Crown of One Hundred Kings (Nine Kingdoms Trilogy Book 1)

by Rachel Higginson

  Taelon didn’t flinch. “Yes.”

  Gregor, the king of Heprin chuckled and asked, “And this is supposed to help her case?”

  Taelon lifted his chin and squared his shoulders. “It is my understanding that Tessana is not on trial for her involvement with criminals or rebels. To my knowledge Conandra has been called to verify that she is who she says she is. Am I wrong?” When nobody said anything, Taelon went on, “I am testifying that this truly is the Lost Princess. Eight years ago, I helped her escape the Castle Extentia after we found her family murdered. And only months ago, I was reunited with her in the Tellekane Forest. She knows things that only Tessana could know—about her escape, about our history, about me. Tessana risked her life on more than one occasion to bring the Crown of Nine here, to its recognized place of power. Once here, she brought it to her uncle. And when talk of war broke out, Tessana called for Conandra. She could have allowed war. She could have simply demanded that those loyal to the Crown of Nine overthrow the current regime. But she didn’t. She walked willingly into a trial where she has been disrespected, lied about, and mistreated. And yet her testimony does not waver.” Taelon paused, allowing the council and crowd to absorb his argument. When he spoke again, his voice had dropped to a rich baritone that resonated with authority and conviction. “Your majesties, let the truth be heard. Recognize this woman for who she really is.” His arm swept towards me. “The true heir to the Elysian throne. Tessana Allisand.”

  The council stared at Taelon as if he’d grown a second head. The throne room fell utterly silent. I smiled. I couldn’t help it. Even I had never been more convinced that I was truly Tessana Allisand.

  And I had never once doubted my identity.

  In a more subdued voice than I had ever heard from him, Tyrn said, “Thank you, Taelon Treskinat. We will take your testimony into consideration.”

  “Good,” Taelon clipped out somberly. “And while you’re doing that, also consider this.” He stepped back and gestured to Gunter.

  Taelon had already proved his point, even if he had smudged facts and exaggerated my courage. I didn’t know what else there was to say.

  My mouth fell open when Gunter dropped to one knee, facing me and not Tyrn. Eret soon lowered to his knee on the other side of Taelon, pressing his hand to his heart and offering me the highest form of respect.

  “We are not here to testify, Princess,” Gunter announced over the fresh outcry of voices. “But to offer allegiance to the Allisand bloodline. To the Seat of Power. To you, Tessana Allisand, for as long as you may reign.” I shook my head, unable to comprehend the scene in front of me. “I offer you my services and my devotion, Your Majesty, along with all of my tribe. The Cavolia are committed to the Seat of Power once more as long as Tessana Allisand and her descendants sit upon the throne.”

  I felt my eyes grow big until I was sure they bulged. Gunter hardly knew me. And I was certain he had not been fond of what little he did know.

  And yet for him to offer allegiance on behalf of the entire Cavolia? It couldn’t be.

  They were kingless. Loyalty-less. They did not fight for any one kingdom. They protected the Cavolia above all else.

  “What are you doing?” Tyrn demanded. He stood and marched down the stairs. His guards rushed to stand by his side. “What is going on?”

  “Likewise, the Rebel Army also pledges loyalty to the Crown of Nine as long as Tessana Allisand and her descendants control the realm,” Eret offered next. “We swear to fight with the realm to destroy the Ring of Shadows and bring about peace once more. Consider us at your whim, my Queen.”

  Hope swelled and for the first time since Conandra started, I felt the possibility of victory.

  Taelon had risked so much today. He’d wagered the entire Rebel Army and the Cavolia on my name—that the council would believe him.

  And me.

  The court erupted with noise. The two men stayed on their knees with their heads bowed, facing me, until Tyrn shouted, “That is the last of the witnesses. We will hear from no one else! Conandra is dismissed until we have our final verdict.”

  A meaty hand clamped around my bicep. Crenshaw’s foul scent filled the air and he began to drag me toward the door. I tried to pull away, but his grip was too tight.

  The crowd pressed around me, fighting to get a closer look. Faces pushed into mine and hands tugged on my clothes and body while Crenshaw moved us relentlessly through the throng. People called out, using my full name and shouting question after question.

