Page 69 of The Court of Secrets
The castle was in disarray. Banners had been pulled from the walls and lay crumpled against the floor. People bustled around the freshly erected gallows outside the front of Ash Court. “What are they doing?” I growled. “Not out here.”
Adius looked at me apologetically. “The lords requested the men who attacked you be publicly executed at court as a show of force.”
He walked me inside. People looked, bowed, or curtseyed, then quickly averted their gaze. I was sure between the attack on my life and rumors of my relationship with Blaise, I was the talk of the nobles.
I clicked my tongue. We walked around the corner, staying in silence until we reached my office. He closed the doors behind us, and I walked to the window to stare out. “Do you think you can get me into the dungeons without being seen?” It was a long shot, but I needed to know who was behind the attack, and if they hated me so much, perhaps they would be so angry they’d spill their secrets to hurt me. “Or one of the prisoners brought to me in private?”
“They tried to kill you.”
“Which is why you would be there, and they will be in shackles.” Worry pinched my features. “It’s important.”
He relented. “I’ll bring you down to one of the cells.”
I swallowed thickly. “Thank you.”
“To see only one of them. I can’t take any more risks than that. I will have three of my most trusted men come with us, just in case.”
I didn’t want anyone else there but sighed at his hardened stare. He wasn’t going to budge on it and was already meeting me in the middle. “Come to my chambers once I’m settled. I need to talk to my mother first. We can go after.”
“Would you be willing to divulge why we must go undercover?”
“I’m going to need you to trust me on this one.”
“As long as I can keep you safe, that’s all I care about. Also…” He paused, fumbling his fingers, his eyes wide. “I know this is a bad time to ask, but there hasn’t seemed to be a right time.”
I leaned forward. “What is it?”
“I was hoping to get your permission to marry Florence.”
I breathed relief. “Absolutely.”
His shoulders rolled back. “Thank you for your blessing, Your Majesty.”
“Now, if you would please find my mother and ask her to come meet me here.”
“If anyone else wants an audience with you, should I tell them you’re indisposed?”
“Thank you. Yes.”
My mother looked different when she took her seat across from me. A desk filled with stacks of papers sat between us. She placed her hands on the table, her fingers clasped and her knuckles a pasty white. Her hooded eyes had a radiance to them I hadn’t seen since before André’s death. There was determination in her tone when she addressed me. “Your brother came to me.”
I blew out a shaky exhale. “Thank the ancestors he’s okay.”
“Thank no one,” she spat, her expression twisting in disgust.
“What?”
She cast her eyes downward, then flicked them back to meet mine. “You were right about Vahaga. He’s behind the treachery.”
A shiver snaked down my spine. Was Cedric right about the spirit realm after all?
“Your brother.” Her eyes teared as she averted her stare to the window. She had always been uncomfortable with emotion. “He came to me at risk to his soul. There are no spirit guides, daughter. It’s a lie we’ve been fed to keep us believing in Vahaga and the high priests before him. They’re trapping souls there, lunas who have died. There is a spell cast over Magaelor. Any who die here, we go to a place created by our elders.”
I couldn’t help it. Tears welled in my eyes. Even with the clues here and there, hearing that the religion I’d defended and found solace in was a lie broke my heart. My mouth dried as I tried to find the words, but she continued, one heart-wrenching truth pulling into the next.
“The elders, the ancestors who created the spirit realms, remain immortal, along with the kings, priests, and priestesses. They continue keeping the façade, walking the realms as immortal. They wanted to live forever and found a way, in another realm, while the other souls are not at peace, drained of their energy we use for our magic. We are torturing them every time we use magic.”
I didn’t notice the absence of her staff until now.
