Chapter 36
A creature born of hate
Cannot feed on love.
For love's the gate
To grow out of hate.
A creature born of hate
Will cry out, claim fate.
But destiny is not a gate
It comes... too late?
A creature born of hate
Love killed at the gate.
Struggle, hang on a string of fate
A sister to berate.
A creature born of hate
Elated, irate.
A hunger – impossible to sate
The souls she was fed, she ate.
Now dragged to the gate
Destruction will come late.
There's no escaping fate
On the river – waves crash, hate disappears.
"What does this even mean?" Rafail furrowed his brows as he quickly read the poem once again.
"No idea," Darren admitted. "It took me two days, but I managed to translate the pages of scrambled Latin. Most of it was gibberish, just words thrown randomly, some sentences, and one or two spells. Among those, I found a title of a book and a number. Then, Cedric asked Blynn if she had the book."
"Turned out it was a kid's one she used to read to Sarin," Cedric continued. "It was about three sisters, one of which betrayed the other two. It fits with Sybil's story but I don't get how a poem in a children's book is going to help us defeat her."
Roi sighed. "All that because of a game of Sudoku," He cursed under his breath.
"Why would someone go through so much trouble to make this information inaccessible?" Thalia wondered.
"I don't know, my queen," Darren frowned. "I tried different combinations of the words, though. Nothing made sense but this."
"Could you be wrong in your approach?" Roi asked, features schooled in full seriousness this time.
"No," Cedric replied quickly. "I don't think Darren is wrong."
"Well, then," Rafail sighed. "We have another puzzle in our hands."
"It has to be related to Sybil's defeat," Blynn rotated one ring, biting her lip. "I'm sure of it."
"Maybe Aidoneus can help. For once," Roi rolled his eyes.
"It wouldn't hurt to ask him," Blynn shrugged.
Rafail turned towards her. "Will you deal with it?"
"Sure."
"Great," Raf smiled at her. "I guess that's all for now."
"Yeah, we can go," Roi smiled slyly. "You can continue what you were doing," He winked, laughing loudly when Raf threw a crumbled paper ball at his retrieving back as Thalia hid her reddened face against Raf's chest.
"Darren," The king called just as he was about to leave the office with Cedric, causing Darren to turn around with a raised brow. "Thank you!"
The lycan rubbed his neck, apparently embarrassed. "It was nothing," He shrugged.
"It was genius," Cedric slapped his head. "Don't sell yourself short, young fool."
"He's right," Rafail agreed with the old werewolf.
"Uh, thanks," Darren slightly pushed Cedric away in annoyance before giving Rafail a small smile. "Let me know if you need anything else."
"Will do," Raf nodded and the two of them left the office, closing the door behind themselves. Rafail turned towards Thalia, waggling his eyebrows. "Where were we?"
***
"How's the little princess doing?" Thalia cooed, closing the nursery's door behind her before snatching Raina from Sarin's arms.
YOU ARE READING
Crowned King (Throne of Thorns #2)
Fantasy'Heavy is the head who wears the crown.' Rafail knew the words to be true as he weighed the gold piece in his hands. He had finally managed to avenge his father and take back a kingdom that was rightfully his. But at what cost? As a new threat cam...
