45. Kiera

I didn’t scream.

I didn’t scream as Renwell beheaded my father with one slice. I didn’t scream as my father’s body crumpled to the floor. Or when his head rolled to Renwell’s boots.

All the air had left my body. The room. The world. The candlelight whitened around my vision, Renwell a dark shadow in the center like the slitted pupil of a snake’s eye.

I fell to my knees. My heart thrashed against my chest.

Dead. Father is dead. Dead like Mother. Dead because he wanted her to be. Now he’s dead because of Renwell... Renwell...

“Why?” I choked out.

“I told you I would never let him execute you,” Renwell said softly.

He’d killed my father—his king—to save me?

Aiden shifted behind me, and I felt a sliver of worry for the wound leaking blood down his side. But that feeling was drowned out by a horrible reality. Everyone in this room had blood on their hands now. Nothing but blood. Father now lay in a sticky bed of it.

He was gone. His soul released. But no one uttered the prayer. Even I couldn’t form the words.

I stiffened. Gods, how would Everett and Delysia react? I hadn’t had time to check on them, hearing the commotion from Father’s room. I needed to find them.

Rising to my feet, I stepped forward shakily. “Let me pass, Renwell. I need to tell Everett and Delysia what happened. I need to make sure they’re all right.”

He didn’t answer me. Instead, he lowered his sunstone sword—a wicked weapon I’d never seen before—and threaded it through the crown that lay in a pool of my father’s blood.

A grin spread over his harsh features. He eased the stained crown off the sword and placed it on his head.

“What are you doing, Renwell?” I demanded, my voice punctured with disbelief.

He continued to smile at me and jerked his chin. A Wolf slinked to his side. “Secure the prince and princess and the rest of the palace. No one leaves.”

His words snapped something inside me, severed as quickly as Father’s neck. He had betrayed me, too. “Gods damn you to the deep, dark, wandering hell,” I snarled, flicking one of my knives at his throat.

His sword whipped in front of his face, shattering my knife like glass. I flung the next three so quickly, they whirred like hummingbirds. He slashed each one, but not fast enough to avoid the shards slicing across his face.

I roared in frustration and seized Mother’s knife from the floor.

“Cease!” Renwell thundered. “Or I will send my Wolves to cut the throats of your brother and sister.”

I froze, trembling. “You can’t do that.”

“I can and I will.” He tapped his sword on the marble floor. “I’ve been planning this for a long time, Kiera. There’s very little I won’t do.”

My mind couldn’t fathom the meaning behind his words. He’d never said anything about wishing to be king. He’d rarely said a word against my father.

No one fails me twice.

Those had been Father’s words to Asher. Yet, we all thought Renwell had failed when he hadn’t been able to save Mother. But he hadn’t truly failed. He’d been acting on Father’s orders all along.

“You did see me that night, didn’t you?” Aiden’s rough voice made me turn. But he wasn’t looking at me. He was staring at Renwell, contempt written into his sweaty, soot-streaked face. “When Brielle died.”

“I did,” Renwell said. “And I see you found the present I left for you in Asher’s vault.”

Aiden clenched his bloody fist, his father’s gold ring flashing in the candlelight. “You wanted to see if I’d pick it up.”

“I guessed who you were after the glimpse I caught of you fleeing Brielle and when I captured you in the Den. That brand from the mine covered by a falcon tattoo was too coincidental. I found your father’s ring when I was emptying Asher’s vault ahead of your little heist—a way to further prove my theory. Then, of course, I saw you with my sister, and that confirmed it.”

His words hit me like a hailstorm. “You knew ?” I choked out. “You knew he killed my mother. That he’d been a prisoner. That he might be the true heir. And you put me in a cell with him? ”

I could feel Aiden’s stare burning into my cheek, but I stayed focused on Renwell. On his calm, steady gaze.

“Yes,” he said simply.

“You lied to me,” I said hoarsely. “All this time. You were using me.”

“I kept secrets. And I used them to unlock certain doors when necessary.”

I barked out a bitter laugh. “Like Asher’s vault? Is that why you let my heist happen? So you could steal a bit for yourself?”

Renwell smirked. “Oh, I all but emptied his vault, leaving just enough for you.”

That was why Father had been so angry, why he’d killed Asher and threatened me.

Because of Renwell.

“That gold was quite useful paying for the additional Wolves I needed,” Renwell continued. “The ones that should be attacking the Den right about now.”

Aiden stiffened. “We already slaughtered the Wolves you hid in your caves.”

Renwell chuckled softly. “Fool. Those were just my way of making you work harder to get here. And to make you think you’d won the night.” He sheathed his glittering shadow of a sword. He nodded to his Wolves. “Take her. Kill the other.”

My heart cried out, and I looked wildly at Aiden. His eyes darted from Renwell to me, his sword raised, as he made a quick decision.

He lunged for me, wrapping his arm around me and pinning my arms to my body. His sword grazed my neck. “Not another step,” he hissed at the advancing Wolves.

Something flickered over Renwell’s face that I’d never seen before—fear. I felt the same flicker in my chest as the cold steel licked my skin.

