Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King, #2)

by Rachel Gillig

But his soul carried on, buried deep in Elspeth Spindle, the only woman Ravyn had ever loved.

“Aemmory Percyval Taxus.” He dragged his gauntlets across the sand. “That’s my name.”

“I don’t want to rest,” I whispered. “I want you to let me out.” His yellow eyes softened. “Soon, my dear.”

I can't help but really like him

“The disgust,” Ione said, her tone idle, “is mutual.”

“I want to speak to Elspeth.” “You cannot have her. She is with me. And I am letting her rest.”

“She will be free. But not until my work is finished.” His eyes flashed to Elm. “And old debts settled.”

Whatever crossed his face stopped the Nightmare in his tracks. The monster peered through narrowed eyes, dropping his gaze to Ravyn’s knotted hands. “It will grow back,” he said slowly.

Only now, that voice was screaming. Where are you, Elspeth? WHY WON’T YOU ANSWER ME?

Blood drained from Ravyn’s face. “Elspeth. You—you can’t find Elspeth?” The Nightmare said nothing. But for a sliver of a moment, his ire shifted to an expression Ravyn had not yet seen on the monster’s face. Despair. Panic reached its fingers into Ravyn’s chest. Don’t play with me, Shepherd King. Let her out of the dark. Let me talk to her. NOW.

“Are you with me, Jes?” His sister’s voice was close, just as it always was. “I’m right behind you.”

“There you are.” He wrapped me in his arms, holding me against his armored chest like a father would a child. “One day, you will be nothing more than memory, Elspeth Spindle. But not yet.” His yellow eyes rose to the blackened sky. “Don’t leave me alone with these fools.”

Pls

The Nightmare was mumbling to himself. “It’s hardly my fault, dearest, that they are pathetic swimmers.”

LOL

He had the grace to look embarrassed. “Ayris told you about us, then?” he said, rubbing his jaw. “No. But I can read her well enough.” I tilted my head to the side, hawklike. “Perhaps one day I’ll make a Card to read your mind, too, Brutus Rowan.”

Oh. My. God.

Muscles feathered in the corners of Ravyn’s mouth. You think so? Good night, Ravyn. Good night, Miss Spindle. He tapped the Nightmare Card and put it in his pocket. “There it is,” Jespyr said through a yawn. “A hint of that elusive grin.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She poked his shoulder. “Stubborn till the end.”

“I can’t see any stars,” Jespyr said. “Too much mist.” Ravyn’s eyelids fell. “I don’t know what’s on the other side of those alder trees, Jes. When we find a way in, stay close.” When he drifted off to sleep, his sister’s voice was in his ear. “I always do.”

Cuties

“What would you have me do? Burn the castle down with everyone in it?” “That would be a start.” A laugh rose up Elm’s throat. “Trees, Hawthorn. What a Queen you’d make.”

LOVE

“High Prince Hauth.” Dread. There was so much dread in the Physician’s eyes. “He’s awake.”

Fucking hell

“Not now, my darling girl,” I said in a voice smooth as silk. “I have work yet to do.” Her smile faded. “All right.” She let go of Ayris’s hand, picked up her skirt—heaved a sigh. “I’ll wait in the meadow. In case you change your mind.” When she looked at me, Ayris, my sunshine sister, was full of frost. “Your work,” she said, “has made a stranger of you.”

When the door slammed, I heaved a sigh. “There’s no use hiding, Bennett. I can see your Cards.” A boy stepped out of thin air, twirling a Mirror Card between his fingers. He was young, no older than thirteen. His skin was a warm brown, his hair dark and unkempt. When he tilted his head to the side, birdlike in his movements, light caught his gray eyes and the high planes of his face. “I know a part of you agrees with Brutus, Father.

Trees, what he wouldn’t give to see Ravyn walk through that door, all angles and blades, and simply lay waste to anyone who so much as looked at him wrong. Everyone was afraid of Ravyn. Even, though he’d never admit it, the King.

He yelled into the night and the night answered, his echo reaching over treetops and into valleys, a war cry. He yelled for that boy, small and brutalized, who’d needed saving. He yelled for his helplessness—the rope he’d corded around his own neck, tethering himself to the Scythe, to Ravyn. Tears fell from his eyes, and he let the wind strike them away. He yelled himself raw—until a sky full of stars danced before his eyes.

:((((((

“Those are yours from Hawthorn House. You needn’t wear another one of the abominations my father sends. Maybe this way, you can feel a bit more like yourself.” He didn’t let himself stay. He stepped back down the hall. “A bit more like the real Ione.”

She was falling.

Omg

Elm gave a shaky exhale. “You’d make such a perfect Queen.”

It’s why I wanted to be Queen in the first place. To have real power. To change things.” Again, that derisive laugh. “I was a fool.”

And now you know that every terrible thing that happened in Blunder took place long before I handed Brutus Rowan a Scythe. It happened because, five hundred years ago, a boy wore a crown—had every abundance in the world—but always asked for MORE.

Damn :/

“I didn’t speak much. But I saw you—liked you.” He spoke into her skin. “You seemed without burden. So happy and free you were exquisite. I envied you.” “You liked me… out of envy?” His arm tightened around her. “I’m a rotten thing, Ione. I’m learning as I go.”

True

“I’m yours. Even if you won’t be Queen—I’m yours.”

