Crown of Midnight (53 page)

The ship’s captain called for them to cast off. Sailors scurried, ropes were untied, tossed, and tied again, and the ship lurched. Her hands clasped the railing so hard they hurt.

The ship began moving. And Chaol—the man she hated and loved so much that she could hardly think around him—just stood there, watching her go.

The current grabbed the ship, and the city began to diminish. The ocean breeze soon caressed her neck, but she never stopped staring at Chaol. She stared toward him until the glass castle was a sparkling speck in the distance. She stared toward him until there was only gleaming ocean around her. She stared toward him until the sun dropped beyond the horizon and a smattering of stars hung overhead.

It was only when her eyelids drooped and she swayed on her feet that Celaena stopped staring toward Chaol.

The smell of salt filled her nostrils, so different from the salt of Endovier, and a spirited wind whipped through her hair.

With a hiss through her teeth, Celaena Sardothien turned her back on Adarlan and sailed toward Wendlyn.

Chaol didn’t understand what she’d told him, the words she’d whispered in his ear. It was a date. Not even a year attached to it. A month and a day—a date that had passed weeks and weeks ago. It was the day that Celaena had left the city. The day she had snapped at Endovier a year before. The day her parents had died.

He stayed on the docks long after the ship was out of the harbor, watching its sails become smaller and smaller as he mulled over the date again and again. Why had she told him everything about those—those Wyrdkeys, but made this hint so obscure? What could possibly be more important than the horrible truth about the king he served?

The Wyrdkeys, while they terrified him, made sense. They explained so much. The king’s great power, his journeys that ended with the whole party mysteriously dying, how Cain had become so strong. Even that time Chaol had looked at Perrington and seen his eyes darken so strangely. But when she’d told him, had she known what kind of choice she’d left him? And what could he possibly do about it from Anielle?

Unless he could find a way out of the vow he’d made. He’d never said
when
he would go to Anielle. He could think about that tomorrow. For now …

When Chaol returned to the castle, he went to her rooms, sorting through the contents of her desk. But there was nothing about that date. He checked the will she’d written, but that had been signed several days after. The silence and emptiness of her chambers threatened to swallow him whole, and he was about to leave when he spotted the stack of books half hidden in the shadows of her desk.

Geneaologies and countless royal chronicles. When had she brought these books here? He hadn’t seen them the other night. Was it somehow another clue? Standing before the desk, he pulled out the royal chronicles—all from the the past eighteen years—and started back, one by one. Nothing.

Then came the chronicle from ten years ago. It was thicker than all the rest—as it should be, given the events that had happened that year. But when he saw what was written about the date she had given, everything froze.

This morning, King Orlon Galathynius, his nephew and heir, Rhoe Galathynius, and Rhoe’s wife, Evalin, were found assassinated. Orlon was murdered in his bed at the royal palace in Orynth, and Rhoe and Evalin were found dead in their beds at their country estate along the River Florine. There is no word yet about the fate of Rhoe and Evalin’s daughter, Aelin
.

Chaol grabbed for the first geneaology book, the one on the bloodlines of the royal houses of Adarlan and Terrasen. Was Celaena trying to tell him she knew the truth about what had happened that night—that she might know where the lost princess Aelin was hiding? That she had been there when this all happened?

He flipped through the pages, scanning the genealogies he had already read. But then he remembered something about the name Evalin Ashryver.
Ashryver
.

Evalin had come from Wendlyn, had been a princess of the king’s court. Hands shaking, he yanked out a book containing Wendlyn’s royal family tree.

On the last page, Aelin Ashryver Galathynius’s name was written at the bottom, and above it, her mother, Evalin’s. But the family tree traced only the female line. The female, not the male, because—

Two spots above Evalin’s name was written Mab. Aelin’s great-grandmother. She was one of the three Fae Sister-Queens: Maeve, Mora, and Mab. Mab, the youngest, the fairest, who, when she died, had been made into a goddess, known to them now as Deanna, Lady of the Hunt.

The memory hit him like a brick to the face. That Yulemas morning, when Celaena had looked so uncomfortable to be receiving the golden arrow of Deanna—the arrow of Mab.

And Chaol counted down the family tree, one after one, until—

My great-grandmother was Fae
.

Chaol had to brace a hand against the desk. No, it couldn’t be. He turned back to the chronicle still lying open, and turned to the next day.

Aelin Galathynius, heir to the throne of Terrasen, died today, or sometime in the night. Before help could reach her deceased parents’ estate, the assassin who had missed her the night before returned. Her body has still not been found, though some believe it was thrown into the river behind her parents’ house
.

She’d once said that Arobynn had … had
found
her. Found her half-dead and frozen. On a riverbank.

