Free Broken Crowns by Lauren DeStefano

everyone something to hope for.”
    â€œAre you in love now?” Pen says. “That’s news to me.”
    â€œI don’t know. That isn’t the point.”
    â€œIsn’t it?” she says coolly. “If two kingdoms are going to rest their hopes on two young people in love, shouldn’t they be in love?”
    â€œI love Basil, you know that I do.”
    â€œBut that’s not quite the same thing as being in love, is it?”
    I press my lips together, hard. I don’t want to fight with her.
    I don’t think Pen wants to fight either, and in the silence that falls between us, I feel her anger melting away. “When will you leave?”
    â€œThe king is planning festivities this week for Prince Azure’s arrival. I suspect it will be after that.”
    â€œWhen will you be back?”
    â€œHe didn’t say.”
    â€œWill you be back?”
    I don’t want to say the words, but I have to, not just for Pen, but for myself, so I can accept what is happening. “I don’t know.”
    There is no color left in Pen’s cheeks, no life in her eyes. There was a single day back on Internment when I disappeared and she was told I was dead. She was broken when I found her again, but this is worse than that. She betrays no signs of life now, save for a bottom lip that has begun quivering.
    â€œYou know that all of this young-lovers nonsense is a lie King Ingram is telling you and the rest of the two kingdoms,” she says.
    â€œYes,” I say.
    â€œYou know that he’s probably done something horrible to the princess. Maybe she’s even dead.”
    Sickness in my stomach. “Yes. I know.”
    Her voice cracks. “You know that whatever he’s done to the princess to make her disappear, he’s going to do the same to you and Basil.”
    â€œWe’re not going to play this game,” I say. “We’re just going to see what happens.”
    â€œNo, you’ll see what happens. I’ll be down here wondering. I’ll always wonder and I’ll never know if you’re hurt, or—or dead, or—”
    â€œOr perfectly fine. Stop it.”
    There are tears glittering in her eyelashes, and she draws one quick breath after another. I grab her hands, clammy, ice cold. It takes all my strength not to fall apart too, not because of what horrors may or may not await me in the sky, but because I don’t want to leave her on the ground in this state.
    She nods at the floor. “Okay,” she says. “Okay, this is what we wanted, isn’t it? A way to go back. So I wasn’t invited. You’ll just have to cause a big enough commotion for the both of us.”
    I smile at her. “There’s my girl,” I say. “See? It will all work out. You and I can go over all of your notes. I’ll memorize as much as I can. They can’t confiscate plans that are in my head, yes? And whatever happens up in the sky, Basil and I will handle it.”
    There’s a knock on the open door, and Pen turns away, sniffling.
    â€œHey.” It’s Judas, standing on the threshold. “Did I come at a bad time?”
    â€œIt’s always a bad time in this awful place,” Pen says.
    â€œI just heard about the king’s plans to send you back,” he says. He’s looking right at me. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. That’s all.”
    Pen laughs incredulously. “You really have some nerve,” she says. She gets to her feet and paces out of the room, making a big show of avoiding him as she passes through the doorway.
    â€œSorry,” I say, even though I understand Pen completely. As far as we’ve fallen from home, she still believes in our traditions. She may think less of me for it, but she still disapproves of Judas taking the liberty to kiss me. Down here in this world, sins are contagious, but someone from home should know better.
    A frown tugs at the