I dipped down into a traditional Bellonan curtsy, holding it far longer than necessary, just to mock her that much more. Then I straightened. Maeven was still standing in front of me, that same shocked, sick expression on her pale face.
I smiled at Maeven again, then turned and left her alone in the corner to think about the horrible thing that I’d done to her.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The next morning, I stood in the Bellonan camp and watched while the tents were dismantled and packed up for our trip back to Svalin. The work proceeded quickly and efficiently, and everyone was in a jovial, boisterous mood. There were plenty of reasons to celebrate. The Bellonan magiers, masters, and other competitors had done well in the contests, Paloma had won the Tournament of Champions, and the Mortan king was dead.
Without a doubt, it had been the most successful Regalia Games in Bellonan history.
I watched the workers a few more minutes, then walked to the edge of the rise. Down below on the plaza, merchants were trying to sell a few final things off their carts so they wouldn’t have to carry their goods back home, but the constant, enthusiastic hawking had largely died down.
The massive crowds had already vanished from Fortuna, while workers were swabbing decks, hoisting sails, and getting ready to depart on the ships in the harbor. Everyone was packing up to return to their normal lives.
Including the Mortans.
Across the river, servants were breaking down the Mortans’ tents, just like my own people were doing, but the Mortans all seemed quiet and tense, and I didn’t hear any talking or laughter. Off to the left, several guards were digging what looked like a mass grave, probably to bury all the strixes Maximus had slaughtered before our arena fight.
Leonidas was standing near the guards, watching them dig and stroking Lyra’s feathers. Sometime during the night, the strix had flown over to the Mortan camp, and she was stuck to Leonidas’s side like glue. I was glad they had each other. Perhaps, together, they could survive all the dark days ahead.
Leonidas spotted me. He hesitated, then waved. Lyra also lifted her wing in greeting, and I waved back at both of them.
And then there was Maeven.
The new Mortan queen was also standing on the rise, overseeing the guards, and she noticed Leonidas’s waving. She turned toward me, and the motion made her amethyst-and-diamond crown glint in the winter sunlight. I hoped it felt as heavy as an anchor weighing her down.
Still, I wasn’t too eager for Maeven to lose her crown or her head. Not yet. At the very least, I knew how she thought and what she was capable of. As much as I despised her for what she’d done to my family, an enemy you knew and could prepare for was far better than one you didn’t know.
Like Seraphine DiLucri.
She too was out and about today, walking along the waterfront over on Fortuna. Driscol was with her, and the two of them were strolling arm in arm. For once, Seraphine was gesturing and doing all the talking, and Driscol was nodding at her words.
Everyone might think that Driscol was the head of the Mint, but I knew it was really Seraphine. I should have known right from the start, by the way Driscol was always deferring to her. Plus, the geldjagers back in Svalin had said that they didn’t take orders from him. I’d thought they meant Maximus, but now I realized they had been talking about Driscol. Seraphine was just using her brother as a prop, so that people wouldn’t realize she was the true power and force behind the Fortuna Mint.
I still didn’t know why Seraphine had ordered her geldjagers to bring me in alive, or what she truly wanted with me, but I would have to be careful of her.
Seraphine and Driscol headed for the Mint, so I put them out of my mind and looked at Maeven again. She was still staring at me, so I lifted my hand and snapped off a mocking salute to her. The queen’s hands clenched into fists, and purple lightning crackled around her fingertips, but she couldn’t hit me with her magic, not given the distance between us.
Maeven whirled around, stormed off, and vanished from sight. Leonidas followed her, with Lyra hopping along behind him.
I stayed on the rise, admiring the view, until the scent of cold, clean vanilla mixed with a hint of spice filled my nose. A strong arm slipped around my waist and pulled me close.
“What are you thinking about?” Sullivan asked. “Surely you aren’t worrying about Maeven again.”
I shook my head. “No. She’ll be far too busy dodging assassins to send any of her own after me anytime soon. No, I was thinking about what I was doing this time last year.”
“And what was that?”
“I was making gingerbread houses with the children of some senators who were visiting Seven Spire for the yuletide season. Doing my usual duties as the royal stand-in. Being invisible. Plotting my escape from the palace and my unhappy life.”
“And look at you now,” Sullivan murmured.
“And look at me now,” I echoed.
His gaze searched mine. “Are you happier now than you were back then?”
I looped my arms around his waist. “Strangely enough, I am. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I would be ecstatic if I never had to face down another assassin or deal with a court full of scheming, demanding nobles, but we both know that’s not going to happen.”
