Crown of One Hundred Kings (Nine Kingdoms Trilogy #1) - Rachel Higginson Page 0,109

screeched. I struggled to cover my ears, but it was too late. The sound battered my throbbing head already reeling from the blow.

This time unconsciousness did sweep in. But not as a slow, seeping ink spill. As a tidal wave.

30

I woke up gasping and clawing at the air. My fingers found purchase and I dug them into flesh.

Memories flickered through my head. Blood and death. My family. The Crown of Nine. Oliver. Heprin. Father Garius. Black Cedars. A rebel king. Cliffs. A kiss. The trial.

The raven.

Slowly reason came back to me and I realized that the stone in my belly was a shoulder and the hard thing beneath me was Crenshaw. My head faced his back and my legs dangled down his front where his arm wrapped tightly around my thighs.

He dipped down to turn a handle, shoving a heavy door open and stepping inside.

In a moment of panic, I grabbed the doorframe and held on. He jolted to a stop when my body didn’t move with him. I lifted my head and the world came into focus. This was my room.

Crenshaw had taken me back to my room like he’d said. So why had he knocked me out? I looked up and down the corridor searching for another guard. But there was no one. He tugged harder and I dug my nails into the stone, breaking each one as I refused to let him drag me inside.

Realizing all at once that I was awake and determined to fight back, he let out a foul curse and yanked me as hard as he could. When that still didn’t work, even though I felt like my arms were about to rip off my body, he threw me to the ground.

I hadn’t been expecting that. My knees gave out and my arms weren’t strong enough to catch me after the effort it had taken to hold onto the door. I collapsed in an awkward heap, bowing toward the doorway.

“No, you don’t,” Crenshaw snarled from behind. His fist dug into my hair and yanked me backward. I screamed, clutching at his wrist, desperate to make him let go.

He dropped me on the ground, stepped over me, and closed the door. The lock snicked into place.

I lay there, in the center of my room, staring up at Crenshaw. “What are you doing?” I demanded.

He towered over me with his arms crossed over his chest and a smug smile darkening his face. “Finishing what was started eight years ago,” he declared.

I shook my head, grappling back what little strength and sense I had left. “You mean to kill me.” It wasn’t a question.

Crenshaw had dragged me back here while the rest of the castle waited to hear whether Conandra decided I was a mere imposter or the future Queen of the Realm.

But it wouldn’t matter if Crenshaw got his way.

“They’ll find out it was you,” I threatened.

His grin twisted with madness. “And they’ll thank me for it. They’ll revere me as the savior of the realm. I am freeing them from the oppression you promise and the war you will bring.”

“You’re deranged,” I hissed. I scurried backwards, using my elbows to drag me away from him. “I’m going to save the realm from war. Not incite it.”

He pulled his sword from his belt, the slick silver glinting in the firelight. “We got rid of you once. But you came back. And now I will send you to the pit of Denamon you crawled out of. You have no idea what you threaten. You have no idea what plans you’re interrupting.”

“What plans?” I hissed. “What are you talking about?”

Thunder cracked through the room, jolting my already frantic heart. I looked up through the large pane to see a rapidly darkening sky.

Black clouds churned, blotting out the sun that had been shining only seconds ago. Lightning streaked across the horizon.

Crenshaw’s answering snicker sent chills down my spine. He had my full attention once more. He raised the sword over my body with strong, sure hands. “You’ll have to ask the ghost of your parents. When you meet them again.”

His arms moved to slash me. I took one last breath, regretting so much about my wasted life. But instead of death, my savior came in a blur of white, leaping from the end of the bed onto Crenshaw’s face.

He stumbled backwards, shouting in pain while Shiksa clawed at his eyes, biting him with her now sharp teeth.

I jumped to my feet and ran to where I’d stashed my