“Halt!” Renwell shouted. The Wolves stilled as one.

Aiden slowly dragged me toward the old door I’d seen hanging open when I burst into Father’s room.

“Don’t go with him, Kiera,” Renwell said, his cold voice filtering through my fear. “Don’t make the same mistake your mother did.” I flinched. “Use your mother’s knife. Kill him. He’s wounded. Do it. Do it! ”

I shuddered. The knife was trapped next to Aiden’s leg. I could jab my elbow into his wounded side and thrust the blade into his thigh, like he did to that Wolf when we escaped the Den.

Then I could bury it in his heart like he did to Mother.

So much death. And I still hadn’t protected my brother and sister.

“Everett, Delysia,” I whispered brokenly.

“You can’t save them now,” Aiden breathed in my ear. “He’ll use them against you. Make you his puppet.”

I shivered. But would he kill them if I were gone?

Renwell’s eyes sharpened, and he sneered. “Ah, you’ve fallen for my little spy as well, Falcryn. You won’t kill her.”

“No, I won’t.” Aiden shoved me behind him. “I just needed to get her to the door.” He flung some sort of liquid from a pouch that splattered in an arc at the Wolves’ boots.

Eyes widening with recognition, Renwell hurled himself backward as Aiden seized one of the burning candles and threw it on the liquid. Flames roared from the floor to the ceiling, tongues of fire dancing over the shrieking Wolves.

“Go!” Aiden shouted, pushing me down toward some stairs that trailed into darkness.

He sheathed his sword and slammed the door shut. Then he grabbed a smoldering torch from the ground and lit an odd string.

But still I hesitated.

Everett . . . Delysia . . .

“We can’t stay, Kiera,” Aiden snarled, capturing my arm and dragging me down the stairs.

Something fizzled and spat behind us, and a bitter smell filled my nose. Then... BOOM!

“Fucking Four!” Aiden shouted, throwing his body over mine as the tunnel shook us like the only two coins in a purse.

Rocks crashed and crumbled down the stairs, bouncing off our ankles.

“Run!”

This time, I obeyed, skidding down the stairs as more rocks tumbled around us. “Did you have to blow up the whole gods-damned tunnel?” I yelled over my shoulder.

“Librius must have made it too strong,” Aiden grunted. “It was simply supposed to block the entrance.”

“Yes, by destroying the tunnel!” I tripped, and Aiden yanked me upright before I could fall. I jerked out of his grasp.

We raced down the trembling stairs and burst into a room, coughing on the dust cloud that chased us.

“Let’s go,” Aiden commanded, striding for the door.

“No.”

He spun around. “Yes.”

I pointed Mother’s knife at him, even though it seemed like a dull threat now. “I’m not going anywhere with you. I won’t leave my brother and sister.”

“And what is your plan, then?” His words echoed from the night we met.

“I’ll stay here. I’ll find a way to get them out.” Maybe Melaena would help me. If she didn’t hate me. If Renwell didn’t find me first.

Aiden slowly stalked toward me, crowding against my limp blade and backing me against a wall. He anchored both his palms by my head, smelling of battle. His green eyes burned through me to my soul.

“D-don’t,” I whispered.

“Don’t what?”

For a moment, everything else burned away as we panted against each other’s lips. Flames of a familiar feeling singed my blood. We stood in a scorched ring of everything we’d destroyed together—my family, his vengeance, our kingdom.

Yet, that traitorous feeling had not perished. The embers remained stubbornly alive beneath the ashes of our secrets, waiting for a breath of hope.

“I will never forgive you,” I said.

The spark in his eyes vanished. “Fight me, hate me, princess. But I refuse to let you die.”

My lips curled into a snarl, and I pressed the tip of my knife harder into his chest.

He gave me a bitter smile. “Go ahead. It’s harder than it looks.”

Mother . . . what do I do?

“I will go with you for now,” I said through clenched teeth. “But I will come back for my brother and sister.”

He was silent for a moment, looking between my eyes. “I’m glad at least they have earned your loyalty.”

My cheeks burned as he backed away. He led the way out of what must have been Renwell’s office. Unease trickled between my shoulder blades at the empty tunnels of the Den. Would I never truly escape this gods-damned hole?

“Nikella should’ve been here,” Aiden murmured and picked up the pace.

We ran through the Den, breaking into a sprint when the sounds of fighting reached us.

War raged through the training yard. Shadow-Wolves poured through the open gate while strange warriors covered in paint and blood tried to cut them off at the chokepoint.

Nikella led the charge, her black hair flying, slinging her spear like a bolt of lightning. The warriors—Dags from the look of them—roared and tore through the oncoming shadows. A few bone-rattlers were stealing sunstone weapons from the racks and tossing them to empty-handed warriors.

I snatched as many sunstone knives as I could while Aiden hefted a sunstone-headed spear. With one hard look at each other, we leapt into the fray, battling our way to Nikella.

Bodies shoved against me from all sides. Something sliced across my arm, and I frantically stabbed at anyone wearing a mask or black cloth.

