And that it would once again center around me.
When I left Heprin almost a year ago, I knew my destiny was to be queen. But for some foolish reason, I had not expected being the queen of the realm to require quite so much attention.
We’d left Elysia in the last days of spring and returned in the warmth of summer. Just as before when Taelon had smuggled me in. Only this time, I walked by Tyrn’s side.
He had been nearly incoherent on the return trip to Sarasonet. His guards and footmen seemed familiar with his wide-swinging moods and gibberish. But Katrinka and I had only ever seen him composed. Surly and standoffish but composed.
His valet offered him medicine every few hours, which seemed to keep his mind held together, if only by thin strands of sanity. But it was clear that my uncle was growing sicker and sicker by the minute.
And all the while, I held a note in my hand that declared war.
I had tried to bring it up to Tyrn on the journey, tried to suggest that we might fight back and reclaim Heprin. But he didn’t appear to understand what I was saying and turned away from me so he could sleep.
When he woke, he mumbled, “It is beginning,” over and over and over until Katrinka and I begged his valet, Ofrin, to give him more medicine. By the time Ofrin had prepared another sleeping draft, Tyrn had started rocking back and forth in his seat, his hands pressed against his ears and his eyes shut tight. His mumbled words had become a shout of terror. “It is beginning! It is beginning! It is beginning!”
Ofrin was able to get him to sleep again, but Katrinka and I held hands until we stopped for supper, clutching each other in fear.
I wished we’d never left Blackthorne. I wished Ravanna were here to make sense of what was happening.
It was hard to reconcile the affection I felt for our secret aunt. And there were, of course, the signs that all might not be good with her. That maybe she was as nefarious as seemed obvious.
Yet, she was our mother’s sister. More than that, she’d been kind to Katrinka and me. Not at first, maybe, but recently. There were mistakes in her past, but she cared about my future as queen. Which said something.
In a surprising way, she’d become a friend. And with the fall of Heprin and loss of the Brotherhood of Light I held so dear, I truly wished for my friend.
Taelon said he would ride straight back, but he did not date his letter, so I had no idea when that would be. I prayed to the Light he would bring Oliver with him. I did not know how we would survive the grief of losing the Temple, our childhood home, and the monks who raised us.
But we would do it together.
Just as I’d reached my bedroom, with Shiksa and Clesta at my side, a footman rushed down the hallway. “Your Highness.” He started bowing and walking halfway down the corridor, so I resisted a travel-weary sigh and waited for him to get close enough to speak. “The Prince Caspian has requested an audience with you.”
“Prince Caspian?” I gasped. I had forgotten to ask about him in all the news and chaos of our return.
“Yes, Mum, he’s in the library awaiting your return.”
“Thank you.” I turned to Clesta and handed her Shiksa. “I will freshen up before supper. Thank you for all your help.”
She frowned in a thoughtful way and stroked Shiksa’s white mane. “Princess Tessana?”
Her use of my formal title instead of Lady caught my attention at once. Only my guards were in the hallway with us. The footman had disappeared back into the recesses of the castle.
“Yes?”
“Did you not find it strange at Fenwick Keep?”
Fenwick Keep had many, many strange things, but most of them had to do with magic. And I could not explain that to Clesta. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I’ve just noticed how relaxed Shiksa is here. At Blackthorne’s castle, she would stalk the halls all night long. Of course, she never brought anything back to the room, but she’d be out all night hunting something, her hackles raised. And often, when I’d come to wake you in the morning, she’d be sat outside your door, almost as if she was guarding it.”
I scratched Shiksa behind the ears affectionately. “That’s because she loves me.”
“And there weren’t no people. Tabby, your sister’s maid, and I had a hall to ourselves. There were no other maids or servants of any kind.”
“I did notice that. Mrs. Blythe was about the only other soul I saw in the whole kingdom.” Save for the Bog Witch, but Clesta didn’t need to know about her.
“And the birds.”
“The birds?” Unease trickled down my spine. “They’d follow Tabby and me around the halls as if they were watching us. Their little claws clicked on the floor in a sort of warning. And they wouldn’t let the guards near your rooms. Old Curtis nearly lost an eye when he tried to stand guard near your door.”
