“Mathias, he came into my room and threatened me with a sword. He took my lady’s maid and escaped through the secret passage.” She pointed a shaking finger toward the door.
The guards rushed into the secret passage, though Aristea was certain that they wouldn’t find him. She prayed Jana had been spared. One guard was left behind to watch over her.
“I need to speak with my parents.”
He bowed to her command and escorted her to her parents’ room. The palace was ringing with alarms, and the few nobles in residence wandered out into the halls in their nightclothes, muttering to one another about the commotion. The palace guards urged them back to bed as Aristea strode past them.
Mother met her in the drawing room in her nightgown, her evening coat wrapped around her. Father followed, looking rumpled and half asleep as he rubbed his eyes.
“Aristea, tell me it’s not true. Mathias threatened you?”
She swallowed down the partial lie. “Yes. I’m afraid our worst fears have been confirmed. He confessed to me that he is working with Duke Wagner to usurp me.”
“Perhaps it was a misunderstanding,” Mother said.
“I can’t believe Mathias would do this,” Father murmured, rubbing circles on Mother’s back.
She hated them both suddenly. Even when she told him her life was in danger, they sided with their son. In addition to that, they had something so rare among royal arranged marriages. They’d fallen in love and genuinely cared for one another. Aristea had hoped for the same, once. With Heinrich. And a small part of her had hoped she’d have a second chance with Jonathan, but even he had betrayed her. She was deluding herself, holding onto the dream of love.
“Would you rather he be the heir? Tell me now so I can stop struggling.”
Mother turned, her eyes wide. “That’s not what we meant at all.”
“Then trust me when I tell you that civil war is coming unless we take a strong approach. We need to make a public example of his enemies and cut his power off at the knees,” Aristea said.
There was that look again; Mother and Father shared something without words.
Mother took a step toward her. “Believe me, I have lived through unrest before, and I do not wish to return to it. We’ve built peace over these long years, and I won’t see the kingdom thrown into chaos over my children’s squabble.”
“Then you’d hand the kingdom over to the elves? He sided with them. He came to me asking me to intercede with you on their behalf. Your father, my grandfather, drove the last of them beyond the borders. Would you undo his work? Your own work?”
Aristea’s head suddenly throbbed. She felt Heinrich whispering in her ear. You were always the consolation prize. Mathias is a man, one with ambition, power, and the respect of the people. What do you have? Your parents will ship you off to Duke Mattison and put your brother on the throne. They’re all against you.
“Perhaps I should call the Vice Premier,” Mother said. “You’ve had a traumatic evening. Rest will help you.” She moved to grab the bell rope to summon a servant. But Aristea couldn’t stand the idea of someone laying their hands on her. They were treating her as they had when she was a child.
Aristea stood. “Don’t bother. You’re right. I should get some rest.”
Before her parents could protest, she headed for the door. As she was on her way out of the room, her thoughts were an angry swirl. Had they forgotten the bloody display from the play a few months ago? The havoc the elves would wreak if they were left unchecked? Did her parents expect her to stand by and let the elves destroy this kingdom? For what? To give their son a chance?
You’re right, you’d be better suited to rule, a voice whispered in her head.
It was the voice of the veiled woman from her dreams. Aristea froze and scanned the halls around her.
“Whose there?” she asked
“Your highness?” a guard asked.
Her face flamed; the guards hadn’t heard it. She must look insane to them.
“I’m a friend,” it whispered.
The hair on the back of her neck stood up. There was a doorway to one of the underground tunnels to her right. It led to their emergency shelter and also to the labyrinth of tunnels beneath the palace. Among them were the catacombs and abandoned passageways left by ancient peoples who’d died hundreds of years ago. Liane liked exploring them, but Aristea had never dared. She only ever went underground in absolute emergencies. But the voice drew her to those tunnels in a way she couldn’t fully comprehend.
“They think you’re weak, but I see the potential in you. I know how strong you are. You deserve to be empress above all others. You have earned it. Haven’t you sacrificed enough?”
“Your highness?” The guard approached her, but they might as well have been a million miles away.
“Come down to me. Free me, and I will give you the power that you crave. One without the puppet strings of men to tie you down. We will remake this empire in the way it was supposed to be. As your mother should have. Join me.”
