Page 56 of Brutal Crown

I keep glancing behind me, hoping I’m not being followed. I have been unsettled since hearing the strange man’s words last night. Another thing I found suspicious was the way Marco and Francesco rushed in to my rescue, even though, at first, he wasjust talking to me. The man wasn’t physically hurting me, yet they rushed in like he was shoving poison down my throat.

Maybe he was the poison, and he succeeded in engraving his words in my head.

I keep my head low until I reach the room I’ve been assigned to clean. The door creaks softly as I push it open. Stepping into the room, I shut the door behind me.

The sheets are rumpled. The air smells faintly of something sweet and sharp, something that makes my stomach turn.

“Ugh! You’re fine, Lia,” I whisper to myself, shaking off whatever weird energy that has surrounded me since last night.

I walk over to the bed, tug the covers back, and strip the bedding, but when I spot what is on the bedside table, my whole body freezes.

A single feather dipped in black wax. Next to it is a small white coin. My fingers tremble as I reach for it. It’s smooth and heavy, but my skin prickles at the feel of it in my hand. As I examine it, I notice that it is etched with a strange symbol. I’ve never seen this symbol, but I know this means something, and I want to find out what.

Although I’m the only person in the room, I glance around once before slipping the coin in my pocket. I’m terrified. It probably belongs to one of the rich creeps who attended the ceremony. What if the owner returns in search of it? What if it is revealed that I am the maid who cleaned this room and, therefore, the main suspect of this theft?

I exhale a shaky breath and resume my cleaning. I might be scared, but there’s never been a time that my fear stopped me from reaching for what I want.

And I must find out what this coin is.

I don’t thinkI will be going back to the cellar today. It’s been one chore after another, and my whole body aches. I just finished my last chore of the day, and the only thing I want to do is curl up on my bed and sleep.

I let out a deep sigh as my body collapses onto the mattress. I have never felt this exhausted before. Physically. Mentally. Emotionally.

I raise a hand to my neck, using my fingers to massage where it hurts. My eyes are shut firmly as I wait for the exhaustion to kick in and send me straight to sleep. That does not happen.

Instead, I spend the next few minutes tossing and turning on the bed. No position seems to be comfortable for sleeping. With a frustrated huff, I sit up to adjust my pillow. That’s when I see something under it.

A parchment. It is folded with no seal.

“How did this get in here?” I mutter to myself.

I stare at it for what feels like hours before reaching for it. It feels crisp and solid. I open it to reveal its content.

Just three words scrawled in thick, dark ink:

The seed decides.

There’s no signature or clue to who left this, but I know the message is for me. My heart drops somewhere into my gut as my mind flashes back to the strange man from yesterday. His words were vague and unsettling, just like this message.

What if…

I shove the blanket off my body and spring out of bed. I have to go back to the cellar tonight. I have to read and look into anything that might reveal what the symbol on that coin means.

I wait until the halls are empty and the lights are low, then slip down the staircase in nothing but a nightgown and the coin in my hand. I don’t stop until I reach the cellar, push the door open, and close it behind me as silently as I can.

It’s cold and slightly damp inside. The air down here always feels heavier, like it remembers things it shouldn’t.

I head straight to the wine shelf and unlock the hidden compartment with my ring. I reach for the stack of books. There should be something about the symbol in my father’s journal.

Except… the journal is nowhere to be found.

My stomach twists.

No. This can’t be.

I check again. Behind old wine boxes, under the shelf. But I know it’s fruitless. I knew it was gone the moment I didn’t find it exactly where I left it.

I breathe slowly, trying not to panic. Only one person knows I’ve been coming here.