I still have a room at this house, but it never felt the same after my father left. I couldn’t handle my mother. I had gone from one of his “little princesses” to “the” princess andme. I was always in the way. Pushing for too much time with Nova. Making her look bad by just existing. Or just being a bad influence on her in general.
Entering the foyer, I hang my hooded cape over the elaborate coat rack positioned by the door. The house feels empty. Not in the “no one is home” sense but the lack of personality. It’s filled with expensive furniture and decorated professionally, but there are no family likenesses, no mementos. No life. Not since my father left.
He was always so much fun, chasing us down the halls, spinning my mother around in grand dances that we’d been taught for the galas. She would cook on the nights the servants were sent away. Laughter had filled these rooms once upon a time.
The last memory I have of my father was him fighting with my mother about sending me away. It sounded like he’d disagreed with the decision, and when it came time for me to go, he gave me a hug and walked out of the front door. I returned for the next Beltane festival, excited to spend the weekend with my family.And Cillian. But instead, my father was gone, and Nova was busy at the castle.
My mother simply said he couldn’t do it anymore. A light had gone out in her eyes, and from then on, she kept her distance. She never outright said it, but I could tell she blamed me.
After that there was little laughter, and definitely no fun.
I couldn’t get away from this house, and the ghosts that haunt me every time I walk through these doors, fast enough. It was a relief for everyone when I got my own place. The instant I was old enough, I got my flat. And my mother didn’t protest.
I shake off the memories and make my way up the curved staircase and down the austere hall to the end where our rooms are. Instead of entering the familiar door to the right, I open the door on the left and ease inside.
Nova’s pristine room is decorated in an array of blues and whites with large windows spanning the back wall. An unsettling feeling washes over me as stale air weighs down around me. I don’t think I’ve ever been in her room when the windows weren’t wide open to let her element blow through. Tears prick the backs of my eyes.
As much as I wish the tears were of sadness, it’s frustration that courses through me.
Nova and I had grown so far apart. She’d chosen the Vaylors over her own family. I understood her obligation as the princess, but she was never able to stand up to them for our relationship. Never able to put time aside when I visited, never reached out when I was gone. Being in this house just reminds me that, asmuch as our father did, she abandoned me, and that hurt as much as being sent away did.
But I’m not going to walk away from her. Not until I know what happened.
Unfortunately looking around this room gives me no insight on where to start my search. I move to the small table beside Nova’s bed and slide open the drawer. Rummage through books on etiquette and random ribbons and trinkets.
The contents validate my suspicions that she was little more than her role as the princess. I’d always hoped she had happiness beyond Caspien and who this world expected her to be.Nothing.
I spent the next hour going through her dresser and closet before moving on to check under the bed. I’m so caught up in my search that I almost don’t hear the footsteps. My head jerks up, smacking the wooden slats beneath the mattress. The bedroom door creaks open, me still prostrate on the floor.
“What in the worlds are you doing?” my mother’s confused voice carries to my ears.
I slowly pull myself out from under the bed, turning to look up at her. “I was looking for something,” I state simply as I rub the bump on the back of my head.
“Something?” Her eyebrows pull together as she glances around the room. Thankfully I placed everything back where I found it as I searched.
“Uh, yeah. I let Nova borrow… a necklace. I was just looking for it.” I don’t know why I feel like I can’t just ask her what she knows. But honestly, I feel like she would cover up the truth if it helped the royal family.
Squinting at me, she takes one more look around the room. “Right. Well, she moved most of that stuff to her room in the castle.”
My eyes go wide, and I scramble up from the floor. This room was a dead end, and I knew it. But this gives me a renewed hope. I hurry towards the door and give her a tight hug over both of her arms. The shock is evident the moment I wrap around her. I break the contact as quickly as it starts. “Thanks. I’ve got to get back and pack.”
She lingers in the doorway, staring into Nova’s room until I’m at the top of the stairs. “Nissa.”
My stomach churns. I twist back to face her, hand on the railing, eager to escape.
“Be careful.” There is no emotion on her face, as if she’s said nothing at all. But the warning hangs thick in the air down the long hallway.
“Be careful…?” I slowly repeat, my eyebrows raised in question.
“Digging into the past can be dangerous. Just be careful.”
I bob my head a few times, and contrary to the speed of my heartbeat, I slowly descend the stairs.
Warnings from my mother are nothing new, but they are normally about preserving my reputation for the sake of the royal name. This feels different. This is ominous.
Chapter
Eight
