Page 48 of An Archer's Redemption

Her smile brightened the magically lit cavern more than any sunrise I’d ever seen.

She offered a mischievous wink. “We need to work on your complimenting skills, but that will do for now.”

She sat and began spreading cheese across what was left of our crusty loaf. Dittler made a sound I thought bordered on a laugh.

“Thanks a lot,friend,” I said to the horse, patting him one last time before turning to sit.

An hour later, our packs were fastened, skins were filled with wine, and we stood, hesitating, before the mirror.

“What’s it like? Going through that thing?”

Jess shrugged. “It is like going through a door. One minute you are in this room, the next you are in another. I did not feel anything unusual, except a little disorientation at returning in the crypt. That part was creepy.” She turned and reached up to pat Dittler. “Maybe I should lead him through. He will have the hardest time walking through a portal.”

“Okay, but he led Atikus and me into the cave and didn’t have any trouble walking through faux solid stone,” I said. “For the record,thatwas creepy.”

“Okay, baby boy, you need to follow me,” she told Dittler as she gripped his reins, then stepped through the mirror, horse in tow.

I watched them vanish, sucked in a nervous breath, and followed.

I emerged in the crypt and bumped into Dittler’s flanks with my first step, receiving a snap of tail to my face in return.

“Oof! We’re going to have to practice that some. I’ll be picking horsehair out of my mouth all day now.”

Dittler and Jess shared a chuckle at my expense.

“Woah, this place is . . .” I trailed off as my head swiveled and my eyes took in the crypt’s majestic creepiness. That’s what I called it in my head, but I didn’t dare insult Jess’s royal line by voicing that opinion.

“What’s in here?” I asked, running my hand across the Phoenix etched in a pair of golden doors that towered to the right of the mirror. I yanked my hand back as magic’s glow flared and followed my touch.

Jess shrugged. “I have no idea. My father did not know how to get into that chamber. We guessed it is some ancient king or Mage, but no one knows for sure.”

My investigator-brain kicked into overdrive as I examined the door and the metal plate on the wall beside it. “Well, someone knows what’s inside.”

Jess’s head snapped around. “Why do you say that?”

I pointed to the plate, my face only a few hands from its gleaming surface. “Look here. There isn’t any dust on this plate. That would’ve helped us see if it had been disturbed recently. But . . . you can still see parts of a very faint handprint.” I pointed and stepped back for Jess. “The oils on a person’s hand almost always leave a trace on metal, especially when it’s cold like it is down here.”

“The priests who maintain this place are down here every day. It is likely one of them decided to try their luck. Those doors have not opened in centuries, probably longer.”

Jess stared a moment, then reached up and pressed her palm to the plate. The Phoenix flared, and magical light swirled in its grooves, but the door didn’t stir. “Well, it was worth a try. I thought maybe the monarch’s touch might open it, but there is likely something else required. A password or magical phrase that has been lost to time.”

She turned back toward me. “Are you ready to be scrutinized by the entire royal court? The moment we return, tongues will wag about who you are and what you have done to me.”

“Done to you? What do you mean?”

“I left alone but returned with a Melucian. That will be curious enough to start all sorts of rumors, but when you join in Council meetings, some will grow jealous or suspicious—or both.”

“You want me to join in Council meetings?”

She nodded. “Some, yes. They need to hear firsthand what you saw when you returned to Saltstone. They must know what your people experienced. They will want to question you, some quite aggressively.”

The concern creasing her face touched something in me in a way I didn’t understand. I studied her face a moment before responding. “I’ve spent the past few years being questioned and scrutinized by the toughest old man in Melucia, the Captain-Commander of the Guard. On occasion, I’ve stood before the Triad on the Eye. There’s nothing quite like that experience. I’ll be all right, especially with you there.”

“Keelan, listen to me. I won’t be able to help you. When we walk out of here, I will be Queen. You will have to address me as such, and I will need to treat you as a visiting . . . hmm . . . dignitary? Emissary? What are you?”

“Guest is fine. I don’t need a fancy title.”

“I see you have never been in a palace or dealt with nobles.Titlesare everything. Without one, you will be invisible, barely worth their notice.” She thought a moment before her eyes lit up. “Ambassador. You are Melucia’s new ambassador to the Kingdom. That will work.”

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