  I searched for Taelon, but there were too many people in the way now. I couldn’t find him.

  “Wait,” I gasped. I tried to retrieve my arm and disentangle from Crenshaw. “I’m not ready!”

  “There’s no more waiting,” Crenshaw growled. “Come, Princess Imposter, your crown awaits.”

  I fought harder, struggling to break free, but Crenshaw grabbed my other arm and punished me for fighting by holding me so tightly I knew I would bruise. His sour mouth dipped against my ear. “Tsk tsk, Your Highness. Don’t make a scene now. Not when your future depends on it so.”

  “Where are you taking me?” I hissed.

  He straightened and shoved me forward. “To your room. I have orders to carry out.”

  Fear slithered in my belly and I battled the panic clawing at my chest. I couldn’t ignore the instinct telling me to run. As soon as we were in the hall and away from this crush of people, I would get away.

  I would hide until they had a verdict. Or find Taelon and explain my fears, rational or not. We shoved our way into the corridor, which was surprisingly empty.

  “Let go, Crenshaw,” I demanded.

  To my surprise, he did. He threw me forward. I wobbled but caught myself.

  I moved to start running when something hit me from behind. I doubled over, gripping my head and whimpering against the blinding pain.

  My thoughts blurred together as I tried to make sense of what had happened. Had Crenshaw hit me? Had he attacked me?

  Clicking pierced my fog. I knew that sound. I’d heard it too many times over the last months.

  I attempted to look around but my head swam and the world jolted from side to side. Something black appeared in front of me. At first, I thought I was falling unconscious.

  But the black mass moved closer, that same clicking noise following it as it walked on freshly polished marble.

  Another bloody raven.

  It came into better focus and I watched it spread its wings and lunge for me. It opened that ugly black beak and 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 thoug
h 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 sword beneath the piles of pillows on my bed. My heart squeezed as I heard a whimper and a dull thump against the wall. Shiksa!

  Someone pounded on the door. I could have sworn I heard Oliver’s voice shouting my name on the other side. I grabbed for the hilt of my blade and swung it around just in time to stop Crenshaw from slicing open the back of my head.

  Metal rang against metal and Crenshaw laughed like a baying wolf. I held firm until I steadied myself. Then I turned and parried, pushing him across the room.

  “What a surprise!” he laughed. “She has fight in her.”

  Our swords clashed again and again. He was nearly twice my size and double my strength. Each time he struck, I felt the blow all the way to my bones. But I had been taught to survive.

  I danced out of the way. Panic bled into my thoughts. I struggled to stay calm.

  “Give up, girl,” he ordered. “I haven’t got all day.”

  “I’d rather not, thank you very much.”

  His lips curled back from his teeth. “Even if you’re who you say you are, you’re still an imposter. You still don’t belong on the Seat of Power. You should have died alongside your father. He was a worthless king and you’ll be a worthless queen. You’ll be as useless as a ruler as you were as a daughter!”

  His words cut at me to the core. I had always felt inadequate, like a failure. My parents’ and brothers’ deaths were like a physical burden I carried around with me everywhere. But I didn’t appreciate the accusation from a vile snake like Crenshaw. I screamed. Thunder boomed and the door shook as someone kicked and fought against it on the other side.

  “Your father chose to see only what he wanted to see. He turned his back on his allies. He spat on those that helped him. That helped the realm!”

  I had no idea what Crenshaw was going on about. But whatever it was seemed to invigorate him. His sword came down and I just barely managed to stop it from slicing me open from nose to navel. He grinned at me with wild, feral eyes—eyes that had stopped seeing reality, what was around him—and fixed wholly on the hope of his misled crusade.

  His weight pressed against me. I leaned back awkwardly over a chair as my arms trembled to keep his blade from kissing my face.

  “You belong with the ghosts,” he snarled. “You belong on the other side of the veil where your filthy blood can’t interfere with her plans.”

  “I belong here. I belong in the Seat of Power. It doesn’t matter what you have planned. It doesn’t matter what you think at all! I am meant to rule this realm.” I pushed him back a little more. Sweat from his forehead rolled down his nose and splattered on my cheek. From behind gritted teeth, I growled out an oath, “I am meant to wear the Crown of Nine.”

