The Cup and the Crown (27 page)

BOOK: The Cup and the Crown

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“Something happened to you in Austlind,” he said.

She didn’t speak. Still he held her eyes.

“And it’s changed you. It lifts you up, even as it weighs you down. And you can’t tell me what it is.”

Oh, help me, Sigrid!
Molly thought.

“It has set you on a path for life and laid a great burden on your shoulders. It was thrust upon you unexpectedly, but you accepted it all the same.”

Sigrid? Is it permitted?

“It came at a heavy price. And now it’s breaking your heart.”

Do you trust him to keep our secret?

Oh, yes! With all my heart!

Then what are you waiting for, child?

43
Ravens

HE’D ALREADY SAID
his good-byes, but he had to see Molly one last time. So he circled Dethemere for several hours till he saw them in the garden. They were sitting together on the bench beside the pond. Neither of them looked up.

So he rose into the sky and banked toward the east. He knew where to find her, and it wasn’t far. She’d promised she would wait.

Soon they would soar through the skies together again side by side, dancing in the air, dropping and rising, one form mirroring the other. They would lock their talons and fly in loops, like a pair of acrobats. It would be wonderful.

Then they’d find a home and build a nest. She would be his, and he would be hers, for as long as they lived. A bond that could never be broken.

And at last he would be complete.

About the Author

DIANE STANLEY
is the author and illustrator of beloved books for young readers, including
THE SILVER BOWL
, which received three starred reviews;
SAVING SKY
, winner of the Arab American Museum’s Arab American Award and a Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year;
BELLA AT MIDNIGHT
, a
School Library Journal
Best Book of the Year and an ALA
Booklist
Editors’ Choice;
THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF THE ALLBRIGHT ACADEMY; THE MYSTERIOUS MATTER OF I. M. FINE;
and
A TIME APART
. Well known as the author and illustrator of award-winning picture-book biographies, she is the recipient of the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children and the
Washington Post
–Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award for the body of her work.

Ms. Stanley has also written and illustrated numerous picture books, including three creatively reimagined fairy tales:
THE GIANT AND THE BEANSTALK, GOLDIE AND THE THREE BEARS
, and
RUMPELSTILTSKIN’S DAUGHTER
. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. You can visit her online at www.dianestanley.com.

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www.AuthorTracker.com
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Other Works

IN THIS SERIES

The Silver Bowl

Bella at Midnight

The Mysterious Case of the Allbright Academy

The Mysterious Matter of I. M. Fine

Saving Sky

A Time Apart

Credits

Cover design by Cara Petrus and Megan Stitt

The Cup and the Crown

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-0-06-196321-6 (trade bdg.)
EPub Edition © JULY 2012 ISBN: 9780062190093

12 13 14 15 16
LP/RRDH
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

FIRST EDITION

About the Publisher

Australia

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Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

http://www.harpercollins.com.au

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HarperCollins Canada