The Crown that Lost its Head by Jane Thornley

Author:Jane Thornley [Thornley, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Riverflow Press
Published: 2021-02-02T22:00:00+00:00

I sat in the library with my feet bathing in a basin of warm water and floating flora. Every inch of me ached, stung, or burned, my stomach and feet especially, but Ana Marie was safe and that was all that mattered.

Those dark monks had terrified the child so badly that she had bolted back home like a frightened rabbit, her knowledge of the secret routes probably all that had saved her. As much as I wanted to talk to her then, she was cloistered with the family, so that would have to wait.

“Those bastards tried to kidnap her,” I said again to no one in particular. I sat wrapped in a blanket across from Rupert, who had fixed me a soothing pot of tea and added one of his own special digestive biscuits to the saucer. Peaches was crouching at my feet, fussing with my cuts while applying Band-Aids where necessary. The Carvalho family remained upstairs and Evan and Markus were with the security team combing the grounds.

“It can only be those unholy thugs attempting to use that poor child for their devious purposes,” Rupert said. “That any group could be so disconnected from their callous hearts to use a child for such a purpose is unforgivable. They must have been plotting a blackmail scheme.”

“They’re fanatical,” I said. My voice was slowly improving thanks to Rupert’s medicinal tea. “They killed Jose and Ana Marie’s father, too, remember?”

“Do you really think they’d sink so low as to harm a child?” Peaches asked, looking up from dabbing my knee. “Wait—forget I said that. Of course they would. Anything to further their depraved agenda, right? The monsters. I swear I’ll throttle them to within an inch of their lives for this.”

“Only if I don’t get there first,” I said. “They must have been trying to lure Ana Marie outside all along. She thought her daddy had been signaling her and I saw the lights myself. Imagine luring a grieving child that way? Those were the same dark monks who attacked me. They were after Ana Marie all along.”

Rupert leaned forward. “At least we know them to be vaguely human. Had you said that you’d been accosted by something supernatural it wouldn’t have surprised me considering this extraordinary location.”

I shook my head. “They were definitely part of the material world—men in a black-hooded robes. Monks in ski masks who blend into the shadows.”

“So, these Divinio chaps are running around in monks’ robes?” Rupert asked, widening his eyes above his bristled brows. I appreciated how he reduced these creatures with words like “chap” and “thugs,” as if refusing to grant them more power than they deserved. In fact, at that moment, I appreciated that so much that I beamed at him in gratitude.

My sudden blaze of warmth must have taken him aback. He stared at me for a moment before saying, “The tea is rather fortifying, isn’t it? It is the honey, I believe. Would you like a little top-up, Phoebe?”

“No, I’m fine, thank you.

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