He was just jumping to conclusions. Maybe she merely wanted him to know that she still cared about Terrasen, or—

There was a poem scribbled at the top of the Ashryver family tree, as though some student had dashed it down it as a reminder while studying.

Ashryver Eyes

The fairest eyes, from legends old

Of brightest blue, ringed with gold
.

Bright blue eyes, ringed with gold. A strangled cry came out of him. How many times had he looked into those eyes? How many times had he seen her avert her gaze, that one bit of proof she couldn’t hide, from the king?

Celaena Sardothien wasn’t in league with Aelin Ashryver Galathynius.

Celaena Sardothien
was
Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, heir to the throne and rightful Queen of Terrasen.

Celaena was Aelin Galathynius, the greatest living threat to Adarlan, the one person who could raise an army capable of standing against the king. Now, she was also the one person who knew the secret source of the king’s power—and who sought a way to destroy it.

And he had just sent her into the arms of her strongest potential allies: to the homeland of her mother, the kingdom of her cousin, and the domain of her aunt, Queen Maeve of the Fae.

Celaena was the lost Queen of Terrasen.

Chaol sank to his knees.

More than anyone, this novel belongs to Susan Dennard. For being the kind of friend that usually exists only in books. For being a friend worth waiting for. For being my
anam cara
. Thank you for the (mis)adventures, for laughing until our stomachs hurt, and for all the joy you’ve brought into my world. Love you.

Endless gratitude to my A Team: my incredible agent, Tamar Rydzinski; my stellar editor, Margaret Miller; and the incomparable Michelle Nagler. I’m tremendously blessed to have you in my corner. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.

To my good friend and critique partner, Alex Bracken, who never fails to offer sage advice and brilliant ideas, and who has talked me off many, many ledges. Thank you for being one of the bright lights on this journey. To Erin “Ders” Bowman, for the Friday chats, shenanigans in “Wilderness,” and being a fellow survivor of the brutal 2012 crawfish attack in Lake Glenville, North Carolina. I’m so glad I e-mailed you.

Thanks are also due to Amie Kaufman, Kat Zhang, and Jane Zhao,
who have been everything from sounding boards to critique partners to cheerleaders, but always wonderful friends. To the ridiculously clever Biljana Likic, for helping with the riddle all those years ago. To Dan “DKroks” Krokos, for being a true friend and partner in crime. To the legendary Robin Hobb, for taking two debut authors to dinner in Decatur, Georgia—thank you for the wisdom and kindness you showed me and Susan.

There are so many people who work so tirelessly to make my books a reality and get them into readers’ hands. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Erica Barmash, Emma Bradshaw, Susannah Curran, Beth Eller, Alona Fryman, Shannon Godwin, Natalie Hamilton, Bridget Hartzler, Katy Hershberger, Melissa Kavonic, Linette Kim, Ian Lamb, Cindy Loh, Donna Mark, Patricia McHugh, Rebecca McNally, Regina Roff Flath, Rachel Stark, and Brett Wright. And a huge thank-you to the entire worldwide team at Bloomsbury—it’s an honor to work with you all.

A giant hug for my parents, family, and friends—thank you for the unwavering support. And to my amazing husband, Josh: there aren’t enough words in any language to describe how much I love you.

Thank you to Janet Cadsawan, who makes the world of Throne of Glass come alive with her stunning jewelry. And thank you to Kelly de Groot for the map, the enthusiasm, and just for being awesome.

To my readers: thank you for making this journey such a fairy tale; thank you for the letters and art and for coming to my events; thank you for spreading the word about this series; thank you for letting Celaena into your hearts. You make the long hours and hard work absolutely worth it.

And lastly, I’d like to thank my FictionPress readers, who have been with me for so many years, and to whom I owe a debt I can never repay. No matter where this road takes me, I’ll be forever grateful that it brought you into my life. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Throne of Glass
Crown of Midnight

Throne of Glass novellas

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord
The Assassin and the Desert
The Assassin and the Underworld
The Assassin and the Empire

Text copyright © 2013 by Sarah J. Maas
Map copyright © 2012 by Kelly de Groot

All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages

First published in the United States of America in August 2013
by Bloomsbury Children’s Books
www.bloomsbury.com

This electronic edition published in 2013

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Maas, Sarah J.
Crown of midnight / by Sarah J. Maas.
pages        cm
Sequel to: Throne of glass.
Summary: As the royal assassin to an evil king, eighteen-year-old Celaena Sardothien
must decide what she will fight for: survival, love, or the future of a kingdom.
[1. Fantasy. 2. Assassins—Fiction. 3. Kings, queens, rulers, etc.—Fiction.
4. Courts and courtiers—Fiction. 5. Love—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M111575Cr 2013              [Fic]—dc23               2013009063

eISBN: 978-1-6196-3063-5

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