  I shoved him with all my strength. I was no match for him in weight, but Shiksa reappeared and threw her body behind his feet. His legs tangled together and he tripped while she yelped from the pain. He smashed into a low table, crushing it beneath him, his sword dropping from his hands.

  I swiftly kicked away his sword, sending it spinning toward the wall.

  My sword was at his throat in the next second. “I will be Queen, you detestable man. You can try to stop me. You can try to kill me. But this throne belongs to me and I will not let it be taken away by someone as wretched as you.”

  His lips curled into that disturbed smile again. He bucked against my sword, drawing his own blood. It wet the tip of my blade and sluiced down the side of his neck. “Do it then, Your Highness. Kill me. But before you do, know that a hundred men will fill my place. And then a hundred armies. And then the entire realm, for you are not fit to be queen. We will never bend the knee to someone like you.”

  “Who is, then?”

  He laughed at me, the bitter sound filling the room and my head. “You’ll find out soon enough. You’ll find out when they come for you. When your body is dragged through the streets of Sarasonet and your precious Crown of Nine stripped from your filthy head. You’ll know when at last the Allisand’s are extinguished and the realm is handed over to the true—”

  The windows smashed open cutting off his last words. Glass screamed as the panes hit the walls and shattered both windows. Rain pelted the room, spraying my skin and drenching the furniture and carpet almost immediately.

  I made the mistake of turning toward the sound. Crenshaw used my distraction to his advantage.

  He pushed my sword away and jumped to his feet, knocking me to the ground. I landed on my side, just barely managing to keep hold of my weapon.

  I prepared myself, even as I struggled to stand. I waited for him to dive for his blade and continue our fight. Instead he leapt toward the open window.

  “This isn’t over, Imposter Queen,” he promised, then threw his body onto the windowsill. He paused there for a moment, almost as if he were unsure what to do. He just crouched in the opening, his feet crunching over broken glass, as he stared down at the ground as if waiting for something, a sign or an escape or I didn’t know what.

  “Wait!” I shouted at him. I had never intended to kill him. I was going to turn him over to my uncle. Imprison him. Let Tyrn decide his fate.

  But this was ridiculous. If he jumped from this height, he would die. He couldn’t possibly surviv
e the fall.

  “Crenshaw, wait!” I screamed.

  His smile stretched from ear to ear. Rain beat against his face and body, soaking him completely. He looked absolutely mad. “Be ready, Tessana Allisand. War is coming.”

  The door to my room collapsed with a mighty crash, but I only had eyes for Crenshaw. He dropped out of the window and disappeared from sight.

  “Tessana!” Taelon shouted.

  I ignored him in favor of scrambling to my feet and racing toward the window. I started to lean out the window, desperate to see if he’d survived, when a raven flew in my face, flapping its black wings and shrieking that unholy sound.

  I swatted at it and cursed beneath my breath. “You dratted bird!” It flew away, into the driving rain as if it didn’t notice the thunderstorm or heavy downpour.

  I searched the ground for Crenshaw’s body. But there was nothing there. He’d disappeared.

  Strong arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me back, out of the rain and wind. “Tessana.”

  I tore my gaze from the window and stared into Taelon’s eyes. “He jumped! Did you see him? I swear, he jumped from the window! I saw him. Taelon, he should be there.”

  His thumb rubbed over my cheek and he nodded. “I saw him. He’s down there. You can’t see him because of the rain. But I saw him jump too.” I nodded, a shuddering breath quivering through me. To the guards he yelled, “Crenshaw jumped out the window. Find him. And if by some miracle, he isn’t dead, throw him in the stocks to await judgement for trying to assassinate the future Queen of the Realm.”

  The guards rushed to do as he said, but I focused on Taelon and those sapphire blue eyes. They were holding me up when all I wanted to do was collapse on the ground and weep.

  “How did you know to come?”

  “Oliver was coming to find you when he saw Crenshaw carrying you down the hall. He knew something was amiss.”

  I breathed steadier. “Thank you for...” I didn’t know how to finish the sentence. There was so much I wanted to thank him for, so much he had done. “For being here.”