One True Queen (School for Good and Evil Book 2)

Chapter 39

Some stories are spoiled from the very beginning.

Some stories are rotten to the core.

Like the one that killed her mother, Hester thought, as she hustled through the dark forest. Her mother was minding her own business in her candied house, when two young vandals ate through her roof. Alone in her crib, Hester had woken from a nap and stared into the faces of two ogreish children, fat cheeks slathered in candy and crumbs. They'd taken one look at the baby they'd just orphaned and fled like cowards, leaving a family and home broken. And they'd been rewarded for it, hailed as heroes and legends, while her mother burned in an oven. Ever since that day, whenever Hester sensed an injustice, a story gone wrong, she smelled the sick, sour rot of candy.

Just as she smelled it now.

The story in question was a short one, a statement of simple fact, but Hester's whole body bristled, like a cat amongst snakes. She didn't know how long it had been up there, high over the Endless Woods. But after days of traveling underground from Gnomeland, Lionsmane's message was waiting when she'd resurfaced.

"King Rhian has been killed by Agatha's rebels. The king's dying wish was for all of his assets to be transferred to his soon-to-be wife, Y/n. The coronation will replace the scheduled wedding this Saturday, at sundown, at Camelot castle. All citizens of the Woods are invited to attend. Long live the queen."

It was penned in gold like the other messages, set against the clouds.

Rhian was gone.

Y/n was going to be queen.

Hester wouldn't put it past the girl to have killed him herself just to take the crown. She was a disgrace to witchkind.

A shadow appeared at her side.

"This is stupid, Hester. We need to turn back now," said Anadil in a black hood that shadowed her white hair and red eyes. "Y/n is going to be crowned queen. Tonight. That's what the message says. And the sun's going fast. Either we get back to Camelot and stop this coronation or we all die."

Hester ignored her, spotting the lights of Borna Coric ahead. Once she and her friends entered this new kingdom, they'd need to be careful. Like all citizens of the Woods, those of Borna Coric would be hunting students from the School for Good and Evil.

A second shadow flanked her—

"Ani's right," said Dot, also hooded in black. "Plus, there's no way we'll get inside those caves: it's impossible. But if we turn back now, we can sneak onto a Flowerground train from Ravenbow. It can take us back to Camelot in time to stop the coronation—"

"And leave Merlin?" Hester said. "That was the assignment Reaper gave us. Rescue the wizard from the Caves of Contempo. Rescue our best weapon. A coronation is not our mission. Y/n is not our mission. Merlin is our mission. And if there's one thing our coven abides by, it's doing as we promised."

She powered forward, but Anadil blocked her path.

"Our promise is pointless if Y/n becomes the One True Queen!" said the pale witch. "She needs two things. Make all hundred kingdoms burn their rings. And be crowned as Camelot's queen. Do both and she claims the Storian's powers. If the coronation is at sundown, that means all the rings are already gone! Once Y/n is queen, Lionsmane will become the new Storian. Y/n can write anything she wants and make it come true! She can erase kingdoms, kill our friends, kill us with a penstroke! Our story will be over—"

"All the rings can't be gone because Nottingham still has a ring. Dot's father has a ring," Hester noted coldly. "And the Sheriff wouldn't burn his ring for what was once King Rhian's fianceé. Hates him more than we do. Even if the Sheriff were to die, his ring would go to Dot. And we'll go to the ends of the earth to protect Dot and that ring. Just like we're going to do for Merlin." Hester shoved past them, pulling her hood tighter.