The Fate of Crowns: The Complete Trilogy: A YA Epic Fantasy Boxset

by Rebecca L. Garcia

  Squeezing my eyes shut, I prayed to dream. It was the only solace I had left in my torture. Cedric and I spoke a lot when he had first visited my dreams. He apologized over and over for his part in the battle and how it was his brother, the heir to his father’s throne, who’d struck André. What he didn’t know was his brother was at the top of my kill list if I ever got out of this place. I didn’t hold it against Cedric for lying. How could I when I’d done much worse? Being stuck in a small cage with nothing to do and little sleep gave me a lot of time to think.

  I convulsed as my consciousness slipped away. My pain turned to a dull ache, and pictures formed in my head. I was in a better place, one reserved for memories of the people I couldn’t save.

  “Cedric.”

  His face lit up when he saw mine, and my heart sank.

  “You’re still here.”

  He lightly touched my arm. “I wouldn’t let you go through this alone. I’ve been waiting for you.”

  With a smile like sunshine and hair as golden as his intentions, he was the perfect haven. “Where do they have you now?” I questioned.

  “Same place. The dungeons to the west. My father has been negotiating my release,” he explained. “I’ve been trying to reach you. You didn’t fall asleep.”

  “Briefly, only when exhaustion forced me out for fifteen minutes here and there.”

  “You’re sick.” He tilted my chin upward, examining the marks on me. His eyes darted down to the snake bites. “Have they said anything about letting you go? You’re a princess, a queen in your own right. Surely, they are willing to trade.”

  I shook my head. “Edgar isn’t going to want to help me, not now that he has the crown, that’s if they’ve even told him I’m alive.”

  His expression hardened. “I’ll find you a way out of here. I promise.”

  “What about my kingdom? Cedric, my cousin will start changing things as soon as he has the chance. I can’t be here this long. Morgana…” I choked on her name.

  “You’ll still be queen.”

  I puffed out my cheeks and slumped my shoulders. The place Cedric and I stood, an architecture of his own creation, was the Gardens of Aeternum, where we had first met. The memory felt like a lifetime ago. “Not if the people don’t allow it. Not if his reign is cemented. I could have had it all, be the queen of Niferum and Magaelor. Now, I’m just a princess.” Color flooded my face. “The princess of nothing.”

  “Things will be okay. Hey.” He placed his thumb under my chin, tilting my face up. “Don’t give up. I’ll find a way out of this. I promise.”

  “I know you’ll try.”

  “Promise me you won’t give up. No matter what.”

  I didn’t get a chance to answer. A voice reached him that I couldn’t make out, which meant only one thing.

  “The guards are coming to my cell,” he whispered. “I must wake up.”

  “No.” I gripped the illusion as it faded. “Please don’t leave me here.”

  His face was pained as he was torn from me, and I was unwantedly shoved back into my beaten and broken body.

  I lingered somewhere between asleep and awake when the guards dragged a dead man past me. Another had died from starvation, or one of the many infections that hovered in the air. The stench of diarrhea and vomit stayed putrid. The sun kept it ripe, but I got used to the smell after a while.

  I envied the prisoners whose walls cast a shadow on them. The pits were bigger than any prison in Magaelor. It went on for hundreds of thousands of feet. Old stands, broken and rotting, stood by the ragged rocks. This was once where they held games now dubbed too barbaric for civilized society, so they’d been turned into an outside prison to keep the worst of criminals. Apparently, one of those was me. Many of the souls around me, in their individual cages, begged for death daily. I understood; it was torment of the worst degree. Death was a release I couldn’t afford. Unlike them, I had something to live for and a hope that the cage was not my final destination. It couldn’t be. I had faith in the ancestors, in destiny, that I would make it back home.

  “I’m innocent!” one man proclaimed as he was pulled out of his cage. “I promise. I never touched that girl! I—” A large bat silenced him with a skull-crunching thud. I winced and looked away. I couldn’t bear to watch. Xenos prided himself on being so enlightened, always saying how Berovia was so developed compared to Magaelor, and yet the dark underbelly ran far deeper than ours.

