Crown of Ellova, Vol. 1 (Crown of Ellova Duology)

Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

M y body shivers with a phantom frost, a coldness I haven’t felt since I fell into that frozen lake at the Ink Court’s snow-topped mountain sanctuary as a dewling. Leon’s warm embrace soothes me; his gentle hands trail heat as he checks me for injuries. Lying in the remnants of the burned earth, I gaze up at him. The pain is overwhelming as I lean into that comforting, reverent touch.

His voice is laced with emotions when he whispers, “Oh, my Arra, what have you done?” Leon’s rough hands cup my face, his thumbs brushing over my cheek with tender care.

His Arra. I could only wish to be his, and despite the pain I am in, my heart soars at his words.

“Something necessary,” I whisper back, rubbing my temple. “What happened to the fire?”

“The flames went out as soon as you put on the crown.” He moves some of the copper strands off my face after he finishes inspecting me for possible wounds. We stare at each other for a long moment, his hand resting carefully on my cheek, before he seems to realize how close we are, and he leans back on his calves.

“How do you feel?” His tone is rougher now, like the healer he is, gathering information. His fingers move to my neck and attempt to press down but I shove his hand away; my heartbeat will reveal I am not like him.

It takes me a moment to respond. “Truly terrible.” For many reasons , but I keep that to myself. “Can you hunt for my bag? There’s some water in it. I need it.”

I reach up to attempt to remove the crown, and excruciating pain hits me when I do. Nausea floods me like a sickening punch to the gut.

He finds my bag lying on the ground nearby and picks up everything that had fallen from it, wiping my fallen items on his pant leg to rid it of the dirt before placing it back inside the bag and walking over to me. “The crown will not come off, believe me. Jedrick tried every possible way.”

Leon sits halfway behind me. With slow and careful hands, he leans me against him, and I use his bent knee for back support, relaxing into him. He uncorks the small bottle and brings it to my lips, careful not to spill a drop. It’s cold, but the magic in the water warms me from the inside. With every sip, the pain recedes, leaving only a sore body and a blinding headache.

“Leon, there must be a way.” It comes out small and pathetic.

He is quiet for a long moment. “I have done all the research I could, and to my knowledge, it can only be removed upon one’s death.”

I nod; the truth strikes my stomach.

Someone in Ellova will know another way, a way mortals are not familiar with. My great-great-grandmother made this crown; she must have created a way to remove it without death.

The stars sparkle above us in the cobalt sky, and the Merawood Forest’s midnight creatures begin their moonlit symphony again.

“Arra, what are you doing out here?” he whispers.

“Me? What are you doing out here, Leon?” I push the bottle back to him and study his face. “You need to drink some of this. It will help your face. I’m afraid you are more…purple than when I saw you last. What happened?”

He gives me a small smile before taking a long sip. Still beautiful, even with his bloody face .

He sighs deeply, his black-and-gray hair falling in his face. “Those three men attacked Jedrick and me back at the Iron Castle. We were in his locked private chambers. If any of the guards outside heard anything, they would be hanged for treason for not aiding their king. The men came through a secret pathway that had been sealed, created only for an escape route in case of a fire or war. Caught us completely by surprise. One of them grabbed Jedrick and another knocked me out, but I woke up soon after they left.” He gestures to his bruised face. “I followed them and managed to almost catch up. Jedrick needed constant medical attention and could not be without a healer.” Leon rubs his face slowly, wincing at the pain. “Please tell me, why are you out here in the middle of the night?”

I ignore him and reach up, gently rubbing the cheek not covered in bruises. He leans into the touch, placing his hand over mine lightly. “Do you know who took him?”

“I suspect Kalvorn. That’s why we need to leave. We can follow this path.” He points northwest, towards the mountains between Kalvorn and Adreania. “You can rest as much as you need and we will send for your family later. I’ll bring you to safety, I have a place for us.”

Travel? “No, I don’t think so. I need to get home.” I want to stand but his warmth engulfs me and extinguishes what little fight I have left.

