The Lost Crown Book 5: Clash of the Crowns
Penulis
Saphira Aelin
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Hollis has always been ordinary—just another girl in a quiet village where nothing ever happens. But on her eighteenth birthday, everything changes. Sent to the Academy of Oswalda, she expects to fail the magical trials and return home forgotten. Instead, she discovers she’s more powerful than anyone imagined. Secrets unravel fast: whispers about her origins, a past she never knew, and a destiny she never asked for. Haunted by questions of who she really is—and what she might have done—Hollis is thrown into a world of power, betrayal, and dangerous truths. Each step forward pulls her deeper into an adventure filled with treason, jealousy, and the terrifying possibility that the greatest danger may be herself.
Take Me Instead
DRAKE
My mind flashed back to the last time I saw Tanner’s smile. This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening. He was our cocaptain, but more importantly, he was our friend and part of our family.
Celestria looked at me with her eyes full of tears. They cut pale, clean tracks down her face, washing away the sand, dirt, and blood as they fell.
One by one, everyone gave their final goodbyes and walked out of the tent. Hunter basically had to carry my sister out. I still hadn’t moved. My feet were planted, and I’d forgotten how to walk.
“Come on, Drake.” Johnny grabbed my hand. We were the last two left inside.
I ripped my hand out of Johnny’s and finally remembered how to walk again. Tanner slowly came closer to me. “You can’t leave her.” I dropped to my knees. His skin was still warm to the touch. “I won’t let you.” I pulled out my wand and placed it over my heart. “Take me instead.”
“Guys,” Johnny yelled out for our friends. I could hear them coming back inside.
“Stop her,” Hunter yelled, but it was too late.
The forbidden words had already left my lips. A bright light burst from my chest. It grew so bright that my eyes couldn’t handle it anymore, and I closed them.
“Drake, stop,” Celestria cried out to me.
I shook my head. “I can’t let him leave her. I can’t let him leave you. Find my parents and tell them I’m sorry.”
Gravity pulled me into the sand beneath me, and suddenly the light was gone. There was only darkness—but only for a second.
TANNER
I was dead. Somehow, I could remember dying.
“Drake dirty,” was all I could say with a giant hole in my throat. With the last of my strength, I threw my sword toward Drake’s feet. She was going to need it.
I dropped to my knees, holding the spot where their sword had sliced into my throat. I tried to warn Drake. These weren’t normal warriors. They were twins.
This was it. I was going to die on this battlefield. There was so much more I wanted to do—so much I needed to do. I wanted to find my sister.
The last thing I remembered before everything went black was hands wrapping around me, lifting me off the sand and carrying me through the desert.
The next thing I knew, I was in a room full of my closest friends. Hunter and Drake weren’t here, though. My mother was crying, and her head lay over something on the cot. I moved closer to get a better look.
“Oh no.” I tried to place my hand on the back of my mother’s to comfort her, but my hand went right through her body. “I’m so sorry.”
I heard some commotion behind me. Drake and Hunter finally made it. Their faces were full of tears and heartbreak.
“It’s about time the two of you showed up. Don’t be sad, guys.” I tried to walk over and hug them, but I forgot they couldn’t hear me and I couldn’t touch them. So I stood in silence with them as they cried over my body. I wished I could make them feel better. Their sad faces were killing me—pun intended.
Officers came and went outside the tent flap, their voices low. Someone called for my mother, and she went, because a queen doesn’t get to stop being a queen just because her son is dead. I watched her spine straighten before she’d even finished wiping her face.
I didn’t follow her out. I couldn’t have told you why. Something about the stubborn set of Drake’s shoulders kept me rooted to that cot instead.
I stood and stared into the eyes of my cocaptain. She was falling apart, and there was nothing I could do for her. Johnny moved closer to her and tried to take her hand, but she pulled away from him and moved closer to my body.
Drake fell to her knees at the edge of the cot. I sat beside her and watched her dazed face. Johnny started to turn away but caught the same thing I saw—she pulled her wand out and started the spell.
“Drake, don’t do this.” I tried to place my hand over her own. It was no use. “Please don’t.”
I knew the exact spell she was casting. My great-grandmother was the one who had forbidden it. I only knew of it because of my mother—she made me learn all the forbidden spells so I would know what was happening if someone did cast it.
A light filled the tent, blinding me. It was too late. The spell had been cast. And there was Drake. She was looking right at me.
