Kingdom of Ash

toward what lay on the ground.
Shattered glass, piled and arranged in a
neat circle.
He halted just outside, the first of the thick
shards an inch from Aelin’s bare toes.
Maeve motioned to the black wolf at her
feet and he rose, plucking up something from
the throne’s broad arm before trotting to
Cairn.
“I thought your rank should at least be
acknowledged,” Maeve said, that spider’s
smile never faltering as Aelin beheld what the
wolf offered to the guard beside Cairn. “Put it
on her,” the queen ordered.
A crown, ancient and glimmering, shone in
the guard’s hands. Crafted of silver and pearl,
fashioned into upswept wings that met in its
peaked center, encircled with spikes of pure
diamond, it shimmered like the moon’s rays
had been captured within as the guard set it