“Arra, please listen to me. Adreania is not safe!” Anger rises on his face, his breaths coming faster and faster as he speaks. “Grayden will stop at nothing to get the crown back. He knows it can’t be removed but that won’t stop him from locking you up! He will keep you as some sort of…pet. The pain he will inflict on you for taking what he thought was his will be unimaginable!”

I finally give in. “I don’t live in Adreania, Leon.”

The anger clears away. He looks surprised at my admission; his eyebrows draw together. “You don’t? But you have a shop there.”

“I live here, well, not far, anyway.”

“So that is why you were never at your shop. ”

Now it’s my turn to be surprised by him. “How many times have you been by my shop?”

“Quite a few times, actually, but there was never an answer,” he says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You never said anything? All those nights we saw each other?” Besides his last letters, I don’t know why it never occurred to me that he might try to find me outside of the bazaar nights.

“I know, I just…I hoped we could be…friends outside of the castle, but we never got enough alone time for me to ask.” He lifts one shoulder. “I figured you weren’t interested in that.”

“No! I was. I am!” The pain in my head makes it harder to know how to respond to him. Maybe this is the best time to admit about the shop. “I only go there for the royal bazaar once a month. The shop is a…front. It’s empty, always has been. If I had known, I would have written or found you. I am truly sorry, but I live here. I always have. My home is within the forest.”

Leon gapes at me. “How on earth did you get in? The iron gates? The patrols? Adreania was built to keep its people in and all others out.”

If it wouldn’t hurt so much, I would laugh at his shocked expression, but the crown’s magic pulses painfully. “Yes, that’s all true, but I know a secret way. To my knowledge, only a few others knew about it, and most are long dead.”

“Where?” he demands, but not in anger or with accusation.

I take a deep breath and rub my head under the crown. “Can we talk on the way? It’s hard to think. We can head to my cottage. I have a salve for your face and something I think might help this headache, or at the very least let me sleep.”

He looks around the forest. “How far do you live?”

“Not far, maybe a twenty-minute walk.”

He looks like he is going to argue but instead says, “We can rest there for tonight if we must, but at first light, we need to disappear. This forest isn’t safe. Grayden will come looking for the crown and he will not stop until he has it. He will kill anyone who gets in his way. The king sleeps late, so his disappearance won’t be noticed ’til midmorning, but we need to get ahead of any guards Grayden sends out.” His eyes leave my face to stare at the crown. For a moment something darker flashes in his eyes as he studies it. “Is it hurting you?” His tone quickly fades to sympathy. “Are you still in pain?”

My nod is curt and I agree to rest for the night. No point in arguing with him. I will break away as soon as I’m free to get back to Nueena, even if it means slipping him sleeping dust in his tea. That seems easier than fighting.

If Grayden will be looking for me, he will also be looking for Leon. Neither one of us will be safe by sunrise.

Leon’s eyes are so green that for a moment I get lost in them.

“I am incredibly grateful you are all right, Arra.” He laces his fingers with mine. “So I take it you were never going to follow my instructions to get you out of Adreania?”

I shake my head. “No, but I am beyond touched that you would care so deeply about my safety, Leon.” The water sloshes when I take another long drink and offer him the last few sips.

Leon pushes the bottle towards me. “One more sip. I’ll be all right.” He watches me take another small drink before I push it back at him. He smiles softly down at me, drinking the last of it. His sleeves are rolled up and his thick forearm flexes slightly as he holds up the bottle. His smile widens when he follows my eyes. With the bottle empty, he places it in my satchel and loops the strap over his shoulder. It joins his smooth leather medical bag. “Can you walk? If you cannot, I will carry you.”

I assess my body before I answer. Almost everything aches, and the pull and pulse of the crown’s magic makes me want to crawl out of my skin, but walking may be a manageable task. “Yes, at least I hope so.” I go to rise but he stands first, taking both of my hands to lift me. I stumble for a moment and his arms are around my waist in an instant to steady me. My cheeks heat despite the agony within me at the contact as we start walking. He glances down at the three unconscious men as we pass. His eyes linger on the leader.

