Chapter 48
Ali
Barthol was silent as he walked beside me, running his fingers through the waist-high grass. “Is this really real, Ali?”
“Yes, it is.”
Barthol shook his head in disbelief, and I understood the sentiment. A few hours ago, he’d been living underground—then he’d stepped through a portal into another world.
After serving him some venison stew, I’d led him along the river path, into the vast plains. Intermittently, a breeze would build into a little gust, and the grass would blow and sway like waves on a golden sea. As we walked, grasshoppers leapt for us, and pale-blue butterflies flitted in the air. Overhead, birds soared in a powder-blue sky. Beautiful, and perfect, and hard to enjoy at all without Galin here by my side.
Barthol stopped, turning to look at me. “I just can’t quite believe you’re actually an Empress.”
My throat was tight. “Turns out I was always destined to become the North Star, just not in the way Mom expected.”
“So, does this make me a lord?” He cracked a grin.
I think he’d expected me to say No, of course not, but I wasn’t in the mood for moderation, so instead I said, “Sure. If you’d like, I can dub you Barthol, Lord of the Drunken Goats.”
He laughed. “Would that come with a lifetime supply of mead?”
“Of course, dear brother. And all the goat milk you can drink, too.”
Barthol shook his head. He’d started to turn back to the vista of grass when his eyes fell on Levateinn at my hip. “And that’s the wand?"
“Yes.”
He whistled low. “Can you make it do magic?”
I knew Galin could, and that he should be here. “Not yet. But I’m going to learn. I have a very important task. I have to find the prince.”
“Let me have a go …” Barthol reached for the wand.
I slapped his hand away. “Too dangerous.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You really don’t trust me. Then you should try it.”
I heaved a sigh. Carefully, I unclipped the wand from my belt. Based on its shimmering silver color, I’d expected it to be heavy and awkward, but it was surprisingly light and well balanced.
“Stand back,” I said to Barthol.
Then, I waved the wand around in front of me with a few delicate strokes, as if I was conducting an orchestra.
Nothing happened. I shrugged. “I have no idea what I’m doing. I need Galin. Except, I can’t get to him unless I learn how to use it.”
Barthol gave me a pitying look, and I knew what he was thinking.
“He’s still alive,” I snapped.
He held up his hands. “I didn’t say anything.”
“You were thinking it.” I bit my lip. “Wait, I might have an idea.”
I waved the wand again. I’d seen Galin inscribe the fire spell lots of times, and I was pretty sure I remembered how he’d done it. I said kaun under my breath as I traced the shape of the rune with the end of the wand.
For a moment, nothing happened, until I felt a sort of heaviness in the wand and a building of pressure along my arm. Then, for the briefest of seconds, a tiny flame appeared in the air, three feet in front of me. I grinned, hope stirring again.
“Amazing,” said Barthol awestruck.
I stared at the wand. I had done magic. I could do magic.
And that mattered more than anything right now.
Because even if I’d severed our soul bond, I still felt like Galin was connected to me. And if he were dead, I’d simply know it. I’d feel it down to my bones, and blood, and every nerve in my body. But he was a part of me, and he was alive. Somewhere.
And I was going to do everything in my power to find him.
Thank you for reading Ruined King.
While you wait for the final book in the trilogy you might want to check out the short prequel chapter that describes how Galin became cursed.
Click here to download it.
And, if you’d like to chat about books with us and fellow readers we have an active Facebook group that’s 100% free to join.
Also by C.N. Crawford
For a full list of our books, check out our website.
https://www.cncrawford.com/books/
And a possible reading order.
Acknowledgments
Thanks especially to Christine all her edits and assistance. Bella and Jen both contributed to the extensive editing and polishing that got this book ready for publication. Carlos made us another beautiful cover. And last but not least, thanks so much to our advanced reader team for their help, and to C.N. Crawford’s Coven on Facebook!