  Another man threw up when the man’s blood, who’d been beaten to death, reached him. My mouth twisted in disgust. The guards were paid in bribes to “take out” certain prisoners. Watching the corruption strengthened my resolve to survive. Once I got back home and reclaimed my throne, I was going to find a way to rain hell upon King Xenos and all he stood for.

  I couldn’t keep my eyes open for another second. The sounds of whimpering and sniveling from other prisoners accompanied me into the darkness. I wished I had my staff, not just for the magic—although that would be the main reason—but for comfort. My connection to the spirit realm and my ancestors brought a solace that nothing else could. Even though I could sense them still, the heart of their world beat stronger when I held the ash wood from their burial grounds.

  I opened my eyes once more, just for a moment, to look at the stars through the top of my cage. Such beauty couldn’t be stolen, not even here in the worst of places.

  ***

  I’d barely drifted off when a thunderous roar shuddered the ground and cage. Beyond the cages, in the large, unused area of ground in the pits, silver scales reflected the moonlight as a dragon with yellow eyes and a long snout was pulled by men with several chains. I turned around to take in the scene better.

  My fingers gripped around the iron bars. The beast was massive, standing tall, with a low-hanging belly, long tail, and yellow claws. It snorted from its snout, then looked around at us. There was something different about this dragon compared to the other beasts I’d happened across; there was intelligence behind her eyes. Puffs of smoke rose from her nostrils as she let out a deafening growl.

  Behind her, a smaller dragon, the color of night, walked with less resistance. Its amber eyes locked onto the bigger dragon. I presumed the larger one must’ve been her mother. The guards had to have cast a spell on them to stop them from breathing fire, else they’d all be dead by now. I’d read about dragons when I was a child. I was fascinated by them, and now here two were, in front of my eyes, but like me, they were prisoners.

  I could have sworn the big dragon looked right at me before both were dragged across the sandy, dusty ground to the other side of the pit. There, a large tunnel, which had been barricaded off, was opened and they were taken down to who-knew-where.

  “What’s happening here?” I questioned under my breath. Dragons were supposedly a protected species. In fact, I remembered it was Berovia who ordered it so after my father attempted to steal one and bring it to Magaelor. I was sure he planned on using it during battle and obtain more eggs, which were a delicacy and could only be bought from pirates, but the men he sent never made it back. All but one ship was wrecked, or so we had been informed by the four survivors out of eighty who’d been sent. They told my father that the small Berovian-owned island in the south was filled with bones and skulls. They washed up with the waves against black rocks of solidified lava as the water dragged them up and down the pebbled beach.

  “Psst,” someone hissed.

  My gaze found him. A leathery-faced man with sullen eyes and a long neck was staring at me. He was new. He must have been brought in while I was sleeping. “Winter.” His voice was hoarse.

  “Yes,” I said, clearing my throat. I’d hardly spoken aloud since I’d been imprisoned; my voice had dried out along with everything else. I’d do anything for a delicious, tall glass of water right now. The things I took for granted before I’d been locked away, I’d never again not appreciate.

  “I’ve been told to give you a message.”

  My heart hamme
red.

  “I was moved here from the west wing dungeons. A faery, Cedric,” he said, then coughed. “He told me to tell you he was being let out today, and he couldn’t reach you in his dreams.” He scratched his head. “At least I think that’s what he said. It’s all confusing.”

  The ground fell beneath my feet. “No, that makes perfect sense.”

  “He was a friend,” the man told me, although I hadn’t asked. “He’s a good man, that faery. He was kind to me.”

  I licked my lips. “Yes, I imagine he was.”

  “I was worried I wouldn’t find you, but you’re the only woman here and an empty cage had opened next to yours.”

  I looked around. I didn’t know how I hadn’t noticed it before, but he was right. I hadn’t seen any other women.

  I craned my neck to peer around the man as he ran his fingers through his long, greasy hair. “Did you see the dragons?” I asked, once I got a good enough look at those imprisoned behind him.