“They will be fine,” I say. “Massive headaches when they wake, but they will recover. ”

He clears his throat. “I’m glad you didn’t kill them. They wanted the crown for the same reason everyone else does. It has the power to change things, on the right person. I am sure they just wanted a better life.” Leon, being a man of medicine, is generous with his mercies.

“Did they say where they were going?”

“No, but considering Kalvorn was about to go to war for the crown, we can guess it was them. If it were Versairen, they would have taken Jedrick to the shipyard and set sail there.”

We walk in silence for a while, connected at the hip. His arm is tight around my waist. My limbs are heavy, and it makes walking difficult. His eyebrows are drawn together, but I’m not sure if it’s due to pain or anger at the situation. He sees me watching him and meets my eyes. A small smile appears, but it fades when he glances up at the crown.

“How’s your head?”

The pressure there is almost unbearable; the pain radiates in every part of me. I can feel the magic pounding under my skin, desperate to get out, but I can’t release it in front of him. My jewelsmith magic has always felt magnetic and luminous inside me, like hot liquid gold running through my veins. The crown’s magic swirls like water and twisting vines in my chest. I swear I can feel the forest thrum inside me as if my very being is encased in its soil.

“It feels like a horse has decided to make war inside my skull. We can’t do anything to remove it?” Pressure builds in my head, so painful I feel I might pop like a bubble.

He shakes his head. “I’m afraid magical crowns on unsuspecting women were never covered in my medical training, but I’ll write a strongly worded letter to the university about the lapse in my education.”

It takes me a moment to see that he’s making a joke. I laugh even though it hurts to do so. His eyes go a little wider as he looks at my lips and then back to my eyes after he must have realized where he was looking.

“What does it feel like?” Leon asks. “Besides the pain, I mean, can you feel anything? I once asked Jedrick what it felt like and he said he felt a slight pressure on his head, only feeling pain if it was pulled. I’m curious if the reason it’s now gold upon your head but was black on his is the reason it’s so much more painful for you. Something has happened. It could be because the transfer ceremony from father to son never happened.”

I stop walking abruptly, so he holds me tighter to prevent me from falling. I gape at him. “Is it gold? Truly?”

He nods at the question. “Yes, it has changed from black to a rosy-gold color, very much like your hair. It almost matches. It will be easy to hide, and you must hide it .” He stresses the words. “No one can know you have it. That’s why we must get as far away from Adreania as we can.”

I’m tempted to say that the king’s transfer ceremony is only needed because the crown was stolen, but it would not be wise to give away any knowledge of it just yet. He may be the man I've spent my nights lusting after, but that does not mean I know where his loyalty lies now that his king is gone. No matter how much I wish to trust him, years in service to the stolen crown may mean he’s loyal to Jedrick even in death, although I can’t see him being loyal to Grayden in any way…

“It’s just a pressure, like part of my body is underwater, trapped and begging to be released.” A wave of exhaustion hits me, forcing me to lean on him even more.

He smells like blood and dirt, but underneath is the scent of his sweet herbs. I inhale deeply, leaning a little more into him. We keep walking. He looks deep in concentration, so I don’t try to keep a conversation going. Just beyond the trees, the cottage is tucked away in a sea of sessile oaks. My feet stumble a moment, suddenly unsure if bringing him here was a good idea. He’s going to realize I’ve been lying about so much of what he knows about me. Honestly, it is not something I’m sure I’m ready to share with him yet. It felt so safe in the castle, just him and me with my jewelry table between us. Trusting him is a necessity, though; he is wounded and I can barely stand.

“Here it is,” I say, trying to keep the apprehension out of my voice .

Slightly off to the side of my family’s cottage is the workshop. It’s made of stone, and even with the doors shut, the ever-burning blue flames of the forge glows brightly. The small workshop is shaped similarly to my home, but with more stone and white walls. My small crystal-clear pond sparkles in the distance.

