The Shepherd King, #2
Two Twisted Crowns
by Rachel Gillig
Contents
Chapter Eighteen
Overview
Elm learns that King Rowan now intends to make him heir because Hauth’s injuries have ended Hauth’s usefulness as future king. The King also plans to keep Ione close for appearances before executing her, forcing Elm into the role of both political successor and reluctant protector. At court, Elm and Ione maintain the illusion of stability, but Rowan tightens control further by announcing feasts at which Elm must choose a wife.
Summary
After Ravyn’s party leaves Stone, Elm confronts King Rowan and asks whether the King caused Elm to be held back. The King says Elm belongs at Stone because Hauth is physically ruined and cannot produce an heir, making Elm the necessary successor. Elm refuses the throne, but Rowan insists that the Rowan line must endure and that Elm will resign as Destrier, appear at court, use Ione Hawthorn to preserve appearances, and eventually allow her execution.
Elm sleeps through the day, then wakes with a renewed purpose: he must keep his promise to find Ione’s Maiden Card before the King tries to kill her. On his way to court, Elm finds Ione in the royal wing with two Destriers, Allyn Moss and Royce Linden, assigned as guards. Elm dismisses them by asserting himself as her chaperone, making clear that the King is keeping both Ione and Elm under close control.
Elm escorts Ione into the great hall, where courtiers still believe Ione is Hauth’s future queen. Elm tells Ione that she must claim Hauth is ill but recovering, and he forces her to accompany him to the dais rather than face the King alone. When the King leers at Ione in her ill-fitting dress, Elm nearly reaches for his Scythe Card in anger, but Ione meets the King’s gaze with cool indifference.
Elm and Ione take seats at the royal table, displacing the treasurer Aldys Beech and his family after Ione sharply asserts her status as future queen. Elm grows increasingly frustrated by court pageantry because it delays the search for Ione’s Maiden Card. During dinner, Ione reveals that Royce Linden told her Ravyn and Elspeth had left the castle, likely to hurt her, but she says she no longer cries or feels loneliness as she once did.
Elm begins to suggest another method for finding Ione’s Card, noticing that despite Ione’s claims of numbness, she still responds physically to his closeness. Their conversation is interrupted by Wayland Pine and his family, including Farrah Pine, whom Elm barely remembers. After the Pines leave, King Rowan reveals that six feasts begin the next night and that on the sixth Elm must choose a wife, deepening Elm’s entrapment as heir. Ione stops Elm from lashing out after the King leaves and instead pulls him away, telling him they should get drunk.
Who Appears
- Elm RowanForced into heirship, protects Ione, resents court pageantry, and searches for her Maiden Card.
- Ione HawthornKept under guard as Hauth’s supposed betrothed; coolly aids Elm’s court performance.
- King RowanDeclares Elm his successor, keeps Ione for appearances, and orders Elm to choose a wife.
- Royce LindenDestrier assigned to guard Ione; provokes her by mentioning Ravyn and Elspeth’s departure.
- Allyn MossDestrier assigned to guard Ione, quickly dismissed by Elm.
- Wayland PineCourtier who presents his daughter Farrah during the King’s marriage maneuvering.
- Farrah PineWayland Pine’s eldest daughter, introduced as a possible wife for Elm.
- Aldys BeechKing’s treasurer displaced from the dais when Ione claims her future queen’s seat.