  He nodded. “They’ve been at this for years. They told me I was mad.” He laughed, showing his yellow teeth. “A conspiracy, they said, but I knew I was right. They’ve been trying to use them for whatever reason, but the one they had died. According to my networks. Not that it was ever confirmed. Xenos is good at keeping things a secret.”

  “Where are they taking them?”

  He looked over to where the large tunnel was. “It used to lead down to where warriors would wait when the games would be held. Where they’d fight to their death. I know down there is a connection of tunnels. They could lead anywhere. They were blocked off for the longest time. I imagine they will be again now they’ve taken the dragons away.”

  “We must tell someone.”

  He laughed. “Who would we tell?” He gestured around us. “They didn’t care to hide them in front of us, because everyone knows no one survives the pits.”

  “No one?”

  “No one.”

  The heat drained from my face. “Why are you in here?” I asked.

  “Treason.” He scoffed. “As if. They’ve been looking for me for a long time. I ran a group. We were against the monarchy. Xenos didn’t like that, you see, wanted me dead. He doesn’t know they’ll never back down. He’s made me into a martyr. I’ll bring him down, dead or alive.”

  I sucked in a deep breath. “Well, you and I have a goal in common, it seems.”

  “I’m Patrick.”

  “Nice to meet you. I wish it was under better circumstances.”

  “You and I both.”

  “Hmm.” I rested my head against the bars, looking away. I hoped he’d realize I wanted some privacy, to be alone with my thoughts—as laughable as the idea was, considering where I was. I closed my eyes and rubbed my arm with my hand. My skin was blistering. I hissed when I ran over a sore. I had no tears left to cry.

  Cedric was out, which meant he would be trying to obtain my release, although I had no idea how he’d manage it. He could barely secure his own, and he was a prince. The sun bled into midday, my most despised time. The heat wore me down fast. The anger I’d accumulated overnight, the spark of fight, extinguished more with each passing hour. You have to keep going, I told myself over and over, but the words did nothing by the end of the day, when a guard finally brought me a small cup of dirty water and a piece of moldy bread. I’d become so accustomed to hunger, I didn’t even feel it as much anymore. Eating was harder than drinking. It brought with it new pains that I’d sedated with time. I squeezed my eyes shut. When would the torture end?

  NINE

  The days bled into each other. I could no longer pull together a coherent sentence. It felt as if I’d already died but was trapped inside my body as it slowly decayed. I couldn’t feel pain anymore. I wasn’t sure when it happened, but I was numb through and through. I just lay baking under the sun. Patrick had tried to keep us both in better spirits, but like me, he was finished. I had caught the occasional glimpse of him when I’d tried to open my eyes. His arms and legs were tangled as he lay resting against the bars, like a puppet who had its strings cut.

  The door to my cage was unlocked. Someone grabbed my feet and dragged me along the grainy ground. I didn’t try to fight. I parted my dry, cracked lips and looked up at the blinding sun. Perhaps they were finally going to kill me.

  I closed my eyes and accepted my fate.

  “She’s going to die!” a man shouted, his tone clipped. “I told you not to let her die.”

  Another man stammered, “We… We gave her water and some bread, what—”

  “Two days ago,” a third man said, interrupting the second.

  “Two days!” The first man growled under his breath. I heard a loud slap, then I was lifted to my feet.

  I couldn’t hold myself up. I let my weight fall into whoever’s arms I was in. Everything was blurry.

  “I got you,” he said. “Don’t you dare die.”

  Blackness folded over me before I could say anything.

  ***

  Water was forced down my throat. Food was given to me pureed. Cream was rubbed into my sores. I was being brought back from the brink of death, and the agony was throbbing. “Stop,” I said with a gasp when I was finally able to speak. I lost count of how many times I’d gone in and out of consciousness.

  “Please, miss, stay still.” A woman spoke. Her voice was soft, her touch gentle. She dabbed at my cuts, bruises, and blisters slowly, patiently. “It’s okay, miss. You’re going to be well,” she cooed when I hissed at the sting of the ointment.

