Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King, #2)

by Rachel Gillig

“You have the look of someone who’s about to break something,” Ione said in an even voice. He wanted to. Elm didn’t know what, but he vowed something would shatter. Ione’s grip on his arm tightened. So tight that when she stood, she pulled Elm with her. “Come, Prince. Let’s get drunk.”

o he finna shatter something and i am here for it

He’d reached into his satchel and pulled out the marriage contract with the King’s seal. “I need you to put this in a safe place.” Fenir’s eyes had widened. “This is—” “Yes.” Morette had run her gaze over the parchment. Twice. Elm knew she’d seen what he had. “Well, nephew,” she’d said, the corner of her mouth curling as she looked up at him. “I hope you know what you’re doing.” “So do I.”

eeeehehe iones name is on that contract!

The sharpness in the King’s green eyes was beginning to blur. Perfect. Better he was pliable, because Elm was going to do something he had never done before. Barter with the King.

ya know as much as i’m down bad for ravyn, elm is getting on up there too. my boy has wit, cunning, and courage and im loving it.

“I like black.” Elm kept his eyes on the crowd, watching for the one person who was not yet there. “It suits me.”

i bet he looks striking in black

He should have told her he’d be absent at Castle Yew—that he hadn’t resigned their search for her Maiden Card just because she’d left him panting in the cellar.

panting is an understatement lmfao

“One more word, Destrier, and I’ll finish what began on Market Day and rip your face so far open not even the Spirit will recognize you. If you touch Miss Hawthorn again, by the fucking trees, I’ll end you.”

ATTABOY!

I’d pulled nimble branches from a nearby willow tree and woven them into a small circle—and was now adorning it with mayweed and tansy. A flower crown for my sister, Ayris.

“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.”

o ffffffff

“The Spirit of the Wood has no need for crude walls or rope restraints, you little twit. Our captors are decidedly human.”

ok king sass

A man, led by a rope. His face was bloody, his eyes wide, teeth flashing. He was tethered, but still he thrashed, fought. Just as Ravyn had trained him to. Gorse. “We will have our payment, Captain,” Otho said. “Now.”

…i just really don’t care about this character at all, kill him

When Ravyn cast his eyes back into the courtyard, Otho was hurrying toward her sister. Hesis lay in the dirt, unmoving. Her mask was broken, shards of bone scattered around her. Blood trickled down her face. “Nightmare,” he said through his teeth. The monster laughed as he slipped out of the fort. “She’ll live. All I did was pay her back for breaking your nose.” “I didn’t ask you to do that.” “No. But Elspeth did.”

eeehehehe

It struck Elm with a feeling he hadn’t yet worked out, that she’d brought him there to make him feel better.

eeeeeeeeehehehehe

“There can be no stony facade—no pretending—after this. Death demands to be felt. It wasn’t just Gorse who died in that courtyard today.” His yellow gaze reached into the darkest parts of Ravyn. “But the Captain of the Destriers as well.”

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.

ope there it is

Tightness fisted Elm’s chest. “I’d be your King, but always your servant. Never your keeper.” He arched up, dragging his knuckles down her chin, making her lips part for him. “Think about it, Hawthorn.”

zomg

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

“Your family is steeped in magic,” the Nightmare replied, harsher than he should. “She will live.”

!!!!!

Ravyn didn’t answer. But another voice did. It came from the sea, deep and vast. It filled my dark room, echoing near and far. “The King of Blunder,” it called, “come to barter once more.” When the water parted, a creature with claws and pointed ears and silver eyes slipped out of it. And I knew, deep within the inky blackness in my veins, who she was. The Spirit of the Wood.

mmmm i bet she ain’t referring to the nightmare

“When Father tapped the Nightmare Card and entered my mind, I tried to tell him. But the fool was too drunk, too unfocused. He didn’t hear me.” A touch of satisfaction crossed Hauth’s face. “But a night later, Linden did.” The door opened behind him. And then Linden was there.

lol what a fuckin nerd, was linden really just waiting for the perfect time to just open the door and appear? get a job bro xD

Hauth held out his hand, and Linden dropped Elm’s Scythe into it. “When you returned the Nightmare Card last night, Linden used it. He found me. And pieced together what Father couldn’t.” “ ‘Maiden,’” Linden said, glowering at Elm, then Ione. “That’s what I heard him say into my mind. Over and over. ‘Maiden Card.’ Then, ‘Ione.’”

haaahahaha these two stupid scooby doo ass villain wannabes spilling their genius plan like a couple of dorks

Elm’s mouth filled with blood. He spat, painting Hauth’s boots red. “You may be healed, but your time is marked, brother. I know who it is you woke when you bashed Elspeth Spindle’s head into the wall.” He looked deep in Hauth’s Rowan-green eyes. “And not even a Maiden Card can save you when he returns.”

eheheh i so cannot wait for that showdown queue up “the shows about to start” by wage war as background music and LETS FUCKIN GOOOOOOO

Only this time, Ione wasn’t looking up at the indifferent moon, waiting for the great stillness to claim her. She was looking up at him.

yeah yeah she gonna live probly let’s get to the can of asswhoop that’s gonna be unleashed on these two bozos

Darkness pooled in Elm. It didn’t matter that he was weaponless, naked without his Scythe. He still looked up into his brother’s face and said, without an ounce of doubt, “I’ll kill you for this.”

I WAS BORN READY FOR THIS SCENE

Footsteps lumbered down the hall. Someone heavy was running, and then the King was there, pushing past Filick, tramping through Ione’s blood on his way to Hauth. When he wrapped his arms around his eldest son, his voice came out fractured. “My boy. You’re alive.”

ugh loser senior has arrived

The Spirit of the Wood rolled her jagged shoulders, whipped her tail through the air, dug her claws into sand. Her ears were long and pointed, and when she smiled, short, jagged fang-like teeth peeked out from behind her lips. She was not human or beast, but something in between, like the monster depicted on the Nightmare Card—only her eyes were silver.

she would make a good painting subject

Ravyn met the Spirit’s eyes. Silver, unblinking, and without pupils.

yas queen

“Human life is short. You are not as a tree, stoic and unyielding, but a butterfly. Delicate, fleeting. Inconsequential.”

i love this quote

He might have saved ink and called her what she truly was. A proper asshole.

the snort i snurt

“Leave the Twin Alders Card with me, and I shall make you Blunder’s King in Quercus Rowan’s stead.”

hahahaha quercus is such a perfect dumb name for a little dumb man

Her silver eyes narrowed, her dark tongue dragging over the tips of her teeth.

…..would

At the King’s namesake tree, with the black blood of salt.

i hope she explains what the fuck black blood of salt is cause damn i am lost on that one

“But nothing comes free,” Ravyn finished. “Upon Solstice,” the Spirit said, her silver gaze unrelenting, “the Deck of Cards will unite under the King’s namesake tree. That tree is not a rowan. That is your first clue.”

yeah cause it’s a yew tree. next

The world tilted. When it righted, they were still in the meadow—snow all around them. Only now, they stood under the shadow of yew trees.

bingo

At the meadow’s cusp was a stone chamber, fixed with one dark window.

if ravyn isn’t the descendant of the shepherd king/bennett taxus i will absolutely riot

There was something strangely familiar about his face. But before Ravyn could put his finger on what it was—

COME ON HOMIE YOURE SMART

Brutus Rowan. He put his Cards into his pocket, leaned over the throne, and spoke words Ravyn could not hear to his King. He reached for his belt, withdrew a dagger— And drove it in the Shepherd King’s ribs.

yassss this is the usurping scene. RAVYN IS THE TRUE KING BITCHES WOOOOOO!

The Shepherd King set Tilly down and planted himself between Brutus and the children. “I didn’t know the Spirit would take Ayris. I didn’t mean for her to die.”

ah well that makes sense now why brutus wanted revenge but like…. the whole taxus family is overboard bro

“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.”

aight shepherd king can be on my team

And tore the Scythe in half.

ok but like how bc aren’t they indestructible

“Be wary, Father,” he whispered. “Be clever. Be good.” Then he was gone.

“But Providence Cards are ageless. Their magic does not fade. They do not decay with time. They cannot be destroyed. The Shepherd King declared it so.” “And he, like you, is certainly a liar.” The wind whispered through branches.

ughhhh rat bastard, clever

“Taxus. My name is Taxus.”

THATS RIGHT MOTHERFUCKER! now let’s go rain hell on hauth and lindens bitch asses and save our homie elm!

The King’s tumbler crashed onto the dais. He made a choking noise, his thick, brutish fingers clawing at his own throat. His face had gone red, mottled. Blood spiked over his eyes. He grasped for Hauth’s sleeve, his words wet and garbled. “H-help—”

~oh nooo~ tbf tho he lasted a lot longer than he should have

Ravyn held out his hand. A brilliant green light appeared, emanating between his calloused fingers.

drinking game: take a shot every time ravens fingers are described as rough and/or calloused. jfc we get it

Ravyn’s face drained of color. He fumbled—tapped the Twin Alders. The world tugged at the seams, the pale shore quaking, then leaching away to darkness.

man i forgot what this card does

Out of the rotting valley, into the ravenous wood.

i can’t wait for them to swing by to pick up petyr and tell him “get in loser we’re going to Blunder”

Nothing is free, the trees called after them. Nothing is safe. Magic is love, but also it’s hate. It comes at a cost. You’re found and you’re lost. Magic is love, but also— “For mercy’s sake.” The Nightmare spat phlegm onto roots. “Shut the fuck up.”

loool hypocritical ass bitch

Ravyn and the Nightmare continued west. They found a small stream and drank deeply, only for Ravyn to spit most of the water back up on a sprint through a glen.

all i can think of is aragorn and legolas are running across middle earth with gimli thrown over legolas’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes

Ravyn tripped, panting. “Need—to stop.” The Nightmare kept going, pulling in rasping breaths. “Elspeth says if you do not get up, she’ll never kiss you again.” “That’s—not—what she—said.” “Get up, Ravyn.” The Nightmare’s oily voice echoed through the wood. “Get up.”

haaaaaahaha

Ravyn could only guess. Fingers wrapped into fists, his mind went somewhere so dark and terrible he had to look away as Ione explained to them what had happened. All he really heard was Elm. Elm was alone, at Stone. With Hauth.

i cannot waaaaait for this ass beating oh my gadddd lets goooooo