“Nikella!” Aiden shouted, cutting down a Wolf who had felled a Dag. “Bombs?”

She impaled a Wolf. “None!”

Aiden swore.

A fist crashed into my jaw, and I fell. My vision rippled and blurred as pain ricocheted through my body. Boots trampled me. My hands were empty. Defenseless. I’d never trained to fight in such chaos.

I crawled out of the bloody tangle. Gods, we were never going to escape. Renwell had won. He would slaughter every man and woman in here and drag me back to the palace, anyway. Hand me over to Korvin for my disobedience.

My mind stilled. Korvin .

I flew back through the tunnels, my ribs and jaw aching from the many blows. The acrid smell of burnt flesh sent my stomach hurtling toward my throat. I clamped my hand over my mouth and kept running, trying to ignore the twisted black lumps that littered the way to Korvin’s torture chamber.

Chunks of the rock walls and ceiling had crashed to the floor—probably from all the explosions. But the barrel of fireseeds I’d remembered seeing before was still intact amid the rubble. I grabbed it and charged back to the battle.

I breathed a sigh of relief to see Aiden and Nikella still fighting, but our forces were dwindling.

I skirted the twisted mass of bodies and climbed one of the guard lookouts by the gate, plucking a torch as I went. I stepped out onto the gate post, teetering on one boot. None of the Wolves shoving their way in looked up.

Holy Four, forgive me.

I flung the fireseeds over the Wolves, and after one thudding heartbeat, hurled the torch into their midst.

Flames rushed toward my face, and I threw myself backward, crashing onto the wooden platform. Panicked shouts rose. Over them all, I heard Aiden’s roar.

“Push through! For Maz! For Rellmira!”

More shouts punched the air alongside the sputtering flames.

I hauled myself to my feet just as Aiden fought his way through the gate, a pack of bloodthirsty Dags at his back.

His gaze darted up to me. “Move, Kiera!”

I scrambled to join them, dancing around piles of blazing fireseeds and Wolf bodies. We stampeded toward the Docks with a dozen Wolves on our heels.

A plank was already waiting for us on Mynastra’s Wings . A red-haired man on the ship waved and shouted. A handful of sailors on deck shot harpoons at the Wolves as we boarded. My legs nearly gave way on the rickety plank, but a Dag woman practically threw me onto the deck.

The red-haired man shouted down the hatch. “Row for your gods-damned lives!”

The ship started to coast from its berth. A few sailors quickly pulled up the gangplank before it fell into the water, leaving a group of seething Shadow-Wolves on the dock. As one, they threw back their heads and uttered a shrieking howl.

Chills erupted on my skin. Were they calling for reinforcements? Or their master?

Above me, white sails puffed and snapped with a gust of wind.

“Thank fucking Myn!” the red-haired man bellowed, striding back to the large wheel.

“Thank fucking Myn!” the sailors chorused back, shaking their strings of bones.

I stood rooted to the deck as groaning warriors collapsed around me. He wasn’t here. He wasn’t here.

A hand closed over my shoulder, and I whirled around. Aiden. Blood, sweat, and soot covered every inch of his skin, but he was alive.

“You saved us back there,” he said. “Thank you.”

I didn’t do it for you, I wanted to say.

The red-haired man—probably the captain, Skelly—called for Aiden, then pointed to the stone wall that curved around the harbor to the guard towers. “Friend of yours?” he shouted.

A rider swathed in black astride a black horse galloped along the narrow path atop the wall.

My body quivered with dread. Renwell.

Aiden swore and hurried to Skelly. “Can you reach open water before he reaches the guard tower?”

“Bloody watch me. Spread her wings!” he shouted.

Sailors scrambled up the rope ladders that hung from the mast. In moments, they released two more sails that stretched out from the ship like wide white wings. The ship sailed faster, dipping higher and lower. My stomach rolled with it.

Renwell nearly kept even with us, beating his horse with the reins.

My heart pounded like the waves against the ship’s hull. Closer, closer to the tower. The huge watchfire burned like the sun in a sea of darkness.

Aiden walked among the exhausted warriors. “Get below deck. Don’t let them see you. We don’t want to fight if we don’t have to.”

They slowly disappeared down the hatch, leaving trails of blood behind them.

“You too,” Aiden murmured next to me as we both watched Renwell nearing the tower.

“He’s coming for me,” I whispered.

“He can’t have you.”

Nikella joined us at the railing, staring at her brother as he leapt from his horse and sprinted up the tower steps just as we sailed past.

I breathed a sigh of relief, then choked when Renwell stepped to the edge of the tower. With a bow and arrow. He aimed at Aiden, but Nikella quickly shoved him out of the way.

Renwell roared with fury and swung the arrow toward me. We locked eyes across the water. He fired, and my body jolted. His arrow struck the railing in front of me.

And somehow, I knew. I knew he’d missed on purpose.

Thank the gods for your little weaknesses, Renwell. I’ll make sure they’re your downfall.

Let the war begin.

Thank you so much for reading Keys to the Crown !