Crown of Hidden Scales novel · Chapter 20 of 24
Chapter 20: Dark Crown
Nobody picked the crown up.
It lay on the marble where it had rolled, with its teeth along the brow.
Rhain looked at his bare forearms.
They were only skin.
No gold, no plates, no glove-light to say whether he was lying.
He walked out of the hall without a word, and the court opened for him.
The tether did not pull at my wrists when he went.
That was the worst of it.
"Take Obern to the Pit," I said to the grey captain, "and keep him alive. Take Edric to the cell beside it."
"Wyn, bring the crown. Don't drop it."
"It's gone quiet," said Bronwyn, lifting it in her kerchief. "Is that bad?"
"I don't know," I said, and went after him.
I found him in the east tower.
It was a burned shell, roofless, a stair going up into grey sky, and nobody had touched it for twenty-five years.
He stood on the third step with his back to me.
"I was on this stair," he said. "She put me in a nurse's arms and told me to run. I looked back."
"Rhain."
"What if Obern is right?"
His voice was flat.
"What if every bit of this was a room she built, and I never once felt a thing that was mine?"
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Crown of Hidden Scales are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 19 · All chapters · Chapter 21 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend