The Kingless Crown by Sarah M. Cradit

Author:Sarah M. Cradit [Cradit, Sarah M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sarah M. Cradit

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Brandyn flung himself into Christian’s arms. He and Storm had watched, open-mouthed, as Aylen took down the men and drove them off. They ran to greet them halfway down the crag’s path.

“I don’t understand. Why are you here?” Brandyn asked, as he led them back up the path.

“I sensed you,” Christian said. “Sensed you needed help.”

“We needed help all right,” Storm said.

“Is it true? Did you kill those men?” Aylen asked.

Storm, walking ahead, raised both hands in the air. “It was either take their lives or watch them take Hollyn’s. What they intended to do to her would have killed her.”

Aylen nodded. “Then you did right.”

“I know I did,” Storm said. “Brandyn is the one who needs to come round to it.”

When they reached the top, Christian moved quickly to gather the children’s belongings into their satchels, securing them to the mules. Aylen knelt over Hollyn, working her magic. She was far sicker now than she had been when Brandyn first told the young couple about her, in what seemed a lifetime ago. Christian sniffed the air, and Brandyn wondered if he was smelling death.

Aylen turned her head back. “Brandyn, do you know anything at all about what ails your sister?”

“No, Magi Aylen.”

“You still don’t know? After all this time?”

He shook his head. “No one knows. No one has ever seen it before. We’ve had many come, from all over the Westerlands, trying to work magic or potions, or even prayer. Nothing changes.”

Aylen exchanged a look with Christian. Even Brandyn could read it. I can ease her, but I can’t fix her.

And if Aylen could not…

Christian lifted the unconscious form of Hollyn and draped her over Sun’s back. Brandyn stepped forward with a blanket and covered her.

“For the morning,” he said. “Sunlight can’t touch her.”

Christian nodded. “Hollyn will ride with me. Brandyn, you ride on Moon, with Aylen.”

“And Storm?”

“Storm,” Christian said, with a soft smile at the young rogue, “will follow with the mules. I suspect she will be two days behind us, at the pace they can take. Hollyn needs better than we can give her out here, and we must make haste. Besides, we know Storm can defend herself.”

Storm grinned.

Brandyn approached Storm. “Will you be okay without us?”

“’Course.”

“You’ll come? You won’t turn around and go home?”

She shook her head. “I’ll be right behind you, Brandyn.”

Brandyn launched forward and pulled her into an awkward embrace. “Try not to kill anyone else.”

“I will try my very best,” Storm promised, landing a kiss on his forehead. “But I make no promises.”

He reached into his back pocket and withdrew the dagger he’d retrieved in the tavern. The other had been lost in the chaos, but one would be all she needed if trouble found her again. “In case you need it again.”

She accepted it with a subtle smile, nodding as she slipped it back into her boot.

Brandyn leaned back into Aylen as they disappeared into the night. He didn’t turn to make sure Storm followed. He trusted her.

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