Sullivan grinned. “No, probably not.”
“But I am happy,” I continued. “Not necessarily because I’m queen, but because I’m helping people and protecting Bellona. Or at least trying to.”
“What? I don’t even get a mention?” he teased, his blue eyes bright in his handsome face.
“Well, that depends. What have you done for me lately?” I teased him back.
Sullivan arched an eyebrow, but he leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “Well, there are certain activities we engaged in last night that can be repeated anytime you like, highness.”
A delicious shiver ran through me as I thought back to all the things we had done together—and all the exquisite pleasure we had brought each other. “Oh, I think that can be arranged.”
“Excellent,” Sullivan murmured. “But why wait until tonight? Let’s get started right now.”
He lowered his head, and his lips found mine. I opened my mouth, stroking my tongue against his, even as I breathed in, letting his clean vanilla scent sink deep down in my lungs—
“Ugh! Are you two at it again?” a familiar voice sounded. “I thought you would at least wait until we got back to the palace before you started up with that again.”
Sullivan and I broke apart to find Paloma standing a few feet away, rolling her eyes.
The rest of our friends were here as well. Serilda, Cho, Auster, Xenia. All happy and smiling, knowing that we had won this battle.
My friends stepped up beside Sullivan and me, so that we formed a line on the rise. Once again, I looked toward Morta, but the guards had finished burying the strixes, and the servants had finished taking down the tents. The Mortans were gone, and they wouldn’t bother us again for a good long while.
“Let’s go home,” I said.
* * *
Several days later, we arrived at Svalin and rode in open carriages through the city, slowly but surely heading back to Seven Spire. I was in a carriage with Sullivan next to me and Paloma and Xenia sitting across from us. Serilda, Cho, and Auster were in the carriage behind us.
People filled the streets and plazas, yelling, cheering, screaming, whistling, and waving flags and pennants bearing my crown-of-shards crest. Even though most of them hadn’t been at the Regalia, they still had heard about everything that had happened, and they wanted to celebrate.
Paloma received the majority of the cheers, since she was the winner of the Tournament of Champions, and more than a few little girls and boys were waving flags with fierce ogre faces. Color tinted Paloma’s cheeks, as though she were embarrassed by all the attention, but the ogre on her neck was grinning wide. I was so happy for my friend. My people had embraced both sides of her, just as Paloma herself had done by morphing
in the arena in front of everyone.
Xenia leaned over and murmured something in Paloma’s ear, and my friend nodded back. Xenia looked out over the cheering crowd again, but Paloma kept staring at the older woman, as did her inner ogre. On the way back to Svalin, Paloma had finally read the letter I’d given her. She hadn’t talked to me about it yet, and she hadn’t told Xenia my theory, but I could see the longing in her eyes whenever she looked at the other ogre morph.
I wasn’t worried, though. The two of them would find each other when the time was right. But for now we all had this moment to enjoy, so I turned my attention back to the crowd, smiling, waving, and soaking up the adoration.
The cheers were louder and my sense of pride was greater than anything I had ever imagined in any childhood dreams.
Eventually, we crossed the Retribution Bridge and went over to Seven Spire, where the palace servants and guards cheered just as loudly as the people in the streets had. It was a raucous atmosphere, and I decided to throw my own ball to let everyone have one final, glorious celebration before we all got back down to the normal business of running the kingdom again.
That night, everyone gathered in the throne room to enjoy music, dancing, drinks, desserts, and more. It was a joyful occasion, and for once, everyone seemed to put their petty differences and scheming aside and just enjoy the evening. I even spotted Fullman and Diante having a somewhat amicable drink together.
Everyone was still talking, dancing, and drinking, but I wanted a moment to myself, so I grabbed a glass and a bottle of cranberry sangria from one of the servants, slipped out of the ball, and made my way outside to the royal lawn.
It was a chilly December night, and the wind brought the scent of impending snow along with it, but I welcomed the cold quiet after all the heat, noise, and commotion of the throne room. I wandered around for a bit, soaking up the silence, then headed over to the wall that cordoned off the lawn from the steep drop and jagged cliffs below. I opened the bottle, poured myself a glass of sangria, and sipped the sweet, fruity liquid.
