“You know Draconian?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah. We all do. Our Guardians teach us.”
I cocked an eyebrow and glanced over my shoulder at Ifrit. “You’ve been slacking,” I said.
“Will you give me a break?” Ifrit asked, “It’s been a busy… month. Just concentrate, and the words will show themselves to you.”
Taking a deep breath, I turned my attention toward the scroll again, peering at it through the spyglass. This time, though the signs and sigils hadn’t changed… I could understand what was written on the page. It was surreal, and a little jarring. All it took was a glance at a strange sigil, and know exactly how to pronounce it aloud. Not only that, but I knew what the word meant.
This wasn’t a map; it was an incantation.
“Terrak—”
“—wait,” Becket said, interrupting me.
I stopped. “What?”
“Be careful. If that’s a spell…”
“It is a spell,” I said, staring at him, “And… I think it’s going to be okay if I read it. I think I have to.”
Becket nodded. “Go ahead.”
I returned to the scroll, and word after word, I repeated what had been written on it. As I spoke, the words on the scroll materialized, as if the spell keeping them hidden was starting to fall apart. The words seamlessly rolled off my tongue, but my heart raced ever faster as I worked through the scroll.
Something was happening, or about to happen. I could feel it in my chest, a kind of tightness that wasn’t anxiety, or anticipation, but actual, real pressure. It was like I was doing magic, I could feel the Tempest, I could hear it, senses its pulse past the veil between worlds, but the magic wasn’t mine.
It belonged to someone else. Someone far, far older than I. Someone who had lived a long time ago.
Someone who had died a long time ago.
It was like I could hear her, reaching out to me from the great beyond. Her voice echoed in the back of my mind, repeating the words as I said them. Part of me wanted to stop, but I couldn’t now. It was as if some force had taken hold of the wheel, I was no longer driving the car, and we were heading off the edge of a cliff.
Thunder rumbled all around. I could hear them talking, maybe yelling—I wasn’t sure. The table started shaking. I caught a flash of light out of the corner of my eye, I heard something smash, but I couldn’t take my attention away from the scroll. I had to finish reading the text. That was all that mattered.
No matter how close I felt the drowned Queen’s ghost was getting, I had to finish.
And I did finish, and it was as if lightning had struck the table in front of me. The force of the impact picked me up and tossed me across the room, but I didn’t slam into the wall—I stopped about a yard short of it, both my hands stretched to the side, the power of the Tempest holding me in place.
The living room was a mess. The couch had tipped over, the dining room table was ripped in two and on fire, and the windows had all shattered. Axel, RJ, Danvers, Karim, and even Becket all had to pick themselves up from the floor. I set myself down, my heart hammering inside of my chest, and approached the smoldering dining room table.
There was something in there. Amidst the splinters and the embers, there was something in there.
I gestured with my hand as I got closer to it, and the embers snuffed out, leaving wispy trails of smoke rising into the air. My thoughts were plagued with images of flashing lightning, of distant clouds, and roiling oceans, and between each flash… a face.
Her face.
Qyhena Ophine—the drowned Queen.
“Isabella, no,” Becket called out.
I turned my hand up at him and shook my head. “Wait,” I said, getting ever closer to the ruined table.
It was a crown. Small, circular, and golden; encrusted with jewels of sparkling teal and turquoise. Its surface shimmered and glimmered, as if it were underwater. I knelt down and reached for it, touching it lightly with my fingertips. It was cold, even though it looked like it had arrived on the back of a lightning bolt.
Carefully, I picked the crown up and held it in my hands.
“What… the actual fuck just happened?” Karim asked.
“I think,” I started to say, but I trailed off. “I think this is hers.”
“What do you mean hers?”
“The Queen’s,” Becket said. “But, where did it come from? How is it even here?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know,” I said. “But I think I need… I think I need to put it on.”
“Absolutely under no circumstances,” Karim said, “Are you mad?”
“Why do you think that?” Axel asked.
I looked over at him. “I think she wants me to.”
