Empress Crowned in Red by Ciannon Smart

Author:Ciannon Smart [Smart, Ciannon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

35

JAZMYNE

Dressed as I am, with twists instead of my usual afro, our arrival back to Queenstown’s port is without fanfare, which means walking the wharf to where the carriage awaits brings new difficulties. A crowd of Obeah jostle one another by the coach stop; I take an elbow to the chest and fall back against Filmore with a loud cry.

“Forgive me, Regent.” Encircling me with one lithe arm, he pushes our way through to the waiting carriage, where he pauses. “Someone’s inside.” He turns to me. “Family.”

Oh no. Cleo opens the door; I hesitate. I might be better off with the crowd of arguing Obeah rather than the witch who waits inside.

“They’ve been fighting often.” Sitting on the bench opposite mine, hands clasped in her lap, silver afro bound in a dark scarf, Aunty Galene scours me clean with a head-to-toe assessment. “Pirates?”

I sit, hard, and knock on the roof. The carriage rumbles its way from a walk to a canter.

“It’s not what you think.”

“I think you’re so desperate to save this island, you’re willing to lose yourself in the process.” Head tilted to the side, Aunty sighs. “My sweet girl, I am so sorry for the life you’ve lived.”

My throat thickens to the point that words are no longer possible.

“Crying isn’t a weakness. In fact, I believe there’s no greater show of strength than vulnerability.” She opens her arms, and I fall into them. “You are becoming a pirate?”

Eyes closed, I shake my head.

“Then what?” She runs a hand down my head, one stroke, and I open up to her, confessing nearly everything about the race for queen, the gold the pirates want, and my deal with them—if it still exists after the Glide-By. “Judair caused this.”

I nod against her lap. “And I have to cure it.”

“You don’t think you have? You spread Healers across the island in preparation for a war our order should have nothing to do with. Should those beasts attack, we have protection.”

“I can’t give up the throne. It’s everything we fought for.”

Running another hand down my head, Aunty doesn’t respond.

“I’ve thought about it,” I confess into the soft silk of her kaftan. “I’ve thought about leaving it all behind, but where will the Alumbrar be then?” Lost in the Adair and Unlit skirmish, victims in a war I let happen.

But maybe . . . maybe for this journey back to Cwenburg, cradled like something dear, I can pretend this isn’t my war.

Just this once.

Pretending is short-lived.

Aunty and I arrive back at the palace and separate. She to the infirmary, and me to the library, where, after updating Anya about my proposal to Synestra and the reactions from the crew I didn’t linger to hear, she confirms what I suspected.

“Members of the Adair family were sentenced to join the Unlit.”

I expected this and yet still hoped I’d be wrong. My teeth sink into my bottom lip hard enough to raise blood. How much more will be spilt by the time this island has been secured? This is why I cannot run.

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