I also pulled my sword from its scabbard and laid the blade out flat on the wall. The seven shards in the crown crest embedded in the hilt glimmered like midnight-blue stars. I traced my fingers over the symbol. With everything that had happened during the Regalia, I hadn’t had time to think of a name for my sword, as Paloma had suggested. But now that I was back home at Seven Spire, a name had finally come to me.
Evermore—the same name as the main, center bridge that led from the palace over to the city. Evermore had been the first bridge built across the river, and it had weathered the test of time, just like I had weathered all the obstacles that had threatened to overwhelm me.
“Evermore,” I whispered, testing out the name.
For a moment the crown-of-shards crest seemed to glimmer a little brighter, as though the tearstone pieces liked the name as much as I did. I took it as a good omen.
I lifted my gaze from the sword and stared out over Svalin. Across the river, lights burned throughout the city, making the gold, silver, and bronze spires on the rooftops gleam like bright metallic swords. I had always loved the view from the royal lawn at night, but never more so than this night when I knew I had finally avenged my queen, my family, and my kingdom against Maeven, Maximus, and the Mortans.
My thoughts turned to Maeven, as they so often did at quiet times like this. I wondered what she was doing. If she had returned to the Mortan capital yet. If she had secured her throne.
If anyone had tried to kill her yet.
But I had no way of knowing the answers. Besides, Maeven was a worry for tomorrow. Tonight was about me and everything that I had achieved over the past year.
I had killed a queen, protected a prince, and crushed a king.
But most of all, I had survived.
Oh, there were still plenty of threats and challenges to face. I might have blunted Maeven’s power, but she would eventually hatch a new scheme against me. And I couldn’t forget about the Fortuna Mint and why Seraphine had seemed so eager to get her hands on me.
And perhaps it was foolish, but I still hadn’t given up hope that another Blair had survived the same way I had, and that I would one day find that person, and together we would rebuild the Blair family legacy—
Something cold stung my hand, interrupting my thoughts. I looked up and realized that it had started snowing. Big, fat, fluffy flakes poured down from the night sky, quickly covering the royal lawn, falling on the city, and making the view even lovelier than before.
By morning, the snow would cover Seven Spire with a solid sheet of white, making everything seem fresh and clean and new again. Maybe that’s what being a Winter queen was really about—giving everyone a chance for a better tomorrow.
“Sleep well, Bellona,” I murmured. “Sleep well.”
I lifted my glass in a toast to my people, then stood there in the snow, sipping my sangria, and staring out over my kingdom, just as so many other Bellonan queens had before me.
Long live the Winter queen.
Acknowledgments
My heartfelt thanks go out to all the folks who help turn my words into a book.
Thanks go to my agent, Annelise Robey, and my editor, Erika Tsang, for all their helpful advice, support, and encouragement. Thanks also to Nicole Fischer, Pamela Jaffee, Angela Craft, and everyone else at Harper Voyager and HarperCollins.
And finally, a big thanks to all the readers. Knowing that folks read and enjoy my books is truly humbling, and I hope that you all enjoy reading about Evie and her adventures.
I appreciate you all more than you will ever know.
Happy reading! ☺
About the Author
JENNIFER ESTEP is a New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author who prowls the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea.
In addition to her Crown of Shards series, Jennifer is also the author of the Elemental Assassin, Mythos Academy, Black Blade, and Bigtime series. She has written more than thirty-five books, along with numerous novellas and stories.
In her spare time, Jennifer enjoys hanging out with friends and family, doing yoga, and reading fantasy and romance books. She also watches way too much TV and loves all things related to superheroes.
For more information on Jennifer and her books, visit her website at www.jenniferestep.com or follow her online on Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, and Twitter—@Jennifer_Estep. You can also sign up for her newsletter at www.jenniferestep.com/contact-jennifer/newsletter.
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Also by Jennifer Estep
The Crown of Shards Series
Kill the Queen
Protect the Prince
Crush the King
The Elemental Assassin Series
Spider’s Bite
Web of Lies
Venom
Tangled Threads
Spider’s Revenge
By a Thread
Widow’s Web
Deadly Sting
Heart of Venom
The Spider
Poison Promise
Black Widow
Spider’s Trap
Bitter Bite
Unraveled
Snared
Venom in the Veins
Sharpest Sting
The Mythos Academy Series
Touch of Frost
Kiss of Frost
Dark Frost
Crimson Frost
Midnight Frost
Killer Frost
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
crush the king. Copyright © 2020 by Jennifer Estep. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of th
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
Digital Edition MARCH 2020 ISBN: 978-0-06-279766-7
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-279769-8
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