The cottage itself looks as if it were designed by multiple builders who never spoke to each other during construction. The first floor is built with red and light brown bricks. One side has square windows while the other side’s window is a large circle. A tower comes up from the middle, and a spiral staircase leads up to a tiny library in the loft space. My favorite part is the twisted brick chimney off to the side of the pointed roof, the steep angle covered in Ellovian sugar pine wood panels painted in soft pinks, greens, and blues.

He looks around at my family’s home. This small cottage is nestled among the woodland, in the middle of dense, lush green trees, with flat, brightly-colored stepping stones that somewhat match the roof leading up the path to my front door.

A small flag waves in the wind. It bears the Kingdom of Ellova’s crest—a tree with six roots, and a large sun behind it. He glances at the flag but doesn’t speak on it.

I adore my little cottage, my own personal woodland sanctuary. The Ellovian palace is extraordinary, and home to everyone I love, but here I find peace. I can’t stay, though. It won’t be safe after tonight, too close to Grayden, who will come looking for the crown. An ache unrelated to the crown hits my chest, knowing tomorrow I will need to remain at the Ellovian palace until this place is safe once more.

“Come on.” I pull on his hand and we walk inside my small home. Faint moonbeams stream in through the huge glass skylight in the ceiling.

“Is anyone else here?”

“No, it’s just us.” Farren waits on a windowsill, watching our arrival with a bored expression, as his food bowl sits empty on the floor below him. He stares for a long time at Leon before looking at me .

The cottage holds no evidence of children or even a husband for that matter. Leon must notice, but he says nothing.

I can always lie when he does inquire of them, but I’m weary of speaking even one more lie when the truth is what he has always deserved.

The space inside has no dividing walls, just golden spiral stairs leading up to the library. Piles of books overflow from the shelves in the small tower library above. A small kitchen is to the right, its windows looking out over the workshop. Chairs stand around a wooden table set for three. Off to the side, there are steps down to a small washroom with a below-ground pool for bathing. A hand-carved side table I won in a palace card game is tucked next to a wide bed, and the stone wall overflows with hanging jewelry I was working on before bed.

An elegant golden mirror hangs next to the door, and I swiftly walk past it without a glance, not ready to see the crown on my head and what it symbolizes for my future.

Best to ignore it for now.

I did not leave that long ago, but it feels like days have passed. I break away from him and make my way to the kitchen, where I pull down a few gold teacups I made long ago. Once I fill the kettle, I open the cellar door and take a few steps into its magically chilled depths to grab blackberry wine off the shelves built into the packed soil. Leon peers down at me and takes the dark bottle I pass up to him.

“Please say this is wine.” He holds the bare bottle up to the light.

“Blackberry wine. After the night we have had, we are going to need something stronger than tea.”

He lets out a short laugh. “I wholeheartedly agree.”

I grab the spiced chicken marinating in a bowl and hand it to Leon, along with a tin of small cookies I brought back from the palace kitchens a few days ago. Leon’s hand appears above in my peripheral vision and I slip mine into his, glad of his assistance to make it the rest of the way up. My well-used copper pan hangs above the sink and I set it on the stove before getting the fire beneath it burning and adding a dollop of butter .

While it heats, I pick up the tin of cookies and open it with a soft pop , offering the treat to Leon. Our fingers brush as he takes a cookie, and he lingers for a moment.

“What is this?” he asks.

I take a deep inhale of the buttery tartness of the cookie before breaking one in half and shoving the piece in my mouth in a graceless fashion, too starving to care. “A lemon and sage cookie.”

“Sage, huh? I can’t remember the last time I had that.” His expression is thoughtful.

Leaning against the counter, he inspects the flaky, pale yellow cookie before taking a bite. He closes his eyes as he lets out a small groan at the delectable treat, and I can freely stare at the injuries on that handsome face. The swelling has gone down but the discoloration on his strong jaw remains.

Leon removes two golden cups from the hanging shelves and pours us two generous servings of wine before holding out one for me to take. We raise our glasses to each other.

“To meeting outside that dreadful ballroom, Leon.”

“To finding my way back to you.”