Page 20 of Cursed Crowns
Just then, a white blur came bounding toward her. Elske reared up on her hind legs, nearly knocking Rose over as she licked the tears from her cheeks. Rose hushed the wolf as she came to her knees, pressing her face into Elske’s soft snowy fur. A slant of light slipped through the hall windows, casting them in its warm glow. Rose knew it was too late. The sun had risen. The morning ships were already sailing. Wren was surely on her way to Gevra.
Rose was dimly aware of the servants poking their heads out of the nearby stairwell.
Rose couldn’t muster any embarrassment. She simply sobbed as she held on to Elske. “Did Wren leave you here to stop me or to comfort me?”
Elske blinked her big blue eyes.
Rose sniffed. “I suppose she abandoned you, too. Oh, what a horrid thing to do.”
“Rose!” Rose looked up to find Shen running toward her. “What is it? What’s happened?”
“It’s Wren,” she said in a quivering voice. “She’s gone.”
“Why would she do this to me?” Rose fumed to Shen after she had read Wren’s paltry note a dozen times. “And on the day our royal tour is supposed to begin!”
“I have a feeling that’s not a coincidence,” said Shen, who had taken the news with quiet frustration. After Rose had thrust Wren’s note intohis hands, he had taken her down to the kitchens, away from prying eyes and ears, to make her a cup of hot tea.
The tea had helped to stay Rose’s tears, as had Shen’s steady hand in hers. The sun had risen in earnest, and the rest of the palace was finally waking up. Servants were moving to and fro, preparing for the twins’ departure, while the stable hands were saddling the horses that would pull the golden tour carriage.
Rose couldn’t focus on any of that right now. “And how dare she tell me what to do! I’ll go after her if I want to!”
“Don’t do anything rash,” cautioned Shen. “Let’s not make two problems out of one.”
Rose threw him a withering look. Under her anger, there swirled another stronger emotion. Fear. She wasterrifiedby that note.She’d only just found Wren. She couldn’t lose her now. She needed her sister to help her rule, to bring the country together, to show her how to be a witch. But it was more than that. She needed Wren because she was her family. Her other half.
Or at least that was how Rose thought of Wren. She had felt an instant recognition deep in her bones when she first saw Wren the night of the ball, but there was still so much she didn’t know about her sister. So much she wanted to learn. She wanted them to be true sisters, not just bound by blood, but by experience and history. By their future. But more than anything, Rose wanted Wren to trust her, tochooseher.
Wren’s note said otherwise. She cared more about Banba than this entire kingdom, than her own sister, than herown life. The more Rose thought about it, the less she could stomach it. Her fear and hurt and anger were all merging into a furious torrent of emotion that she couldn’t control. And shehatedfeeling out of control.
She stamped her foot. “Oooh! When she gets back, I’m going to give her such a... a... stern talking to!”
Shen raised a brow. “You need to work on your threats.”
Rose stamped her foot again, accidentally spilling her tea. “Queensdo not run off to other countries on a whim without telling anyone. They do notleave their duties behind. Or their sisters!” Her voice broke, but Shen was there in an instant, wrapping his arms around her. She buried her face in his chest.
“What if something happens to her?” Rose instantly regretted speaking the words aloud, as if the mere act of saying them gave them power.
Shen pressed a kiss into her hair. “Have faith in her. I’d bet on Wren against anyone. She wouldn’t have gone to Gevra if she didn’t have a plan.”
Rose snorted. “What kind of plan could she possibly have? Is she going to disguise herself as Bernhard the ice bear and waltz into Grinstad Palace?”
“I think you’re wildly overestimating her magic,” said Shen.
The bells in the clock tower began to chime, once, twice... seven times. The sound snapped Rose back to reality. Wren was gone, and no one else knew it. The royal tour was about to begin, and they were a queen short. She pulled back from Shen, and to her horror saw that she’d left a trail of snot on his shirt.
Stars.Could this morning get any worse?
He pretended not to notice. “What now, Majesty?” he said, brushing a wayward strand of hair from her face.
Just then came the shuffle of approaching footsteps. “Rose, there you are! What on earth are you doing all the way down here in yournightgown?” cried Chapman. “And with a man!Entirely unchaperoned!”
“You know my name is Shen,” said Shen flatly. “I see you every day.”
Chapman ignored him. He turned on Rose, his quill poised over his scroll. “Never mind that now. I need your breakfast order. We’ll take it on the road with us if it’s not too uncivilized. And for lunch there’s a suitable tavern at Glenbrook. We should make it there by—”
Rose raised her hand to interrupt him. “We have a problem.”
“The Arrows won’t get anywhere near your carriage,” Chapman assured her. “We’ve sent out a troop to scout the route. They set off an hour ago.” He brandished his quill at her nightgown. “Or were you referring to this attire? We have some time before we have to—”