Five Dark Fates (Three Dark Crowns #4) - Kendare Blake Page 0,1

to Jules without you and your poisoner potions? What would the mist have done if not for Mira’s wind and storm? You’re needed. Just not forever.”

“Not forever,” she says, and takes his hand, her touch like a promise. They turn at the sound of rushed footsteps up the stairs and break apart when Emilia bursts in, her face flushed and long strands of dark hair hanging down her shoulders.

“Jules is still resting,” Arsinoe says. “And I’ve nearly finished writing these letters.”

“Forget the letters.” Emilia strides across the room and slams a flattened scrap of parchment down on the desk. “You have a far larger problem.”

Arsinoe picks up the paper and reads.

It is elegant, scrawling script, written in an unfamiliar hand.

We have spoken with the queen, and we, too, believe she is true. We have departed for Indrid Down. The decision is yours, but we will be here if you need us.

—B&E

“That was discovered in Mirabella’s room this morning.”

“B and E?” Billy asks, reading over Arsinoe’s shoulder.

Arsinoe swallows. “Bree and Elizabeth.” She looks up.

Emilia’s expression is as triumphant as it is angry, validation written over every line of her frame. The warrior curls her lip and spits the words as the note falls from Arsinoe’s fingers.

“Mirabella has defected.”

INDRID DOWN

Mirabella wakes to the thumping of the driver’s fist against the carriage roof. She does not know how long she slept. Judging by the light, she thinks it seems near midday, though it is difficult to tell beneath the low, gray clouds.

“Coming up on the capital,” the driver calls, and Mirabella wipes her eyes. She moves to the window and drops it open. Ahead, the twin black spires of the Volroy rise into the sky.

She has seen the Volroy before. As a girl, she saw it a hundred times in weavings and paintings, in books and in her own imagination, when she thought she would rule there one day. She saw it for herself when she arrived in Indrid Down for the Queens’ Duel. But this time is different. Queen Katharine reigns there now, and though Mirabella comes under an offer of truce, it may not be true. She may arrive and find a block prepared, ready for her head. She may have to fight her way out of the capital for a second time.

In her hood, the small black-and-white tufted woodpecker trills. He is excited, sensing he is close to Elizabeth, and Mirabella strokes his head feathers. Katharine said she would be safe. Bree and Elizabeth thought that she meant it.

Back in Sunpool, they must know by now that she is gone, and it pains her to think of Arsinoe, and Billy, when they realize what she has done. They would not believe it at first. They would defend her. Maybe they would even send out a search party, or a rescue party, thinking she was taken against her will.

After that— Well, there is plenty of time to worry about what she will say the next time she has to face Arsinoe. For now, her mind is on Katharine. One sister at a time.

When the carriage last stopped to rest the horses, the driver asked Mirabella where she wanted to go. It would have been easy enough to go to Indrid Down Temple, where she might send for Luca. Or to Bree’s household, where she could be sure she was safe. Instead, she asked to be taken to the Volroy gate.

“The big gate, then,” the driver had said, and for the first time, looked carefully at Mirabella’s face. After that, she did not speak much to her and began addressing her as “Mistress” rather than “Miss” when she did. She dared not say “Queen” so close to the castle.

In the back of the carriage, Mirabella listens to the horses’ hooves clack along the road and watches the Volroy grow larger. The approaching sight of the castle has banished all thoughts of sleep, and she fidgets with the folds of her cloak and the skirt of her light blue dress. The lace edge has come loose and turned black with dirt after dragging across the ground, and she considers tearing the whole of it away. Instead she clasps her shaking hands in her lap. She must be calm. Katharine is her little sister and will not see her tremble.

Two guards stop the carriage before the main gate and approach to question the driver and peer inside. All the other passengers have been let off elsewhere. Only Mirabella and the cargo remain, trunks and