fall into place.

“Valor,” Anastasia says, her mouth twisting as though my name is out-of-date pickled cabbage. “And, of course, my brother. I shall forget what it is to see either of you apart from the other.”

Anatol’s chest quickly rises and falls. If the body of water weren’t keeping him from her, I think he’d have arrested her himself by now.

I’d be delighted to join him.

“Where’s the queen?” My voice echoes in the large cavern, and I spot a boat bobbing on the water farther down. Whether it’s a slow-moving underground river or a man-made canal, I can’t tell, but it’s far too wide to jump, and I can’t see any way across. There must be one, though. If Anastasia got over, then I can too. My heart thumps at the thought of it.

Anastasia lets out a cold little laugh. “The queen is somewhere you’d never think to look.” She takes a few steps forward to the stone banks of the water. I keep my shoulders square and angle myself to face her as she moves so she can’t see the bow at my back. I’ll use it if I have to, but I’d rather keep the element of surprise for now.

“Oh, Valor. You didn’t think she was here, did you?” The amusement and scorn make me wish I could reach out and shake the princess. But this is what she wants—to make me angry, to distract me, the way she did in the palace when I caught her with the stolen music box.

I won’t let her do it this time.

I force the annoyance away. I have to keep a clear head and let her talk while I figure out how to get to her. I nudge Anatol, who startles so hard that I wonder what he’s been thinking this whole time. He looks at me, and I widen my eyes.

“We knew Mother wasn’t here,” he says, turning back to his sister. “In fact, you left such an obvious trail leading to this place that we thought it might even be a false one altogether.

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