Paper Crown Novels & Stories

Althea fought her way back to Argos for Lysandros and helped him reclaim the throne, only to find herself trapped in the enemy kingdom of Thrace, wearing a slave's collar for three full years. Through three years of mortal danger, being dragged behind chariots, and bone-chilling winters, Althea survived on a single conviction: her betrothed, Lysandros, would come to rescue her. But when she finally set foot in the royal city again, what awaited her was not an embrace. It was a heavy golden laurel crown pressed against her brow, the Sacred Flame seal clutched in another woman's hand, and a royal heir growing in that woman's womb. She clung to one last hope: perhaps they had cast her aside onl

I ignore him and turn to bar duty. There are cases of beer and pop under the counter. The newly bought hard liquor is lined up against the back wall. There's a club emblem on that same wall above the bottles. It's the same one the club members wear on their vests. It's actually pretty damn cool, but fuck if I tell any of them that. It's a crow on motorcycle handlebars with two skulls in front. Desert Crows is written on a banner across the top. The design is in a black circle. It looks ominous, which is what the person who designed it was going for.

The black velvet inside framed something bright pink. A plastic crown. Gabby’s pink glitter crown. For a moment, no one spoke. “MY CROWN!” Gabby screamed so loudly the tiny hammer in my head went back to working overtime. She reached for it with both hands. “Easy,” I said. Kendra picked up the crown first and inspected it. “Oh.” “What?” I asked. She turned it toward the light. The crown was clean. No chocolate smudges from Al’s hands. No dust from the grounds at Villa Miravento. The underside, which had been slightly sticky yesterday because Gabby once tried to repair it with lip gloss, wasn’t sticky anymore either.

I ignore him and turn to bar duty. There are cases of beer and pop under the counter. The newly bought hard liquor is lined up against the back wall. There’s a club emblem on that same wall above the bottles. It’s the same one the club members wear on their vests. It’s actually pretty damn cool, but fuck if I tell any of them that. It’s a crow on motorcycle handlebars with two skulls in front. Desert Crows is written on a banner across the top. The design is in a black circle. It looks ominous, which is what the person who designed it was going for.

His credentials did not faze me, but the infant spirit at my side was all worked up, fists balled up tight. "Let me guess, you were a law student in the living world?" Silence. Then, as I signed, he murmured, "Juris Doctor." "Wow, a real brainiac. Sorry for not noticing." In my previous life, I only had one infant spirit and he was too young to spoke. But Jim wasn’t a standard “infant spirit.” He wasn’t a silent baby. He was clear-headed and could talk. Honestly, it felt kinda fascinating. The deed said everything above the old house's foundation was mine to handle.

"Forged. The crown recognizes no." "Read," Kade told him, still pleasant, and laid the cylinder's paper on the crate where the officer could insult himself. "Aloud, if you can manage the cipher. Or take it to a clerk who likes being necessary, while this square copies." The magistrate twitched in the direction of dignity. "This is highly irregular," he managed. "So is murder," Jas said cheerfully. "And bribery. And the smell of that priest's ring." The priest flushed. "Blasphemy," he said, offended that anyone had admitted air was a shared resource.

A faint glow pulsed like its own heart beat a shape, curved mark that was glowing beneath the sleeve of my leathers, a mark only seen that I have only seen in books. The Lunar Bond. She looked up. Across the table, Aeryn Valecrow met her gaze again. In that moment she felt terrified and unafraid at the same moment. Nemphis did not like it but craved it all at once. She pushed forward even more.

Bernice glanced at me. The maid put on white gloves and carefully opened the box to reveal a crown. I blinked. It was the Crown I had never seen before. It has twelve water-drop-shaped pearls arranged neatly on the crown. On the top of each pearl is a perfectly cut heart-shaped diamond. The base of the crown is silver with rings of olive-leaf-shaped crystals. In the light of the Sun, it is holy and elegant like the Crown of our moon goddess. Bernice was so pleased with the crown that the satisfaction in her eyes almost overflowed.

I had to keep the name in check, I had to make sure the name doesn't get stained or get a bad review if it did, Vanessa was going to come for me like the name wasn't in the mud already. I rolled my eyes. Uneasy is the head that wears the crown… But your type of crown matters… My type of crown was made of thorns That would make me uneasy too!!!

The only thing she got from the books she read was the history of the protectors of the empire – the 12 knights and the royal army’s prominent leaders. The 12 knights were appointed loyal, disciplined, and great warriors meant to protect the emperor and overlook the military activities of the royal army. Hence, their symbol was the eagle. The royal army, who looked after the entire empire, had the symbol of a shield and a pair of swords forming an ‘x’. Nothing about the protectors under the panther symbol was ever mentioned. “Could they be some sort of secret organization?” That was the only speculation Emery could think of. Lost in her thoughts for a while, she did not notice that she, too,