The Spirit of the Wood. “Welcome back, Shepherd King. Welcome, Ravyn and Jespyr Yew.” Her unearthly eyes met my window. She smiled. “Welcome, Elspeth Spindle.”

He held out a bloodied hand to his children. “I will find you on the other side of the veil,” he murmured. His gaze turned back to Brutus. Yellow, wicked— Infinite. “For even dead, I will not die. I am the shepherd of shadow. The phantom of the fright. The demon in the daydream. The nightmare in the night.”

Bennett closed the distance between them and ripped the Scythe from Brutus’s hand. Then, as if it were truly no more than paper and velvet, he took the indomitable red Card, smiled up at Brutus— And tore the Scythe in half. Brutus’s eyes went wide. He took a faltering step back, then lifted his sword once more. But before the blade could find Bennett, the boy reached into his pocket. Extracted a Mirror Card— Disappeared.

Ahhhhhhhh

Bennett walked, now stooped with age, through the ruins. He climbed into the chamber—bled into the stone. The chasm opened up, and he dropped his Nightmare and Mirror Cards into it. “Be wary, Father,” he whispered. “Be clever. Be good.” Then he was gone.

Ravyn met the Spirit of the Wood’s silver gaze. When he finally said the words, he knew, with every piece of himself, that they were true. “Taxus. My name is Taxus.”

He said nothing for a long time. I set Ayris down in a quiet glen. Walked away.

Well that is certainly fucked

No more riddles, my friend. What is it you truly want? To keep on rewriting things, he said. Eleven years I took from you, Elspeth Spindle. When I go, I aim to leave you a better Blunder than the one I forged as King.

Elspeth Spindle. I’m not sure who that is without you. You will learn. You’ll meet yourself—without me—soon enough. I didn’t know why, after so many years of wishing him gone, his words struck sadness in me. When? After the Deck is united, come Solstice. It will not unite with Ravyn’s blood, I said. He will not die, bleeding over your Cards. I will not allow that, Nightmare. Nor will I. Then whose blood will unite the Deck? I have a plan.

“You still do not understand. My revenge is not merely a sword. It is a scale. It is balance. I will take the throne of Blunder back. But not for you.” He straightened his spine, fixing Ravyn in his unflinching gaze. “For Elm.”

And wouldn’t it be poetic to undo the Rowans from within? To take that legacy of pain, and watch one of their own grind it under his heel? To carve the way for a Prince who never used the Scythe for violence? Your cousin Elm has done more than Brutus Rowan or I ever could. He has looked pain in the eye—and refused to let it make a monster of him.”

“I know that well enough.” Ravyn reached for Jespyr. “Here, let me—” “No,” he snarled. “I will carry her.”

We love righting wrongs

Ione Hawthorn wore a tattered gray dress and stood next to Elm’s horse. Her chest heaved, eyes darting between Ravyn to Jespyr to the Nightmare—lingering upon the latter. “Elspeth?” “She’s with me.” The Nightmare rolled his eyes. “And she is very loud in her enthusiasm to see you, yellow girl.”

“She was helping us collect the Deck. She wanted to heal Emory’s degeneration—her own as well. She saved me from your sword.” He let out a weak breath. “And I returned her favor with distrust and contempt.”

Tyrn’s platter of food ricocheted off the bars, an ugly knell that echoed through the dungeon. “You think I’m weak.” “I know you are,” Erik answered. “Would it surprise you that I’ve killed a man?” Elm raised his brows. He’d tried to pace as well, but after an hour, he’d gotten sleepy. “A little.”

👩🏽‍🦯

“So you’re right,” Tyrn said. “I am weak. My wife and children know it. Everyone knows it. I’m weak, and entirely bloodstained.”

What is this sad little pity party

“You won’t win,” he said again. “For nothing is safe, and nothing is free. Debt follows all men, no matter their plea. When the Shepherd returns, a new day shall ring. Death to the Rowans.” His gray eyes focused, homing in on Elm. “Long live the King.”

Yesssirrrr

Then he heard it. The thing he’d waited for around every corner, listened for in every pause. Ravyn’s voice. Elm.

And Ravyn Yew, the stony Captain of the Destriers, grinned. He drew his sword, his eyes moving from Hauth to Elm. You look terrible.

The corner of his lip quirked. This will all be over at midnight, Elspeth. After that, you can love me as thoroughly as you like. The Nightmare made a retching noise. Not to cut this tender moment short, but time is somewhat of the essence. You sure you don’t want the trees to help you, stupid bird?

“Pity the Maiden will not work on you, cousin.” When Hauth stood over Ravyn, he was without blemish once again. Brutal, perfect. A true Rowan King. “I’d always hoped I’d be the one to kill you.” He tapped Ravyn’s Mirror Card three times. And disappeared.

HOW DOES HE KEEP ESCAPING

“You know, yellow girl, I’ve always liked you best. But if you do not be quiet and let me listen, I’m going to tell the trees to press their branches over your mouth.”

True

Catching Ione’s face between his palms, Elm leaned over, crashed his mouth against hers, kissed her feverishly. “I’m sorry. I should have gone with you. I’m not clever at all. I’m sorry—I’m sorry.” The Nightmare and I stared. We seem to have missed something rather important, I said. Small mercies.

LOOOL