When no one answered, she cracked it open, murmuring a soft, “Excuse me?” The room was empty, likely reserved for esteemed guests or extended family. Most of the furniture was covered in drop-cloths, dust weighting them down.
She stepped back out of the room and moved on to the next. One by one, Vi crossed the doors in the hall, finding them all empty. Most were bedrooms, but there were handful of sitting rooms, offices, and a dining room interspersed throughout. Vi crossed back through the atrium, ignoring the staircase for the time being—as it surely led to the royal chambers—and headed down the other wing.
There were fewer doors here and they were spread wider apart. As Vi roamed down the hall, a cleric emerged from one near the end. His eyes met hers.
“Oh good, perfect, thank you.” He quickly made his way to her, taking the pitcher from her hands.
“Yes, of course.” Vi passed it to him. “The prince—is he all right?” she asked hastily.
“He is, thank the Mother.” Vi didn’t have to feign her sigh of relief. The Bond must’ve been formed. “It’s been a miraculous recovery, a true blessing. Now, excuse me.” The man immediately returned to the room from which he’d come.
That must be Aldrik’s room. Vi turned to the door at her right. If the one to her left was Aldrik’s, then…
Sure enough, she had found Prince Baldair’s quarters. Vi stepped inside and locked the door behind her. The younger prince was still out at the front and wasn’t due back for some time.
The main room was clearly set up for entertaining. A dining table was situated by the window, covered in a drab cloth. Between it and the door was a gaming area, complete with a billiards table and bar. The outlines of sofas and loveseats made up a sitting area.
Walking through the door at her right, Vi found the prince’s bedroom. The four-poster bed was bare and the air was stale. The bedroom connected through a dressing room to a bathroom that had two doors, the second leading her back into the main room.
“Was this where you lived, Romulin?” Vi murmured, running her fingers lightly along the tabletop as she walked by the window. Had he been given this room as the younger son? Or had he taken what was currently Aldrik’s room, since he’d been the royal child who was actually present?
Vi drew her attention inward, trying to imagine herself returning home to this room. She would’ve been happy enough, she supposed. At least, she thought the girl she had been would’ve found joy in this place.
This was not her world, and the emotions attaching her to the people and places in it became more and more like the tarp-covered furniture by the day—covered, unused, dusty.
“To work,” Vi said, refocusing herself.
She started in the prince’s bedroom, searching the most obvious places first. Vi crawled under the bed, feeling underneath the platform for any hidden compartments. She lifted the mattress, double-checking that there wasn’t enough room for something like the crown to be hidden underneath.
Next, she checked behind the headboard and explored the mantel around the fireplace. She ran her fingers over the embellishments and carvings, pressing and pulling. Her fingers hooked on a small lever, hidden by a raised section of trim. She pulled, and there was a softclickto her right.
One of the built-in bookcases sighed as Vi pulled it away from the wall, revealing a narrow passageway that ran behind the bookcases to the chimney. It was certainly a hiding place for the prince—judging by the racy literature and sentimental tokens dutifully stored within.
But the crown wasn’t there.
Vi placed everything back exactly as she found it and closed the hidden passage. She continued her sweep of the bedroom before moving on to the dressing room. All the while, Vi tapped the floor with the toe of her shoe, listening for fake boards.
Most of the prince’s clothes had been packed away when he left for war, which made scouring the shelves easy. Vi found two other secret compartments built in false bottoms of the shelves. One had a lock of golden hair, a silver dagger, and a pile of notes. Vi promptly closed the compartment out of privacy, suspecting the hair to be Raylynn’s.
The other compartment held a key, the outline of which was visible in the dust when she removed it. Vi flipped it over in search of markings that could offer a clue as to what it might unlock. The skeleton key was fairly large, but otherwise plain. The only embellishment was the Solaris seal stamped at the end.
Unhelpful.
Still, Vi pocketed the key and resumed her search. The key clearly hadn’t been moved in some time, judging from the outline it left behind in the dust. It must unlock something important for him to hide it. She just hoped that “it” was more than a chest filled with scandalous tomes of daring women.
As she’d expected, the prince’s royal apartment was filled with secret nooks in almost every room. Vi scoured the place from top to bottom, not stopping until she could be confident she’d explored every one. She found ten in total, including one servants’ entry and passage that was void of any possible hiding spots.
The crown wasn’t in any of these locations. Nor was anything that the key could unlock.
She was just placing the last of the fabric over the furniture when the ring around her finger grew warm. A glyph sizzled in her mind, begging for release. “Narro hath,” Vi murmured.
“Miss me?” Deneya’s voice echoed to her from across the connection.
“Terribly.”
“Then your agony will soon be over.”
“How far are you?”
