The Dragon Realm (Dark World The Dragon Twins #2) - Michelle Madow Page 0,54

second half of the Crown. If that meant trying whale stew, then so be it.

I dipped my spoon into the bowl and took a bite. The meat didn’t taste all that different from beef.

Queen Katherine nodded after all three of us took a bite. “The four of us have been in this cabin for centuries, guarding the second half of the Crown so we can give it to you,” she said.

I looked around the small cabin in horror. “You didn’t leave this place for centuries?”

“Genevieve and Isemay worked together to safely freeze us until you arrived,” she said.

“You mean like in science fiction when people get frozen to travel through space?”

All four of them gave me strange looks.

I guessed if they’d been frozen for centuries, they wouldn’t have read or seen any science fiction.

“When people are frozen so they don’t age as time passes,” I tried again.

“Exactly,” the queen said. “Isemay’s elemental gift is ice magic, and Genevieve is the ancestor of the most powerful witch who’s ever lived—Geneva.”

“The witch who gave her life to seal the gap that had been opened between Earth and Hell,” I said, since it was one of the big topics in our history lessons. Over seventeen years ago, the demons had come to Earth in the short time the gap had been open. The supernaturals have been in the war to rid the demons from Earth ever since.

Queen Katherine nodded, then continued, “With help from the magic of the second half of the Crown, they created a spell to keep us frozen in time and hidden from the outside world.”

“Does that mean you know what magic the Crown has?” Ethan asked.

“No,” she said. “But we’ve been looking forward to your arrival, so we can finally put the halves together and see what happens when the Crown is whole.”

I put my spoon down, no longer hungry.

All I cared about was putting that Crown back together.

“Then let’s do it,” I said.

“One moment,” said Isemay, slowly and seriously. “When Prince Devyn gave me the half of the Crown, he gave me an important message about what must happen after the Crown is made whole.”

“And…” My heart pounded as I waited for her to continue.

“The dragon king—Ethan Pendragon—must be the one to place the Crown on the head of the Queen of Pentacles. Then, it will gift the Queen with the magic of the fifth element.”

“So it’s true,” I realized, and a wave of excitement—and anxiety—crashed over me. “One of us is definitely the Queen.”

“Yes,” Queen Katherine said. “It’s true.”

“What type of magic is the fifth element?”

“We don’t know,” she said. “We’ll find out after the Queen is crowned.”

“Okay.” I gathered myself, straightened, then looked to my twin. “You can go first.”

Mira smiled. I knew it would make her happy to go first.

I also knew that it didn’t matter who Ethan crowned first, since only one of us was destined to wear the Crown.

“Wait,” Isemay said. “There’s one more catch.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Ethan must place the Holy Crown on the head of the twin he truly loves. If he places it on the other twin’s head, not only will the Crown be destroyed, but its wearer will die, too.”

34

Gemma

Ethan paled and said nothing.

“Ethan?” Mira said, her voice small.

“Sorry.” He picked his backpack up from the floor, unzipped it, and pulled out the golden box with our half of the Crown. “Let’s get this over with.”

He refused to look at either me or Mira.

Mira looked like her heart had been beaten with a sledgehammer.

I felt… numb.

It’s going to be Mira, I told myself. He’s chosen to be with Mira. They might be having relationship issues right now, but she’s the one he loves.

“Genevieve will put the halves together,” Queen Katherine said.

Still not looking at either me or Mira, Ethan took our half of the Crown out of the box and handed it to Genevieve.

She took it from him, walked over to the table against the wall, and took the second half of the Crown out of its icy wooden box. The Crown’s crystals glowed, like they were trying to come back to life. But the glow was dim—not quite there yet.

Then Genevieve brought the halves together, and white light exploded through the room. It was so bright that I had to close my eyes. Even then, I could still see the echo of the light behind my lids.

The light died down, and I reopened my eyes.

The Crown was one. Its crystals sparkled and glimmered with an otherworldly light, as