  “You’re lucky,” she said.

  If I could have laughed, I would’ve. “Lucky?” I managed to splutter.

  “Prince Kiros wanted you alive. He brought you here, to me.”

  The name etched into my mind. I clung to it. I didn’t want to forget. The prince who’d allowed me to be put in the pits. Same with the rest of his family. He allowed me to be tortured. The son of Xenos Mallory. I was going to kill him.

  “Where is he?” I asked, mustering what little energy I had.

  “He will come to check on you shortly,” she said. “I’ve never seen someone sleep so much.”

  I focused my eyes, and her features unblurred. Her eyes, big and honey brown, were attentive to her task of treating my leg. Her lips, small, thin, and rosy pink, were set into a hard line. Her blonde eyebrows were pinched downward in concentration. Compassion laced her expression when she finished. She was thin and wispy, and her blonde waves were tied into a knot at the back of her head. Her skin was blemish free, but her nose was smattered with freckles. “Done.” She smiled. “I’ll bring you some soup now that you’re awake enough to eat it.”

  The room was big enough to fit two of mine in from home. The floor was white marble, matching the countertops and cream walls. The gold finish around the room gleamed. An ornate blue rug stretched across the floor, stopping at a stone basin where cloths and bandages were piled high.

  The double doors opened. A man strutted through but stopped when he saw me. I balled my fist.

  His glacier-blue eyes found mine. The crown on his brown hair told me he was Prince Kiros. He wore a self-assured grin, had a strong jaw and Romanesque nose, and his arms looked like they’d tear through his shirt sleeves. He wore a suit and was tugging at his white collar. I could tell he was a prized jewel of Berovia. I bet his father was so proud of him, the golden boy of the family. I could always tell them. I’d met enough. He was perfect, and I couldn’t wait to kill him.

  “You.” I glowered at him, my tone filled with enough venom to outdo a redthorn viper.

  He closed the distance between us and sat at the end of the bed. “How are you feeling? I know you don’t remember, but I saved you out there.”

  He looked pretty pleased with himself. I wanted to wipe that smile off his smug face. My eyes bulged. “Are you serious?” I was seething. The rage inside me boiled over, tipping me to the point of murderous. “How. Am. I. Feeling?” I ground my teeth. My heartbeat quickened. “I have been torture
d!” I spat. “Kept in a bloody cage for who knows how long while my kingdom, my kingdom, has gone to my pathetic cousin. I have watched men die and almost died myself, and you ask me how I’m feeling?”

  He bit his bottom lip and stood. “Perhaps this isn’t the best time. I’ll wait until you’ve calmed down.”

  I wanted to launch myself at him, but my broken body wouldn’t let me. Usually, I’d formulate a plan, but my anger bubbled just under the surface and I couldn’t ignore it.

  “You saved me?” I scoffed. “Is that what you’re telling yourself?”

  “I’ll have Edna bring you more bandages.” He looked down at my arms and turned on his heel.

  “Get back here!” I screamed, my voice drying out at the end.

  He hurried out the doors, shutting them behind him.

  I sat back on the bed, falling against fluffy pillows that only brought me pain. I couldn’t bear anything touching my skin.

  I eyed the bandages wrapped around my arms. Two had come loose in my rage. I put my hand up in front of my face and took in my bony fingers. I was skinny, too skinny. Carefully, I turned my head. To the right was a mirror. I could just make out my reflection as I sat forward. I didn’t recognize her. I brought my hand to my eyes, and my reflection copied. My eyes were so dark underneath, the whites were bloodshot, and my skin was so cratered, bruised, and cut up that I was afraid to move. My lips were covered in dry blood that had settled between the cracks. My fingernails were chipped and split. I looked gaunt, like a skeleton. My hair was limp. Some of it had fallen out. If I could have cried, I would’ve.

  Trapped in suffering, I did anything to distract myself. I thought of Cedric and wondered if he was ever coming back. My mind was a space where I could ignore my body and imagine scenarios, creating them as if they were almost real. When I was younger, I was told my imagination had little use, but now it was saving me.