The story had now caught my attention. It reminded me of the legend of Queen Riona and the Myrgonite objects. The book was clearly inspired by the tale, but considering how old the writing was, I wondered if the book contained anything about the history of Queen Riona and King Evrin that might have been lost to time.
I took a seat in one of the big reading chairs, the fire crackling in the hearth.
Once the evil queen had her objects, her greed for power grew. The king wanted to stop her, but he didn’t know what all of the objects were. The kingdom grew to despise her even more, but despite all the attempts on her life, no one managed to kill her. It was almost as if she’d become immortal. But the magic started to consume her. The woman that the king had married was gone and she was replaced by a monster.
The king knew he had to find the objects before the magic killed her. He began to struggle with his mind and, fearing he would grow mad, he kept a journal of his discoveries. He was afraid the queen would try to kill him if he took the objects away from her. He learned that the magic could not be destroyed, but he did not want to give up. Then the queen died in mysterious circumstances, but the king knew it had to do with the power of the objects. He had discovered what two of the objects were and decided to hide them, but the third was never found.
I ran a hand through my hair before taking a sip from my glass. This was just a story based on true events that took place during the reign of King Evrin, but what if the writer’s work had some truth to it? What if King Evrin truly had kept a diary that held the answers to what the objects were? If there was a chance it could help us, then it was worth looking into.
Chapter 7
Elara
I braced myself to knock on my friend’s door. Everyone had gone their own way after dinner, and while I still wanted to talk to Cai, I thought it would be a good time to see Cordelia before she went to bed.
My hand rapped against the white wooden door and a hesitant voice said, “Come in.”
I’d made sure Cordelia was situated in one of the nicest guest rooms in the palace. I wished there was more that I could do to try to ease her pain.
Cordelia was gazing out the window, seated on the wide ledge. She was still in her black dress. “I just wanted to come and see how you were doing.” Of course she wasn’t doing well. The person she had planned to spend the rest of her life with had been taken from her.
“It’s getting late.” I felt a chill sweep through the room. “Can I ask one of the servants to light a fire?”
She shrugged. “I don’t care.”
Cordelia didn’t seem to care about most things these days. Not that I could blame her. She was in mourning. But I didn’t know how to help.
Instead of calling a servant, I decided to light a fire myself. Something I hadn’t done in a while, but the room was freezing. I didn’t understand how Cordelia wasn’t shivering.
“I wish you’d joined us for dinner. Everyone was there.”
“I know.” She didn’t look at me, so I continued to stack the wood in the fireplace.
“Anesta and Gwen were there as well. I’m sure they would have loved to see you.” I got a small fire going, and when she didn’t answer, I turned to look at her. “Why didn’t you come?”
“Wasn’t hungry.”
“Have you eaten today?” I looked around the room for plates or remnants of food but there was nothing. Rhen and I tried to check up on her as much as possible, but she didn’t always want to see us.
“Don’t remember.”
This conversation was going nowhere. I hated seeing my friend in so much pain, knowing there wasn’t anything I could do to change the circumstances. Despite having just made a fire, I looked at the bedroom door. “Would you like to go for a stroll?”
She shook her head. “Not now.”
I sighed. “You need to get out of your rooms, Cordelia. You can’t stay cooped up in here for ever.”
Now she looked at me. “I’ll do whatever the hell I want,” she responded, and then she turned back to the window. It was dark outside, so I wasn’t sure exactly what she was looking at.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” And I was sorry. My heart broke for her. I couldn’t imagine what I would have done if I’d lost Cai. “I’m sorry,” I said again.
When she didn’t respond, I continued. “But I do think it would be good for you to get out a bit more. I know I haven’t seen you as much as I would have liked in the past few days with the council being here and everything, but I am here for you and I would like for us to do things together.”
“You’re queen. You’re too busy to have friends. I understand.”
“That’s not fair,” I responded. I didn’t want her to think I didn’t care when I’d been tearing myself apart in the last week, trying to get to everyone and everything.
Cordelia’s head swivelled in my direction. “Not fair? You want to talk to me about what’s not fair?”