He stared at me, his head low, his eyes clearly locked with mine. “You have no idea what putting that on will do. For all you know, it’ll drive you insane.”
“Or worse, it’ll invite that crazy woman’s ghost into your body,” Karim added. “Don’t put it on.”
Danvers and RJ chimed in, too. None of them wanted me to put it on, but every fibre in my body told me I had to. I had no idea what was going to happen when I did, but that didn’t seem to matter as much when faced with the overwhelming urge to slip the crown onto my head.
“Put it on,” Becket said, his voice soft and calm.
I didn’t need more encouragement than that. I placed the crown on top of my head, shutting my eyes before letting it rest.
The world lurched, my stomach twisted, my chest tightened, and then a wall of sound broke against me. The wind roared around ears, rain whipped my face, and the smell of the sea wrapped around me. My eyes shot wide open, and then my heart skipped a beat. I wasn’t in the living room anymore, but standing in front of an endless horizon of violent, crashing waves, streaking lightning, and dark skies pregnant with thick clouds.
But there was more than just that. I was standing at the edge of a little structure, one I recognized.
I backed away from the edge, vertigo seizing me.
“This isn’t right,” Ifrit said. “This isn’t good, or right.”
“I’ll say,” I heard a voice call out from behind me. A familiar voice. One I thought I’d never hear again. I turned around to find a lanky creature standing there. It unfurled a pair of black, feathery wings to reveal a human skeleton with the skull of a huge bird, its bones entirely black. Lightning crackled behind it, sending its sinister features into sharp contrast.
“What the hell are you doing back here?” Oktos asked.
Do you want to know what RJ, Danvers, and Karim were up to while Axel and Izzy were breaking Hugo out of prison? I wrote a short story from their points of view just for you! RJ and Danvers’ story is first.
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COMING APRIL 30, 2020
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Also by Katerina Martinez
**(NEW)** THE WARDBREAKER SERIES
Book 1: Heart of the Thief
Book 2: Soul of the Storm
Book 3: Crown of the Queen
THE OBSIDIAN ORDER SERIES
Book 1: Wings of Light
Book 2: Wings of Night
Book 3: Wings of Shadow
Magic Blood Series
The Warlock
Book 1: Demons and Deception
Book 2: Mages and Masquerades
Book 3: Scions and Sorcery
Book 4: Hellfire and Homicide
Book 5: Warlocks and Wickedness
Magic Blood Series
The Primal
Book 1: Hunter’s Calling
The Blood and Magick Series
Book 1: Magick Reborn
Book 2: Demon’s Kiss
Book 3: Witch’s Wrath
The Half-Lich Series
THE HALF-LICH BOXED SET
Book 1: Dark Siren
Book 2: The Void Weaver
Book 3: Night and Chaos
The Amber Lee Series
THE AMBER LEE BOXED SET
Book 1: True Witch
Book 2: Dark Witch
Book 3: Shadow Witch
Book 4: Red Witch
Book 5: Devil’s Witch
The Cursed and Damned Series
Book 1: The Dead Wolves
The Order of Prometheus Series
Book 1: Smoke and Shadows
Book 2: Cloak and Daggers
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Katerina Martinez is a widely known author who writes supernatural fiction with a creepy, thrilling, and romantic bent. A veteran of many years of writing, she is the author of Dark Siren, the first book in the breakout Half-Lich Trilogy which became an instant bestseller in 2016. She continues to expand her back-list with books such as Magick Reborn, The Dead Wolves, and Smoke and Shadows. Though she took a brief pause during 2018, she is now back with her brand new Magic Blood series, which she intends to expand into a huge universe of interconnected novels and characters.
CROWN OF THE QUEEN
The Wardbreaker
Book Three
Copyright © 2020 by Katerina Martinez & LJ Sampere
Visit: www.katerinamartinez.com
***
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, events or locales is purely coincidental.
Reproduction in whole or in part of this publication without express written consent is strictly prohibited. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to read my work. Please consider leaving a review wherever you bought the book, or tell your friends about this serial to help spread the word!
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Crown of the Queen (The Wardbreaker Book 3) Page 17